With 2mm of water you might want to consider a inclined u-tube manometer. Edit: If you are not familiar check out this page.
Ah very cool - yes I did encounter some inclined manometers when scouring ebay and didn't give it much thought. Turns out the is the perfect solution to measuring fans with low static pressure, and I'll see what kind of results I get!
Pitot tube theory is pretty simple TBH - you measure the static and velocity air pressure at the same time, subtract static from velocity to find your head pressure, which can then be used to find the velocity in m/s: V m/s @ 20 DegC = 4.05√(Velocity p - Static p) mmH2O. A set of velocity readings which are averaged, then multiplied by the area in m will give you a flow rate in m3/s. Just measuring in one place will almost certainly give you a duff reading, and you need at least a length 10 Diameters straight/free flowing upstream (can be reduced with flow straightener) and 5 Diameters downstream to get good readings. Measuring small flows in mmH2O can also be tricky, a 120mm G1238B running flat out is around 8.05m/s, 3.95mmH2O Δp, 0.116m3/s. At 1/2 the flow, you would be looking at 4.05m/s, 1mmH2O Δp, 0.0583m3/s. Pa would be a better unit, but as Dr.Coin said, you will need an incline manometer to measure in smaller units. I may have a couple of old ones hanging around if you wanted one That's fair enough. Cool - basically your water has a specific gravity of 1 (or very close to that at 20 degC its 0.9982, at 4 degC its 1) up to you if you want to chill it to 4deg. I'd stick with room temp for easy to ref results. Unless you are either very high or very low in relation to sea level, atmospheric pressure will have little to no effect on your readings. If you were measuring in Pa with calibrated manometer, sure. I mean.... now that is what a call an axial fan! Wowzer that thing goes. I fear the googly eyes will not last long on that one.
That's very kind of you - I'll see how I get on with the DIY jobbie at the moment and may consider upgrading to a more serious measurement later! Speaking of... I had a bash with inclining the u-gauge and the results are definitely a lot clearer as the water column moves a greater distance, however there are some issues with surface tension inside the tube and the water being a bit unpredictable. Tapping the tube a few times usually does the trick. but I've noticed that the water can sometimes "hug" the inside of the tube and simply go from being convex to concave on the intake side. Here's the setup that I tested this evening, using three fans: Gentle Typhoon (2,250rpm), Noctua NH-A12x25 (2,070rpm), and Delta AFB1212M (2,060rpm). All the speed measurements are made with a laser tachometer. Obviously these measurements are no longer mmH2O, but the comparative results are apples-to-apples and are very interesting indeed. The slowest fan of the bunch has (by far and above) the highest static pressure, but it's also the loudest. Noctua NH-A12x25: 2mm Gentle Typhoon: 2.6mm Delta AFB: 4.3mm I re-did each test and measured the tube at both points where the water level is, and I got the same results (unsurprisingly). I marked the measurements with tape and then measured the gap with my vernier calipers. You can see from the picture below that the water is anything but level inside the tube, and I'm presuming this is surface tension / capillary behaviour? Water was at room temp, as suggested by cobalt6700!
I have three 10,000rpm 92mm fans and I may be willing to set one aside for such frivolity in the name of science. I'll add paper, grapes, and cheese strings to the list.
I'm loving this thread already. Other than feeding your fans with stuff from the fridge, are you taking user submissions to add to your test roster? I have a PC fan in mind (I actually have 6 in mind but I guess one would do) but they make your pride and joy look a bit weedy in the RPM department, so I wouldn't want you to have to upstage it. Model PF40561BX-000U-S99 Size / Dimension Square - 40mm L x 40mm H Width 56.00mm Air Flow 31.7 CFM (0.888m³/min) Static Pressure 3.600 in H2O (896.8 Pa) Bearing Type Ball Fan Type Tubeaxial Features Auto Restart, PWM Control, Speed Sensor (Tach) Noise 67.9 dB(A) Power (Watts) 16.68W RPM 18,000 RPM (the front fan is 21,000)
If you're on Windows 10 [and not on an ancient version of same] - WinKey + . [or Winkey + ;], gives you an emoji/special character picker... not as quick as Alt codes, but better than nothing [also you're not haveing to remember the codes]
I didn't see the period at first and tied Win + I don't see symbols just emojies when I use period or semicolon. My fall back for key codes I don't remember is to bring up the Character Map program (sorry a bit of ancient dating to NT 4.0). Tip, click the Advance View box, and the very bottom use the search box to find the symbol of your choice.
This is what I see, Emoji, Kaomoji [stuff like '¯\_(ツ)_/¯' or '(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻'] and then Symbols across the top, and categories across the bottom [unfortunately the search function doesn't really work that well with the symbols].
Could do - I'd be concerned about the possibility of making unwanted bubbles at the surface though. No harm in trying I guess! Absolutely - I was thinking of making it as comprehensive as possible and if there are fans that people want to suggest (or send to me) I'm happy to feature them. As a general rule of thumb, smaller fans can have higher rotational speeds because of lower air impedance, but their increased static pressure comes at the expense of vastly reduced airflow. I've got a "fun" fan on the way from China which has already been in transit for a couple of weeks... fingers crossed it'll get here soon. It'll be the jewel in my crown of 12v fans.
@LennyRhys I think surface tension is indeed the issue with your fluid hanging up. Most manometer fluids contain a 'wetting agent' to help prevent this. Also most incline manometers use a 'smooth' surface material, like glass/finished acrylic. I suspect using some acrylic/PETG hard line tubing would help you out a lot. Tubing diameter also plays a part due to droplet size. You may also find it easier to read off against a scale with a smaller tube. A very slight drop of fairy may help as suggested, your not 'blowing through' the manometer so bubbles shouldn't be an issue. If you were to build an incline with the smoother tube, you could use your original to calibrate the new one to provide yourself with a scale Also +1 for shredding stuff