How to Know Which Way Your Fan Wheels Roll

Clockwise or counterclockwise? It’s a surprisingly common question we get related to industrial fans and blowers. Determining fan rotation direction is simple once you know the trick, and it’s important to understand during the specification process.

Determining Fan Rotation Direction Starts with Where You Stand

A fan could appear to be rotating clockwise or counterclockwise depending on your perspective. In order to get on the same page and communicate clearly for specifications, always stand on the drive side of the fan where it connects to the motor when discussing fan rotation direction.

Tell-Tale Determination

From the outside of a fan with all the housings and other accessories attached, the quick way to see the fan rotation direction is to look at the outlet from the drive side of the fan. The direction of rotation will follow whichever way the outlet opens for air to exit the fan.

Application Outlet Specification

The direction of the fan outlet is an important specification because it must fit correctly into your application and ductwork environment. If you need the outlet to feed the air 90 degrees to the left as you face it from the drive side of the fan, you’ll need to specify a counterclockwise fan rotation direction when you order the fan. If the outlet needs to open 90 degrees to the right, specify a clockwise fan rotation.

Hear it from an Application Engineer

Chet White, Senior Application Engineer / Sales Manager runs through a demo of how to determine the fan rotation direction in your fan or blower in this 1-minute video. To ask questions, get more details, or discuss your application, reach out and connect with one of our application engineers.

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