Edited by author 07-17-2003 03:27 PM
The motors in axial fans aren't as affected by backpressure, so even if you blocked all the vents with tape the motor wouldn't really have much of a load on it with a stalled fan. You could seal up a box fan with plexiglass and it would run for much of its normal life.

Hand dryers use centrifugal blowers which actually compress the air and would load with a high static pressure, but the mouse fan is axial.