Push or pull fan

So I'm about ready to fit my new electric 14" fan this weekend and I'm undecided on which side of the radiator to mount the fan on.
It's a fairly low profile model and I'm fitting it just to tidy up the engine bay and it might help to heat the motor faster, I was sizing it up today and I think it would fit in front of the rad behind the bracket for the bonnet release, that way it's fully out of the way and much tidier looking.
The fan has reversible blades so it should be all good to mount it there but I was wondering if anyone knows any reasons that I shouldn't do it?
The motor is sealed as good as I can tell, the air would still be going the same way and it would be pushing cold air instead of pulling hot air over itself which should be better for it long term.

either way it will essentially be moving hot air. a puller will (imo - no explainable explination just a thought in my head lol) move more of the hot air. i have a 14" (cheaper ebay buy) puller that has been hooked up for right at a year now with no problems. temp hand stays in the middle of the guage all the time.

id say puller,behind the rad.no problems.cooler air gets sucked in faster and then gets blowed toward the engine,not that it dramatically helps.

Yeah I know what you mean, with it blowing onto the core I will probably get backpressure on the blades which will make it noisier and could reduce the cooling effect of the fan but since it's only works when the vehicle is stationary I could live with the noise.
I don't suppose anyone's tried putting their fan in front before to see if it works any different?
Worst case scenario, I pull it out and mount it in the usual place I guess, I'd just prefer to be different and I'm sure I've seen fans in front of the radiator in a BMW (it could be a AC one I guess)

yezzzur i think that is the a/c fan,my friend has two 12 inchers one in the front and one in the back only cause both wont fit behind the rad.

Well after talking with some hot rod guys and a rep from a fan place I wen't ahead and mounted it on the front of the radiator (behind the grill).
Runs pretty good and no signs yet of any heating problems, took it for a nice long drive today to make sure, the only thing I have noticed is that it's alot harder to start my truck now, it used to be a quick click of the key and it would run, but now I gotta pump gas and hold the key for a few seconds.
Has anyone else had this problem? Do I need to check my timing or anything? surely the viscous fan doesn't affect the timing of the whole engine like that.

I got dual pullers...both on reverse side of the rad (in closest to engine) I have a 10 and a 8 inch mounted side by side....since replacing my rad a couple of weeks ago I need to remount them properly and clean up some wiring to make me happier...also wanna change my switch out to a lighted style in the cab as I have everything manuall controlled...mine stays near the C on the temp gauge...but above the line....I let it heat up the oil every now and then to make sure I am getting the oil properly heated

I have also noticed it seems a bit harder to start but I think its my crappy ass battery I have as I usually run Optima yellow or red tops...but a money constraint made me use a crapozone battery and I dont think its right...dont fit the tray properly width wise....I have also noticed I am ony getting about 13 volts during run cycle so I wonder if its getting a proper charge even.....although I am looking into a newer alt with a bunch more amps....so I hope that will fix some lil things

Will throw my .02 into the mix. I just installed 2 electric fans on my purple truck. A 10" and a 12" side by side as pushers. Don't recall the brand but if installed correctly they cover the entire width of the radiator with about 1/4" clearance. Both fans are connected to a thermostatic control which is adjustable. After everything was connected and adjusted I let the truck run for 30-45 minutes in the garage with the outside temp around 65 degrees. Figured this would be worst case situation as the truck is not moving thru cooler air (interstate / city driving) and it is up to the fans to do all the cooling.

The setup worked just fine. Temp gauge remained steady at approximately the same location as when I did the same test with the old 6 blade flex fan (no fan clutch, just real noisy). Don't know if it would cool better as pullers but it did just fine as pushers. Again, your results may vary with a single 14" fan.

Cool thanks guys, well I've been keeping a really good eye on the old temp gauge since fitting the fan a couple of days ago and so far it seems to be running pretty sweet.
Looks real funny with no fan visible when you open the bonnet (sorry don't know what you guys call it there), about the only downside so far is that I can see the dirty PS hoses now and my stone guard looked pretty shocking, I don't think it ever got cleaned in it's life.
Whipped that out and repainted it black today to tidy things up, probably gonna try and paint the other nasty scratched engine bay bits soon too.

Was going to buy a new optima battery for it.. until I saw the price, it costs about $600NZD or $300USD.
For that price I could pick up another Red elite XBOX360.
I might get a optima one day, who knows, they do look pretty cool.

Thanks for your advice, I'll let you know if it goes bad for me, just in case anyone else is thinking of fitting it behind the grill.