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Best fan for cooling down bedroom?
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So, I live in a one bedroom condo that's 850 sqft in South Florida. The AC is most likely 20 years old at this point, but the landlord does not care and every time it stops working he just sends someone out to 'fix it'. I've been living here for about 6 years. To add to it the condo has vaulted ceilings so that doesn't help.
Anyway, it's been taking longer and longer to cool down the whole place lately, especially the bedroom. I set the thermostat to 70 and it will maybe get to 72 by 4am lol.
I have a ceiling fan in the bedroom that rattles every few minutes and wakes me up, as well as a 10 year old Lasko tower fan that doesn't even blow half way up anymore and also rattles sometimes.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could get to replace the old Lasko fan? I also use it for white noise to help me sleep so I don't need it to be super quiet. Right now, the fan doesn't help cool down the room at all as it's not really blowing any air. Or maybe could I take it apart and clean it and it would work again?
Top Comment: The Woozoo fans at Costco are super popular right now.
High quality long lasting fan that will do me for years for the summer?
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How good can fans get, any recommendations for a high quality one, or anything simple to cool down a room I guess?
Top Comment: EDIT: This post suddenly seems to be getting a lot of attention from Googlers, so it has been clarified and updated with additional info. Fan collector here. Lots of experience. First of all, it's important to understand that a fan does not cool a room. All it does is move existing air from point A to point B. Depending on the temperature and relative humidity of the air versus your body, circulating the air can help to cool you. But if fans could cool a room, no one would need AC. That out of the way, and assuming you're in the US (you should specify country because offerings are very different around the world), fans are very hit or miss nowadays. Most of them are very cheaply made of course, and not many are truly BIFL like they used to be. If you insist on getting a new fan, you're basically choosing either power or noise level. Fans don't offer powerful airflow at a reasonable noise level anymore. In my experience, of the four major brands left most commonly found at an average big box store: Lasko tends to be louder but relatively powerful and the motors last the longest Honeywell and Kaz tends to be middle of the road, but the Honeywell Turbo fans tend to have motors whose bearings wear out and rattle pretty quickly GD Midea (mostly store brands like Mainstays, also Pelonis) tend to be quiet but weaker, except the 20" box fan, that's quite loud, also decent motors Vornado is pretty good but not what they used to be (they really cheapened out their motors in the last few years) but I've heard they have great warranties and customer service, and truly stand behind their products If you don't mind spending a little more money, there are still some very well made commercial-grade fans under manufacture. In particular the Air King, TPI, iLiving, Ken Brown, and some of Comfort Zone's high velocity series. If you go this route, look for ones with ball bearings or oil ports. The only downside to these is they're intended to move as much air as possible in situations where noise level is not a concern, so it may be too much for a residential use case. Now if you want an actual BIFL fan that's quiet and strong, you have no choice but to go vintage. A lot of people would assume an antique metal finger-chopper, but you may be surprised that one of the best fans you can get in general is a Sanyo (or anything made by Sanyo: Lasko, Galaxy, some Dayton, some Panasonic, some Sears) 12" or 16" oscillating fan from the 70s or 80s. I posted about these; here's what they look like . They have similar efficiency to modern fans, last decades without maintenance, and are relatively common and inexpensive still, not to mention freaking beautiful. Also the blades aren't exposed, so they're safer around children and pets. Finally, let's talk about maintenance, which is just as big a part of BIFL as the product itself. The most important thing you can do is keep the fan clean. When it's all dusty, especially if there's a line of dust/hair on the blade scoop, performance is impacted significantly. In addition, dust can clog up the motor, which restricts airflow over it, resulting in it running hotter than it should, which will reduce its life or even cause it to quit if the thermal fuse blows. A little compressed air goes a long way. The second most important thing is to oil them. The most common problems with fans, such as blades not spinning, spinning slower than they used to, rattling, or squealing, can be fixed by oiling the bearings. As a rule of thumb, blades should coast for at least 10 seconds after turning it off, and the bigger the fan, the longer it should coast. Oiling should be done regularly even if the fan isn't exhibiting any issues as a preventative maintenance. Use the best fix-it resource on the planet to your advantage, YouTube! For oil, you want SAE-20 non-detergent motor oil. In the US, that means 3-in-1 blue bottle, or Zoom Spout turbine oil. Stay cool!
Best fan for bedroom cooling/sleep?
Main Post: Best fan for bedroom cooling/sleep?
Top Comment: I really like Vornado fans. Quiet and efficient but can move some serious air if you need it.
best fan brand recs?
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haiiiii! i’m fairly new to the rave/festival scene and am looking for a sturdy fan that can withstand a LOT of wear and tear. my last fan only lasted me 2 or 3 hours before it just totally fell apart. after a while the bolt holding everything together just becomes loose and eventually breaks completely. i don’t mind paying a little bit of a higher price but i want to make sure that i’m getting my moneys worth and the thing won’t fall apart in a day like some of my others. i also try to support small businesses as much as possible so if y’all wanna plug any handmade fans please do!! (also also shoutout TK😽)
Top Comment: Aye TK 🫡
Where do people with exquisite taste purchase ceiling fans?
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I’ve looked at wayfair, DWR, schoolhouse, minka and more. Nothing is catching my eye. My design tastes lean towards minimal, MCM, sleek. But I have a sense of humor too so I enjoy that weirdo vintage thing in your bathroom.
Considering the lack of anything eye catching I’m thinking of going straight all while minimal brutalist. A few seams as possible. Straight cylinder to ceiling with no curves.
The room is white walls with 100 year old hardwood floors. Craftsman trim.
I don’t want brass. Because In about 6 months everyone that has a brass and white color scheme in their house is going to set it on fire like the 2010s did to farmhouse chic.
Top Comment: I just saw some from a company called Eliora...maybe check those out....
Bedroom air-cooling fan
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It's 95° at midnight some days here and stays at 110°+ in the day regularly. I live in an upstairs bedroom with a surface wall with a large window. Naturally, keeping AC at 78° where I like is prohibitively expensive. I really need a fan, hopefully under $200 that ideally can blow cool air for just a 10x10 bedroom.
Edit: I rent, and live with the couple I rent from so sleeping downstairs isn't an option for me, that would be my go-to. I live in Texas, where it's very, very humid (60-80+%) Also, if there's a way I can cool the air around the fan before or after it gets blown, ie. An effective ice bowl setup that'll actually work, I'd appreciate ideas.
Top Comment: No fan will cool the air. All a fan does is move the air.
What is the best fan you’ve owned that saved you in the summer?
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Summer is approaching, and the heatwaves are going to come. We all know how bad they genuinely can be especially sleeping at night. What brand or specific fan did you use to survive?
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Housemate and I disagree on the purpose of ceiling fans.
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My understanding is, you run ceiling fans to create wind chill and cool down people in the room, so running it without any people in the room or when it's uncomfortably cold would be waistful, so I turn it off in those occasions.
My housemate, believes that the air circulation caused by the ceiling fans stirs up the air "Cools down all the air and saves us money" and thinks that it causes the air conditioning to go through less cycles.
After he yelled at me for leaving the ceiling fan off, and a few subsequent squabbels about it, I finally googled "does running air conditioning and ceiling fans at the same time save money" and emailed him the first ten sources that came up, as to not cherry pick my info. They all said roughly the same thing, that ceiling fans cool down people, and that you should turn them off when you leave a room.
When I sent that to my house mate, he said that they're ignoring the simple physics of it, or that they weren't considering the air circulation and insisted that all of my sources were wrong, I asked him to supply me one that agreed with him and he basically said he doesn't need to prove anything.
Admittedly, he has a background in electricity, but mostly grunt work, maybe an associate's in something electrical, so he is a bit more qualified than me to discuss electronics. That's why I came here, he has zero background in physics, neither do I. So as a last ditch effort, or maybe just to easy my mind, can you guys tell me who's in the right and why?
EDIT: Housemate says you guys "Aren't considering how the ceiling fans turn over the air, homogenizing the temperature and thereby causing the air to warm up slower."
Top Comment: Your understanding of the purpose of a ceiling fan is correct. Ceiling fans do not actually cool the air in a room; instead, they move air around, which creates a wind chill effect that can make you feel cooler. This is due to the increased evaporation of sweat from your skin, which is a cooling process. Now if you've got AC on, a fan can make the room feel cooler so you might save some bucks by bumping up your thermostat a bit. But that's only if someone's in the room to feel it. Your buddy's got it twisted thinking the fan will make the AC work less. AC's all about the room's actual temperature, not how it feels. A fan doesn't change the real temp, so it won't affect the AC's cycles. Fans should be off if no one's around. They don't cool air, just make people feel cooler. They can help save energy with AC, but only if folks are around to feel it. Leaving them on in an empty room or when AC's not on is just a waste of electricity. Hope this helps, man!
Which fan to get to cool room?
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I got a ProBreeze 46" Tower which was pretty expensive at 70gbp, had a constant mild breeze at generally a low noise level. Wont recommend it though as it didnt cool anything. Hoping to get get better recommendations. Would a Beldray industrial steel fan work or a Honeywell air circulator? Only issue with floor fans is that I fear stepping on them and turning into mince one day.
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