Different types of fan - what type to buy?

Different types of fan - what type to buy?

Pedestal, tower, desk, circulator - too many choices, what type should you buy to keep cool this year?

Pedestal

The traditional and most common type of fan is the pedestal, a floor mounted fan with three feet at the base or sometimes a circular plate for balance.  The pedestal fan is good at moving a large amount of air within a room and normally can deliver that air through a right/left arc, sometimes up and down as well. Height of the fan head can normally be adjusted. 

Noise and appearance are the two major drawbacks with pedestal fans.  The new generation of DC fans do offer a lower noise level but they tend not to offer the same height as traditional AC fans and it is best to check that a DC version will be tall enough before buying.

Pedestal fans are not going to win many style awards and this is one of the major drawbacks.

Tower Fans

These have a sleeker look to a pedestal fan and take up less floor space but they move a lot less air and because that air is being forced through a smaller space they can be a lot noisier.  So you end up using them on the quietest setting and then have a smaller air flow. Popular in bedrooms where there is often a lack of space and a smaller air flow can be adequate to achieve the desired results.

Not all tower fans are actually that tall so again watch out for height, especially in the bedroom because you need a tall fan to move the air above the level of the bed.

The newer DC versions offer a quieter experience so are worth considering, especially for bedroom use.

As tower fans are tall and thin they will wobble a lot, there is not a lot that can be done about this but people find it disconcerting and worry about children knocking them over.

For many they are aesthetically more pleasing than a pedestal fan.

Desk/Table Fan

Basically a pedestal fan with no legs or a tower fan without the height.  Make sure you actually have space on your desk and if you don’t then will be air flow be strong enough from wherever you do position it?

A desk fan will again not win many awards for design and looks and noise will again be an issue.  Air flow will be smaller than that of a pedestal fan because the blade size will be smaller.

Table fans do have the advantage of being small enough to position more or less anywhere you need them in reach of a powerpoint.

Air Circulators/Whole Room Air Circulators

An odd category this one because it means different things to different people.  In the UK the air circulator has always been the larger, commercial, usually metal encased floor mounted fan with large blades, designed to move a large amount of air in a medium to large space.  Not generally used in the home or office because they will blow all of your paperwork all over the place and would make a heck of a noise!

In Asia the air circulator is much more of an all purpose fan for use all year round in a domestic or office setting.  These type of quality fans are now available in the UK and the rest of Europe.

They are used for a variety of purposes;

• To provide a cooling breeze as we would do in the summer.
• To push cold air from an air conditioner more evenly around the room.
• To dry laundry.
• To move air towards an air purifier

And they can be used in the winter (a fan in winter?!?!)

They are used in the winter to help spread heated air more evenly around a room or to stop air from being trapped up at the ceiling.

They can do all of this because they combine a large air flow with up/down, left and right oscillation so they are moving air through a wide range of angles.  The oscillation can be turned off so that you are then focusing on moving air from or to a particular spot (as with the heating or air conditioning support).

New models like the MeacoFan 1056 use a DC motor which provides a far quieter performance and a wide range of fan speeds (12 in the case of the MeacoFan) so you can go from something that is near silent for use in the bedroom at night to the top speed which is moving a huge volume of air around a room for you.

Conclusion

The new type of whole room air circulators offer far more flexibility and can cover a host of applications for you and tick all of the right boxes when it comes to noise, performance and looks.These Quiet fans are now available in South Africa.