Table of Contents
Are there different types of fans?
Yes, desk fans are generally the cheapest and lowest-powered but are usually the best choice at close range. (There are also handheld fans, handy in a sweltering tube train, but so low-powered that we don’t review them here.)
Tower fans are a better choice for bedrooms or living rooms, since they don’t take up much room on the floor but reach a larger area than a desk fan would.
Pedestal fans, which consist of a circular bladed unit on top of a stand, tend to be more powerful than tower fans. Some, such as the Duux above, can be converted between a desk and pedestal fan by removing the stand.
Finally, floor fans, which tend to be larger and so can cool a larger room – you might find them in gyms or conference centres.
There are also air coolers, which use water evaporation to chill the air a bit, but we cover those in a separate feature.
What is the quietest fan for sleeping?
If you’re buying a fan for the bedroom, choose a model with a quieter sleep mode or a noise level of around 50-55db. For comparison, background noise in an office equates to around 50db and a refrigerator or laptop emits approximately 35db of noise.
The type of motor in the fan will affect the level of noise it emits. “Fans have either an AC (alternating current) or DC (direct current) motor – DC motors are better as they’re brushless, so are quieter and more energy efficient,” explains Nick Kandola of Aircon Centre, a specialist retailer for fans, air conditioning units and dehumidifiers.
Are bladeless fans better?
It’s difficult to quantify whether bladeless fans are better, but they are definitely much safer. As I’ve mentioned a couple of times already, bladeless designs are the type to buy if you have kids or pets and they’re also easier to clean, quieter and more energy efficient. They work by drawing air through slits in the bases and pushing it back out through the ring.
The con of bladeless fans is they tend to be much more expensive owing to the technology. If you can afford it, bladeless fans take the edge for us, but a regular blade fan is perfectly adequate.
