Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Electric Fans

Don’t we all get excited when summer is fast approaching? The thought of indulging at the beach and putting on colorful summer clothes is refreshing. On the other hand, summer comes with the dreaded heat, especially at night. It deprives you of good sleep. Since sleep is paramount to your health, learning how to stay cool at night is essential. There is a lot of info about this on the internet.

Now you have to think about how to make summertime equally relaxing at home as it is at the beach. You might need to buy an electric fan that will help you enjoy your sleep. There’s an assortment of fan types including ones that stand up to hand-held options.

What Features Should You Look for In a Fan?

• Ionization. Some fan types can create particles with a negative charge to release them into the air and attract positive ones, such as dust. Positive and negative particles join to form a dense particle that doesn’t float. It falls due to gravity hence purifying the air.
  
• Wind modes. Most types of fans being manufactured lately are installed with three wind modes. They produce a breeze due to the pressure exerted on the wind modes. The strength of this pressure is dependent on the speed settings.
  
• Timer. It gives you the freedom to dictate the time when you want it running. You determine when the fan stops. It is helpful at night because you don’t have to wake up to turn off the fan.
  
• Oscillation. When the head of a fan moves back and forth, air blows in all directions. Some fan types come with a button that makes the head oscillate. However, box fans don’t oscillate because of its design.

Merits of Electric Fans

A good price variation.

The cost is based on the manufacturer, what the device is made of, and extra features. A fan with add-on features such as a timer and ionization will cost a little more than one without. If you are the fancy-loving type, you might have to pay a bit more. But if you want a basic one, it will cost less.

They come in different sizes.

Box fans come in different sizes while desktop fans are usually small. Depending on your size preference, there are a lot of options to choose from.

You can apply skillful tricks to fans.

For instance, putting a container of ice-chilled water or a pack of ice cubes before the fan blades can make the breeze chillier. However extra caution is required when handling electric devices with water.

Demerits of Electric Fans

Some fans have durability issues.

Most fans on the market use plastics as raw materials. Since plastics don’t last long, the fans they make equally don’t last long.

Fans don’t cool the air in reality.

They trick you into believing that you feel cooler, but it’s just an artificial breeze. The room temperature will stay the same once shut off the device.

Fans dehumidify the air.

When air is blown, moisture escapes from everything close to a fan. You can hand a wet towel in front of a fan and see that it dries sooner than usual.

Fans are noisy.

Fans are meant to produce a harmless amount of sound. However, when you overuse it, it can be disturbing. Also, if you are a light sleeper, it can tamper with your sleeping pattern.

Fans need frequent cleaning.

Every time a fan is left idle, it gathers dirt and fine earth particles. When you switch it on, it throws all the gathered dirt at you. This can affect any person with respiratory ailments or allergies. To avoid these problems, you must ensure that you clean your fan with soapy water or a vacuum.

What Is a Better Option Instead?

A better alternative is an evaporative cooler. You can also find them under the category of swamp coolers. This type of home and outdoor appliance decreases the surrounding temperature as a consequence of a fan evaporating moisture, but the whole process is contained in the device.

Evaporative coolers are categorized into outdoor, personal, or living spaces based on their configuration and parameters.

What’s so great about them?

• Save Energy. Evaporative coolers require just enough energy to spin the fan. This energy is a tenth of the energy used by conventional AC units. In the end, using evaporative coolers helps you save enough on energy bills.

• Effectively Reduce Temperature. When you evaporate water with artificial wind, you decrease the temperature instead of just blowing hot air around.

• Evaporative technology is safe. They are safe because they don’t use any harmful elements to cool air.

• Humidify Air. An evaporative cooler can keep room humidity within the ideal range of 30-50%. When the weather is hot, it dries the air leading to itchy dry eyes and skin, and a thirsty feeling. The effects of dehydration are susceptibility to heat stroke and respiratory problems. Evaporative coolers will help avert that.

• Easy to Clean. It is advisable to clean moisture pads and the water reservoir of any trapped dust monthly. Filters should equally be cleaned and replaced according to the manufacturer’s advice.

• Can Work Anywhere. If it connects to USB, it is even better, because you won’t need to be limited by the position of the power supply — just use a power bank.

• Don’t Need to become a DIY hacker. The internet is flooded with ideas to improve how fans work, but you won’t need any of that if you use an evaporative cooler.

Final Say

You shouldn’t allow hot air to deprive you of your sleep, not even a bank statement. You can acquire one of the best portable air coolers, yet on a budget. Electric fans aren’t very effective but do have some benefits. After all, you can move them around easily since they are portable. Also, they vary in price, so you can choose what fits within your budget. Since fans don’t cool room air, you can try DIY tricks, but there are alternatives that you can also explore.