Are you looking for a garage fan? Are you hoping to keep your garage cool during the heat of summer when you do most of your work on your car? How do you choose between the best garage fan options?
Here are a few factors to consider.
You need your fan to be able to move enough air to make a difference. Airflow is typically measured in cubic feet per minute (cfm). How many cfm you need depends on the size of the space.
A common guide breaks it down like this:
Keep in mind that these figures are for helping a normal space feel cool, such as a kitchen. However, if you’re trying to make a difference in a place where the air is especially hot and you are wearing heavy clothes, you might need more airflow to feel it.
Shop fans are notoriously loud. How much this matters for you depends on the type of workplace you have. If it’s a place where people like or need to talk throughout the day, or you want to listen to music while you work, you might want to look for a quieter fan (they do exist). On the other hand, if your garage is always full of noise, then this factor won’t make as much difference.
How do you plan to use your garage fan? Do you expect to take it out and put it nearby you as you work, moving it throughout the shop all day long? If so, then you want to make sure it’s highly portable. Features like a handle can become important, and you want to make sure it’s easy to set up, which means being quite sturdy on its feet.
However, if you don’t like having anything extra on the floor, you should look into mounting options for your garage fan.
Being able to adjust the speed of the fan is useful as it helps you get the right level of cooling throughout the day. Most fans have three speeds, which is usually enough to bring about the right combination of cooling, noise, and stability. However, some fans have only two speeds, while others are highly adjustable. Take some time messing with display models to see how you feel about the speeds on the fan.
Is your garage a dusty place? If so, then much of your dust will end up passing through the fan. This means that some of that dust is going to get not just on the blades of the fan but into the motor, which can cause it to degrade. You want to consider how resistant a fan is to dust. Look for and ask about a sealed motor casing. Also, keep an eye out for this factor in reviews.
Of course, you need to factor in the price of the fan. However, this should remain a relatively low consideration because it’s important to get a fan that will work properly for you, then use price as a deciding factor between equally acceptable options.
If you’re looking for a fan for your commercial garage, the cost might also be tax-deductible.
It’s natural to consider a fan for cooling your garage, but it’s likely that a fan just isn’t going to do the trick of keeping your workplace cool. That’s because fans don’t actually cool the air, and when the temperature gets hot, they can only help you evaporate sweat. This is only of limited effectiveness when you don’t have a lot of open skin exposed to the moving air.
Instead, consider a Portacool. A Portacool evaporative cooler for auto garages will significantly drop the temperature of the air that passes through it, sometimes as much as 30° F in a single pass. With the ability to move as much air as many fans, the same noise level, and ease of portability, a Portacool is likely a much better choice for your garage. Plus, Portacool has been building its evaporative coolers in the USA for more than 30 years.
To get a Portacool for your garage, please contact a local retailer. For more questions or to put in a large order, please contact us directly with our online form.
