Is your tower fan not giving you the relief of the heat it should be? Does the air that comes out feel like it’s heating you up? Here’s what is likely going on.
Tower fans move around the air in the room and don’t cool it down. If the surrounding air is hot and humid, it can actually warm up the body. Ventilating the room or putting some ice in front of the fan can help keep you cool. In rare cases there could be a problem with the fan causing hot air.
Fans are an effective way to stay cool during warm weather. However, you might need to lend it a hand sometimes. Keep reading to better understand what causes your fan to blow hot air and what you can do to stop it and keep cool.
Contents
What Causes a Tower Fan To Blow Hot Air?
The most common cause of a tower fan blowing hot air is the air conditions in the building itself. If the home or office air is hot, the tower fan will only be moving this air around. Other common causes are a dirty fan, an overheating motor, or airflow disruption.
Air conditions
Fans don’t actually cool the air in a room down. They just move the air around. If the air inside your room or office is hot, it will feel hot when coming out of the fan, especially if the air is also humid. If the air is hot enough, it can actually heat you up more.
You cool down from a fan because of the evaporation of sweat on the skin. This takes the heat away from your skin and also cools the rest of the body. The more humid the air is, the less quickly the sweat evaporates and the hotter it feels. Then, if the air is hotter than your skin, it can actually feel like the air is hot and it really is. If the conditions are right, that flow of air can actually heat you up instead of cool you down.
Also make sure the place your tower fan is drawing air from isn’t extra hot. The back of a fridge, PC, oven, etc could be significantly hotter than the rest of the room.
Overheating Motor
Tower fans are more prone to overheating motors than other types of fans. Air can get trapped in the housing of the fan, overheating the motor. Especially if the fan is not well maintained and the tower fan is older, the motors can get quite hot. This means the air it pulls in is exposed to a very hot motor, causing it to blow out hot air.
Additionally, objects can prevent the air from entering the fan. This can mean the fan labors hard to pull in air, causing the motor to overheat. Again, the air it draws in will be exposed to a hot motor, thus emitting hot air.
If the air your tower fan blows out feels significantly hotter than the surrounding air, this could be an issue.
Suggested: Can a tower fan run 24/7
Dirty Fan
If your fan has a lot of dust, dirt accumulated in it, or the vents are blocked, this can be a reason for the motor overheating. If your fan needs to labor hard to pull in air, it causes the motor to overheat. It will also slow the air down so there would be less air circulating.
Suggested: How to properly maintain a tower fan
How To Cool Down Air From a Tower Fan?
You can cool air with ice buckets or frozen water bottles in front of the fan. Adding these cooler objects creates a cooler breeze as the wind from the fan blows over the surface. This is similar to how fans interact with sweat on the human body, which causes evaporation, thus cooling the air.
Ice or Cold Water
If your home air is too dry, your fan will not cool the air effectively. Research suggests that fans work best in wet, hot air rather than dry, hot air. Therefore, adding some water or ice will help your fan do its job.
The easiest way to do this is as follows:
- Take old soda or water bottles and fill them with water.
- Freeze the bottles in the freezer.
- Add them in front of your fan and behind your fan. As the ice melts, it will add moisture to the breeze, and the cold surface will lower the air temperature. Cooler air plus moisture will cool you down more.
If you can’t access a frozen water bottle or an ice bucket, use a water bucket. Although not as cold as ice, the water is still pretty cool and will evaporate as the breeze blows over it.
Dehumidifier
If the air is not too hot but it’s very humid, running a dehumidifier at the same time as your fan. A dehumidifier will remove moisture from the air, making it easier for your sweat to evaporate even at the same temperature.
The faster your sweat evaporates, the faster you cool down. A dehumidifier is not very expensive and will make a big difference in the cooling effectiveness of a tower fan.
An air conditioner also dehumidifies the air. Running a/c in combination with a fan is very effective for cooling you down. If using a tower fan in combination with A/C, you can set the temperature on the A/C a bit higher which could save you money in the long run. However, air-conditioning is more expensive to buy and run of course.
