Industrial Strength Fan for your Home

After 3 years of use, we have been steadily buying more and more of these Lakewood floor fans for other rooms. We have yet had any problems... AT ALL. But then again, fans are fans, and most already last pretty long (especially longer than 3 years). So what makes this fan so desireable that I had to write about it?

For one thing, if you give it a glance over, you would think that it belongs at a warehouse or a business. Have you ever seen these things at your school or work place cafeteria? They are as heavy as they look, and are built rock solid. Every fan blade (there's only three) are carefully balanced so vibrations are minimal. This is a good thing, considering how fast the powerful motor will spin them.

We rarely need to use any speed higher than its lowest setting. And that is one thing that most will complain about. It is more like a "medium" on a regular fan! But that is good news for others who require it to move a lot of air. Studio production, anyone?

Because of this, you can only imagine what it's Medium and High settings are like! They are almost unbareable when standing right in front of the machine! Lakewood should really make an exhaust fan with this kind of mechanics, as this kind of setup is best for moving tons of stagnet foul air out, while sucking fresh air in from other windows. In a house with several windows, each window will suck in enough air to produce a nice gentle breeze. I have tried it with this fan, but it is dangerous to balance a fan that is designed for a floor on a window sill.

Lakewood is steadily improving the design by adding more and more features. One of the latest one we bought included a thermostat to shut the fan off after a certain temperature. This is a hard feature to use because there is no temperature markings on the knob. But common sense should tell you how to set this up to work to your advantage. Like most primitive thermostats on fans (which doesn't make sense to me for manufactures to include, but they do work), you must back the knob until the fans stop moving. You then gently nudge it towards the warmer side until the fan is turned on. This way, the thermometer should be sensitive enough to shut the fan off when the room's temperatre drops to a decent amount.

Last, but not least, the newer models now comes with a detachable power cord. It is the same power cord that computers and computer monitors uses - a standard three-prong power connector, which you can buy from a computer store or electronics store should you ever accidently loose or destroy it.

The construction is also made to be taken apart with ease. Cleaning is also a breeze as the fan blade is held with a hexagon screw that you must take off with an allen wrench. The blades then slides out with ease. Because it is metal, they are very durable and can stand almost any cleaning agent, but some care should still be taken as not to strip off the blue paint from the blades. The motor and blades can get quite dusty with the ammount of air it moves. But deconstruction allows easy access for anyone to clean up the mess. As it should.

Maintenence other than cleaning is also an uneventful exercise. Once you already have the fan apart to clean, you can also reoil the motor easily. You can do this every other cleaning if you wish - it's not a car, and you don't have to watch the odometer. :)

Lakewood has made itself a name in the fan business, as they also make consumer-level box fans that opperate in lower speeds (something most of us are used to). They are made with plastic, but still retains the durability of the industrial fans they produce.

But with this particular model being sold for around $20-30 at Costco and Sams, you may be tempted to go this route instead of a regular fan. But please keep in mind that the industrial fans are definately more powerful than what you may be used to - a defintely "try before you buy" kind of a product!