Best Tower Fan

Get the Tower Dreo Cruiser Pro if your room is large, or the Tower Lasko EcoQuiet DC if you sleep in it. A tower fan moves air across your skin and does not cool the air, so once a room reaches the mid-90s, the answer is an air-conditioned place, not a better fan. Short of that, pick by room size and by how much noise you can live with. If you're between the two, decide whether you'd rather feel air across a big room or hear less of it at night.

Best Tower Fan for Cooling

The best tower fan for cooling depends on your room, and its temperature is the first thing to check.

Otherwise, pick the branch that matches your room:

• Your room is large and you want the breeze felt across the whole length of it: Tower Dreo Cruiser Pro.
• You sleep in the room and any hum would keep you up: Tower Lasko EcoQuiet DC.
• A sofa or bed blocks the air from a short tower, and you want to set the height yourself: Tower Lasko Elevation.
• Your living room is open and you want a tall floor tower with a remote: Tower Lasko.
• Your climate is dry and you can leave a door or window open while it runs: Evaporative Honeywell evaporative cooler.

TechGearLab measured the Dreo Cruiser Pro at 508.8 CFM, with airflow felt 60 feet or more away, and rated it best for large rooms.

The Honeywell evaporative cooler works at 60 percent relative humidity or less, and DOE lists evaporative coolers as only suitable for areas with low humidity. Above 60 percent, switch it off until the air dries. Keep a door or window open for cross-ventilation, because the maker says not to use it in an enclosed space. The cooling is strongest near the outlet, so sit in the stream.

The most powerful indoor fan among the towers TechGearLab measured is the Vornado 184, at 786.3 CFM. It also produced the loudest tower fan result in that test, at 57.2 dBA. Skip it unless noise does not matter to you, and take the Dreo for a large room.

If raw power matters more than a slim footprint, buy a pedestal fan instead. CHOICE's expert ratings averaged 81 percent for pedestal fans and 70 percent for tower fans, and large blades usually do more.

Tallest Tower Fan

The tallest tower fan on this page is the Tower Lasko Elevation, which adjusts from 42 to 54 inches. The tallest fixed-height one is the Tower Lasko at 48 inches.

Lasko states the Elevation reaches up to 40 ft/s across 8 speeds and a 90 degree sweep, with a 12 hour timer and a remote. The 48 inch model states 818 CFM, 3 speeds and a 7 hour timer. If 42 inches is enough, the Tower Lasko Wind Curve ionizer stands 41.8 inches and states up to 634 CFM.

Height does not buy airflow. Your Best Digs tested towers from 32 to 46 inches and found a 40-inch model with a vent only 18 inches tall. Pick on vent size and stated airflow. For cooling, take the fan whose airflow fits the room, not the tallest one.

Best Fans That Cool Like Air Conditioners

Portable fans that cool like air conditioners do not exist. An air conditioner removes heat and humidity from the air with refrigerant, and a fan only blows air.

In a living room, the closest answer to the best fans that cool like air conditioners is the Evaporative Honeywell evaporative cooler. It draws warm air through wet honeycomb pads, the water absorbs heat, and a fan blows the cooled, humidified air into the room.

Use it only in dry air: the Honeywell manual sets 60 percent relative humidity or less for a noticeable drop. In a closed room it also works as a humidifier, so ventilate it as above.

Care is short. Drain the tank and refill with fresh water weekly, and run fan-only mode for 15 minutes after each cooling session to dry the pad.

How Long Should a Tower Fan Last

Upkeep is the part of a tower fan's life you control: keep the intake clear and the housing closed.

A tower fan works by drawing room air in through the rear grille and pushing it out the front outlet, and the breeze on your skin does the cooling. Dust on the intake is what to watch.

To clean it, unplug it, then run a vacuum fitted with a soft brush or narrow crevice tool down the rear grille from the top. Do the front outlet grille next, then wipe the housing with a microfiber cloth wrung out thoroughly. Inspect the intake grille about once a month, and clean when dust shows or airflow drops. Never spray cleaner into the fan.

Do not open the motor housing. Honeywell warns it may damage the fan, cause injury or affect warranty coverage. Lasko's manual allows a vacuum brush attachment and a soft cloth only, and says never to use alcohol or solvents. Let every part dry completely before you plug the fan back in.

Best Tower Fan for Bedroom

For a bedroom, get the Lasko EcoQuiet DC. It has 12 speeds, a brushless DC motor, an 8 hour timer and a remote, and Lasko lists its power draw from 2.9 W to 19.0 W.

If you want to set the fan and forget it, get the Tower Pelonis. It has Strong, Natural and Sleep modes, a 15 hour timer and a remote that works from up to 16 ft away. If you want finer control, get the Tower Honeywell: 8 speeds, timers of 1, 2, 4 and 8 hours, and a remote that stores on the unit. The Pelonis and the Honeywell each carry a 1 year warranty.

What Are the Benefits of a Tower Fan?

A tower fan gives you a breeze from a slim base, and the breeze, not the air temperature, is what cools you. CHOICE lists tower fan bases at 20 to 23 cm against 46 to 51 cm for pedestal fans. TechGearLab finds towers give quiet operation with decent airflow but less stability.

A tower fan does not give cool air. Portable electric fans do not cool the air: they move it around and keep you cool by helping your sweat evaporate.

DOE describes the result as a wind chill effect that makes occupants more comfortable, and Which? calls it evaporative cooling on skin. Ready.gov warns that fans create a false sense of comfort and do not reduce body temperature.

Studies in older adults show how small the effect is. In a randomized crossover trial of 18 older adults held for 8 hours at 36 C and 45 percent humidity, peak core temperature was 38.3 C with and without a fan. End-exposure core temperature with a 2 m/s fan was 38.0 C against 38.1 C, and heart rate was 76 against 81 beats a minute. The authors called the differences "small and of questionable clinical importance."

A JAMA Network Open secondary analysis in older adults found 0.1 C lower rectal temperature with a fan at 38 C and 60 percent humidity, with a confidence interval reaching zero. At 45 C and 15 percent humidity, rectal temperature was 0.3 C higher. The benefit is small, and fans raised core temperature in hot, dry heat. Neither result is a reason to rely on a fan in heat.

Which Fan Is the Quietest?

For sleeping and for a living room, we'd get the Tower Lasko EcoQuiet DC. Lasko states 23 dBa in Quiet Mode and 46 dBa at high speed. Bob Vila measured 23 dB on low and 50 dB on high from 6 feet.

If you want a taller tower for the living room, the 48 inch Lasko states 38.6 dB in Nighttime Mode at low speed.