Your opinion/review: Bladeless fans

**ghosthunter** · June 28th, 2011 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by oj88

I love innovation when I see one. And this type of fan, although not new, just recently caught my attention. Does anyone use it? I have a few questions to those who do:

1. The designers boast that it's easy to clean, at least on the outside and along the cylindrical shroud. But they fail to mention that in theory, the impeller inside will eventually accumulate enough dirt to affect airflow. How easy is it to clean that?
2. Is it noisy? In the few Youtube videos I've seen, the fan appears to emit a loud whine, somewhat akin to a CPU fan at high speed. I plan to use this in the living room and/or bedroom.
3. Going green and all that, how about efficiency? Watt for Watt, is it better or worse than a conventional fan?
4. Reliability?

Some features I like:
1. It is obviously bladeless (at least, none are exposed), so it's safe with toddlers around. (Though, the fan itself might NOT be, but that's different :D )
2. Continuously-variable speed. At least on the models I've seen, it has a knob like a light dimmer, instead of buttons with fixed speeds
3. It looks cool; Jetsons-cool! Both literally and figuratively. It will blend very well with any modern household. It can also be a nice ice breaker for some guests who's wondering how the airflow is generated

Anyway, for the clueless, this is what I'm talking about: YouTube - ‪Sir James Dyson explains his bladeless fan‬&rlm;

The china made Dyson ripoff bladeless fans are a bit noisy. You can hear the fan (in the base) working especially if you have it at maximum and if you are sitting within three or four feet of it.

The one I have has a 12 inch ring. The amount of air blown seems to be typical of a desk fan of the same size (or a touch less).

Power consumption is 40 watts based on it's label. It's not a "green" item. Unique and a conversation piece, it is.

As for cleaning the internal fan, no idea but I think I can remove the internal fan by removing two screws that seem to hold the inner fan to the base.

**Horsepower** · July 5th, 2011 12:23 PM

I think it's pretty innovative but I'd probably wait first for it to get cheaper. $400 at this time just for a chic fan is a bit rich and I don't want to buy chinese knockoffs.

If you're concerned that your kid might put his/her finger in the bladed fan, cover it with a nylon screen or switch to wall fan or ceiling fan (the one that looks like helicopter blades).