The electric fan is one of the most useful appliances in any home. Electric fans are found in all sorts of places: bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, basements, and so on. Fans serve all sorts of purposes, from ventilation to exhaust to cooling.
There are three basic types of fans on the market: axial fans, centrifugal fans, and cross-flow fans. Axial-flow fans blow air across the axis of the blades. These fans are used for household electric fans and for automobile fans. Centrifugal fans, or radial fans, are often called squirrel cages. The central component, called the impeller, moves air under high pressure in right angles through the fan blades. Cross-flow fans, also called tangential fans, move low-pressure air in perpendicular angles to the motor.
Almost every household electric fan is an axial fan, and there are many kinds of axial fans in the market today. Household electric fans can be divided into two categories: mounted fans and free-standing fans.
Mounted fans
Mounted fans are installed as fixtures on ceilings or walls. These fans are permanent fixtures, and most are built into homes during construction. These include ceiling fans, bathroom exhaust fans, kitchen exhaust fans, wall-mount fans, and whole-house fans. They are built to last, but can easily be repaired or replaced as a do-it-yourself project over a weekend.
Free-standing fans
Free-standing fans have their own bases, and do not require a mount. Most of the popular kinds of fans on the market are free-standing fans. These include table fans, desk fans, workshop fans, tower fans, stand fans, and oscillating fans. Most free-standing fans are lightweight and portable, but some free-standing fans are also used to complement room furnishings, like those in living rooms and in bedrooms.
Fan death
In some nations, particularly in South Korea, "fan death" is a popular urban legend. Many claim that fans turned on overnight can cause death resulting in hypothermia, suffocation, or the fan chopping up oxygen particles in the air. While many cases of fan-related death have been claimed, none has yet to be verified or recorded as caused by household electric fans.
So for everyday cooling needs at the fraction of the price of air conditioning, try using a household electric fan. It won’t kill you to try a mounted fan or free-standing fan in your home.