Learn Me Shop Fans

Now that I am spending more time in the garage working on my Super Beetle  I am noticing how hot and how little airflow I have in there. Does anyone have suggestions on a floor fan that pushes a good volume of air and does not make a ton of noise? 

My initial thought was something like this from the big box store. I like the size of this one but could be convinced to go to a 30inch model if it gets me less noise for more airflow.

 I was also looking at the Ryobi fans that can be both battery or wall power, my big concern with that option is that it wont push the amount of air through that I am looking for. 

An AC unit is not an option currently so I want something that keeps a good amount of fresh air moving through the garage to make the Florida summer heat a little more bearable. 

I've just used a 20" box fan in the past, but have switched over to closing the garage door, using a dehumidifier and a Ryobi fan.  If you have to work with the door open, bigger is better.  

If you want to move air you either need to make noise or spend money.  The silent air movers, like a Big Ass Fan, are really spendy, although depending on the size of your shop, a more conventionally-priced ceiling fan might help at the cost of some overhead clearance.

A pedestal fan, or the sit-on-the-ground version will move serious air and can be positioned to blow where you need the airflow and away from the things that shouldn't blow around.  They're pretty loud, but really effective.

My pedestal fan needs a new power switch so until I remember to fix it, I've been using a combination of a regular old box fan and a smaller roundish fan from Amazon.  Again, I can put them where I want them to blow.  Still a little noisy, but not like the pedestal fan.

Do you have any opportunities for some cross-flow?  If I open the man door and put the pedestal fan blowing out there and then crack the garage door open a couple feet, I can get a pretty wicked breeze through the shop.

I use a 20" high-velocity fan for spot cooling. They are fairly quiet, small, lightweight, and move large quantities of air. Perfect for the shop, attic, under the house, and camping. 

I use a 36" belt drive drum fan for general air movement. It's usually aimed in one door to get a circular flow through the shop. Large, heavy, difficult to store, but very quiet and move an amazing amount of air. 

If those aren't getting the job done, I close the doors and turn on the 24k btu mini-split. 

In reply to eastsideTim :

I use a box fan now and yeah its not cutting it. 

In reply to wae :

I know I am going to have some noise with the price range I am looking at, I just don't want something that is so loud its hard to talk while its running. 

The cross flow would be ideal, I have a door at the back corner of my garage I tired to put the box fan in to make some airflow but it just does not push enough volume of air to make a difference. 

I had not looked into a pedestal fan but I will add that to the list of possibilities too. 

In reply to Toyman! :

A portable AC unit has crossed my mind for a solution to the heat problem, it would also come in handy for when we loose power during hurricanes. 

A couple of the high velocity fans might be another good option to have some airflow in a few different spots. 

Thanks for all the suggestions,

I was at the rock climbing gym last night and noticed that they have the same model of box store fan I was looking at and I was impressed at how much air it moved for the size. I am thinking for the $170 that might be a good investment that fits mostly what I am looking for. 

The hammer store is having their parking lot sale again

Last time I got the 24" floor fan. It's loud on all three speeds so if you wanted to talk to your buddy you'll have to raise your voice a bit. Moves air great for my 1.5 car garage. It looks a little more compact than the CE fan you had linked

In reply to ChrisTropea :

A portable or decent-sized window unit isn't a bad idea. I have a 14k btu portable that spends most of its time sitting in the corner of the garage. Twice I've had to pull it out to keep the house cool until parts showed up to fix the house AC. 4-5 times I've loaned it out to friends when their house AC went down. Buying it cost about as much as 2 nights in a decent hotel so it has been well worth the expense. 

Toyman! said:

In reply to ChrisTropea :

A portable or decent-sized window unit isn't a bad idea. I have a 14k btu portable that spends most of its time sitting in the corner of the garage. Twice I've had to pull it out to keep the house cool until parts showed up to fix the house AC. 4-5 times I've loaned it out to friends when their house AC went down. Buying it cost about as much as 2 nights in a decent hotel so it has been well worth the expense. 

Just took a quick look and noticed a portable AC unit is cheap enough that I may buy one when my dehumidifier conks out.  My garage doors are wooden, so making an open/close vent in one of them should not be difficult.

In reply to Toyman! :

I thought about a window unit but I don't have a window in the garage to hang it in and I am not willing to cut a hole in the side of the house. I know the portable units are not as efficent but it solves my problem better and durring a storm it would be easy to move from room to room if needed. 

In reply to zoomies :

Thanks, that might be my ticket. For the price I can deal with a little extra noise. 

In reply to eastsideTim :

Other than when I used it in the RV or on the boat, I have not been particularly impressed with the portable AC unit that I've got... 

In reply to ChrisTropea :

I built this using blades from a salvage ceiling fan that was scrapped due to a bad motor, and an e-bike hub motor because I had it laying around and the fan blades hub actually fit around it with the addition of an adapter turned from MDF.

It's impressive but didn't move as much air as it looks, not enough to make up for how much floor space it takes up, unfortunately.  I had hoped it would be a silent air mover, but it's only silent when not moving enough air or I can hook it up to the higher voltage 48V e-bike battery (normally I run it from a 36V plug in power supply) to make it go scary fast and then it sounds like a helicopter taking off.  I think the bottom line is the straight blade shape, which is done for style reasons, isn't optimal for air moving.

In reply to DennisDoesEverything :

That one's kinda scary!

Ask Stampie about my homemade roller shop fan. iirc photos have been posted before. Think big, loud, dangerous (and cheap)! I do not recommend this path. When the FL heat comes there REALLY isn't much you can do to keep comfortable. You have to keep the air moving, not just on you, but in the space. Also, when the sun goes down and the skeeters show up it helps to confuse them and maintain your blood level.

I don't have a ceiling into my attic area so I employ an 18", 3000cfm fan at both gable ends, plus a couple of those 20" high velocity fans that I can move around. If you're under a car, having something moving the air around you may save your life. The one fan I do want to add is a shop-grade pedestal fan that oscillates. 

I have the HF fan a few posts up and it's definitely LOUD but does the cooling job quite well. I usually just run it on low to move some air around, vs blowing it right on what I'm doing.. as it will make a dropped socket fly across the floor.

I have the 20 HF shop fan and it works great. Moves a lot of air but does make some noise which i think is unavoidable mostly. Only complaint is that it doesnt really have a low setting, more like med, high, really high. But its good enough to use in the hottest part of the summer when my upstairs A/C cant keep up and I have to blow the cool downstairs air up the second floor.

In reply to DennisDoesEverything :

This looks like it is terrifying to be next to when its spinning at speed but bonus points for style. 

I ended up going with the fan from the orange home store and I am happy with it so far. It moves a good amount of air for its size and is not too loud on the top speed. We will see how it does once summer hits here in Florida but as for now it works good and dosent take up too much floor space.