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Best Cooling Fan for Off-Grid or Homestead Use – Pro Recommendations

 
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I have researched the best cooling fans over the past few days because I need an efficient and reliable option for our off-grid homestead setup. Since we rely on solar power and aim to reduce electricity use, I wanted something that provides strong airflow while being energy-efficient and quiet.

After reading reviews on Consumer Reports, homesteading blogs, and Amazon, I narrowed it down to these two models:

TCL 52" Ceiling Fan with Lights
https://www.amazon.com/TCL-Ceiling-Profile-Reversible-Dimmable/dp/B0D4Z9M7T7?th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=project0ed9-20&linkId=cb3872257c0138e69abfe0c621d89c43&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
Ceiling Fans with Lights and Remote
https://www.amazon.com/Ceiling-Fandelier-3000K-6500K-Bladeless-Profile/dp/B0D297458G?th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=project0ed9-20&linkId=c45265cbe0da04aa56a9fdea91102a24&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

Here’s what I’m looking for:
Works well with limited or solar power
Quiet enough to run overnight
Actually moves air well (not just a weak breeze)
Durable and low-maintenance
If anyone here is using a fan off-grid, I’d love to hear what’s worked best for you—or what to avoid.
Any personal recommendations or setup tips would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your insights.

 
steward
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Dear hubby is not a fan of remote controlled ceiling fans.

We bought Hunter because we thought it was a great fan.

Name brands no longer mean much.

We are not off grid, just my 2 cents ...
 
master rocket scientist
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Hi Fin;
I learned that you only want to use a pure sine wave inverter to run a ceiling fan (and all electronics)
The low-cost square (modified) sine wave inverters can cause your electronics to run slowly &  noisily.
They will make motors wear out much sooner than a pure sine wave inverter.
Although not cheap, the heat fans that sit on your wood stove produce a significant breeze, using no electricity at all.
 
pollinator
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thomas rubino wrote:Although not cheap, the heat fans that sit on your wood stove produce a significant breeze, using no electricity at all.

 

They have a Thermo Electric Generator (TEG) inside them powered by the heat of the stove. Technically you could rig something up to power them with heat for cooling purposes, but with that much cost it would be cheaper to add more capacity/production to whatever off-grid energy source is being used.

I don't know how useful this idea would be for a multitude of reasons, there is a really good video about more efficient ceiling fans here:


If you already have a decent plan for powering a ceiling fan then finding a BLDC fan is a good option. It's possible to find out the specs of the motor and get a different motor controller that hooks up directly to DC power, but that's pretty technical and probably not worth it if you are only running on a 12V or 24V battery system.

I have taken a bunch of used PC fans and hooked them up in various ways to provide cooling. If you have appropriately sides hole saws, you can mount them to a piece of wood and make a duct to move cool air in or hot air out. I had my bedroom set up this way for several years. Especially when using old fans, they sometimes make annoying resonant sounds at certain speeds. Rather than buying individual speed controllers, I just found a voltage that they would run at without being too loud (such as 9V) and powered them with that. Since they were free, I could use a few extra to make up for the loss of airflow by undervolting them. They are already long lived, and running them slow prolongs that life further. Keep them clean and they can run non-stop for several years.

I was also using this for drying clothes. The rain is pretty much daily and sporadic around here, so just leaving a line out in the sun can be problematic. I had a free sheet of steel roofing that I covered a small rack inside a plywood box and used one of those USB power banks to run 4 smaller fans at 5V to exhaust the moisture laden air. I only used what I had on hand just to see if it worked. Nowadays you can find USB-C power banks that are capable of giving multiple voltages, such as 5V, 9V, and 12V which could be used to power a number of fans. You would have to figure out the current draw of the fans and the rated output of the power bank. They make various adapters (trigger boards and cables) to get a consistent output since USB-C needs to communicate with something to output the correct voltage.

You could also use any type of battery with an appropriate buck/boost converter to give what you need. The benefit to this is you can have a small number of quiet fans closer to you and perhaps a few more fans elsewhere for intake and exhaust. I had some small wires going around my bedroom for fans and lighting, but it would be easy to use separate batteries. Of course this is from the viewpoint of someone that can make battery packs for dollars instead of hundreds of dollars.
 
gardener
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We now use a tower fan in our bedroom. Pulls around 37 watts. My wife likes it a little warmer I can mostly directly it on me with just a little on her.

I had one remote control overhead ceiling fan that didn't seem to like the power my inverter(pure sine wave) was supplying. That was the only piece of electronics, fan or otherwise, that I've ever had an issue with.
 
pollinator
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Can you reduce the heat load inside the house to be more comfortable.
I designed a 'cool roof' structure which basically shades an existing roof to reduce the heat build up inside.\It lowers to roof temperature from 78 deg C to 38 deg C
thus preventing in many cases no need for fans at all.
 
pollinator
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John, I do recall your ideas on the "SAFARI" roof.  However, my recall abilities are fleeting, ephemeral,  and muddled. Could shade cloth designed for a greenhouse be used for this, if connected to a steel or wood frame?
 
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