Are BOX fans dangerous????

[Stormin Mormon]

I have, for several years. The box fan in my living room that blows towards the AC.

[Ron]

Nope. Ceiling fans.

[Harry K]

Which just stir inside air.

Harry K

[Harry K]

RnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]...

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A very good, believable report on somehting that _could_ have happened with no apparent evidence that it did.

Harry K

[Harry K]

About as revelent as the reports that have been cited that are laced with "could have happened" "might have happened" etc.

Harry K

[RicodJour]

Would you like a bib with that?

R

[Bob Villa]

My experience FWIW with box fans: we have many (dozens) in our facility (inadequate AC) and all are Chinese. Many have gummed-up over the years and they will sit and either start going after they have heated the lube or just hum. I haven't had one smoke or over- heat. Bath room exhaust fans seize and over-heat. Many of these box fans are very low HP and can be stopped (jammed) and not over-heat.

[Teredo]

Ceiling fans have an induction motor the same as most any household fan. So if it's the motor you fear take a look up.

[Kurt Ullman]

If anyone is really interested in anything more than flapping their gums, the URL is for a 2003 Consumer Products Safety Commission report on this very subject.

There were an estimated 4,500 fires associated with portable electric fans from 1990 through 1998. These fires resulted in more than 20 deaths, 270 injuries, and about $55 million in property loss.

Staff reviewed 243 fan-related In-Depth Investigations (IDIs), conducted from January 1, 1990 through April 12, 2001. These IDIs included those in which the identified hazard was fire (210), potential fire (16), electrocution (12), electric shock (3), and electrical hazards (2).

reported sales of portable electric fans have been in the range of 17 to 20 million per year with an average life expectancy of fans is 12 years. Based on this information, staff estimates there are about 200 to 240 million portable fans in use in U.S. households. Thus the odds don't seem all that good.

[Ralph Mowery]

While the danger is probably there, the numbers are very low. That are about 500 fires a year and 2 deaths. Check out how many car accidents that result in death in a single year. Somewhere around 40,000. Not to count the number of accidents that result in injuries and money cost.

You are more likely to die just going to the store to get the fan than for it to cause a fire or death. It is even estimated that about 50 to 100 deaths each year are caused by peanuts.

[Harry K]

I wonder how those 243 incidens compare with other hazards such kitchen fires started by leaving stuff on the stove, other small electrical appliances, etc.

From what I am seeing the "Oh My God! Get rid of yur box fan!" crap is a tempest in a tea pot.

Harry K

[Ralph Mowery]

You can read about it here:

About 500 deaths from kitchen fires per year and 4600 injuries and $ 756 million in property damage.

Guess we will quit cooking and eat out. Oops can not do that because of death by automobile. Just quit eating. Sure hope that death rate is lower.

[hibb]

Nope, but I heard that Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked the bucket.

[Jim Yanik]

Teredo wrote in news: [e-mail]:

a ceiling fan motor is probably built more robustly than a cheap box fan motor. CF's are made to be installed "permanently",and thus made better than a throwaway $20 box fan. It's also away from physical abuse that a floor fan may suffer,no getting knocked over,stuff spilled on it.

[Ron]

Ever heard of wind chill?

[Ron]

I don't "fear" anything. I was stating a fact about a fire that started with a box fan that I owned.

[me]

I've seen many of them burst into flame

[Don Klipstein]

I have seen two box fans smoke and one of them flame so far in my life. In both cases, they gave advance warning by slowing down. In both cases, the culprit appeared to be the motor being gummed up by dust. Both cases were back in the 1970's.

In a third case, I restored a fan that was beginning to show signs of trouble. What I did was disassemble the motor, clean out gummy dusty gunk, and reassemble it. That was back around 1980, when plenty of fan motors that were disassemblable were still around.

Dust is sometimes sticky, especially in places where frying is done. Frying with soybean oil can lead to gummy sticky dust, since films and small droplets of soybean oil oxidize into some sort of gum.

- Don Klipstein ( [e-mail])

[mkirsch1]

"probably????"

In other words, you don't know. You have no idea. So what was your point again?

[notbob]

I'll be more specific. You're a lying sack of sh*t!!

nb