The 5 Best Garage Fans To Keep Cool Without The Cost

This fan was an easy choice as our top pick. Because you can tell it’s really been designed with the customer in mind. We’ve found no other garage fan which has as much functionality.

A 10-foot power cord, easily wall mountable fan with a carrying handle and three airflow speeds (the standard is just 2, for whatever reason).

Throw in the dust-resistant motor, which is made in the USA motor and with a 5-year warranty on the entire product – and you’ve got an unbeatable deal. Especially at a price that’s equivalent to the competition.

The above makes this our top recommendation, hands down. And that’s without even considering that this is a Vornado fan. Their unique air circulation technique provides an amazing amount of cooling throughout the entire garage or workshop space.

If you’re not familiar with how Vornado fans work, check out our dedicated Vornado guide. (No, we’re not sponsored by them! We just love their products).

This is power.

9,230 cubic feet per minute of power, to be exact.

OEMTOOLS’ barrel fan holds nothing back – the amount of air output this thing can displace is pretty incredible. Ideal for any large or industrial uses, it’s sturdy case and metal blades look to last for years to come.

While it packs plenty of punch, it’s also pretty loud. However, for the kind of long-term and industrial level uses this fan was made for – we think a bit of noise is more than understandable.

The wheeled bracket the fan is mounted on is definitely required. Weighing in at 34 lbs means this powerhouse is best suited to static use. With that in mind, the 6-foot long power cord helps to make sure you can get it into the perfect position.

However, we are limited to just two-speed settings – which leaves you to decide between a good breeze or a hurricane wind. This is fairly standard for these industrial type of fans, but even just one more speed setting would go a long way to making this fan more user-friendly.

When it comes to portability, this Ryobi fan is one of the most portable fans we’ve seen. Made to function using Ryobi’s 18V battery packs, this fan is perfect for jobs that need regular maneuvering around, or even taking on the road with you. With a full wall-mount kit included, this product is really made to work anywhere.

The fan is decently sturdy, and while it’s without an ultra-strong exterior and motor protection, the 3-year warranty offered by Ryobi goes a long way to make up for that.

However, there’s a bit of a catch. Neither a battery pack or an extension cord is included.

This is, understandably, due to Ryobi having a large range of products which work using their batteries. With that in mind, they don’t want to force you to pay for another battery if you already own one. But if you need to pick up a battery, they’re not cheap – around $50.

This MaxxAir Air Circulator boasts a crazy-strong level of power. While it doesn’t quite match their stated 2800CFM on low and 4000CFM (almost whole-house fan level) on high, this is still a very powerful fan.

Though, similar to the OEMTOOLS model, there is quite a contrast between its two speed settings. Low definitely gets the air flowing, whereas high is much stronger. We wish they’d have included a middle ground option.

Built to last, the fan is encased entirely in high-grade steel – with a rust-resistant grille up front. The 8-foot long power cord means no worrying about awkward power socket positioning, and being able to tilt the fan up to 180 degrees gives you plenty of alternatives to a simple ‘point-and-blow’ approach.

The only aspect which lets this fan down is that the motor isn’t protected from wetness or contaminants. It could probably survive a ton of bricks dropping onto the steel exterior, but a little bit of dampness may be a different story.

The fan pictured above is, at the time of writing, the most expensive fan on this list.

Is it worth the money? Yes. If not for one small thing.

It’s got everything you could ask for. A well-protected motor, completely variable speed dial (the only one on this list), an auto shut-off timer, complete 360-degree rotation, and it’s pretty damn quiet, too. It’s even stackable – if you own more than one, they fit one on top of the other perfectly.

So what’s wrong?

What’s wrong is the fan only comes with a 1-year limited warranty. Despite all of the parts looking durable as hell and paying a higher price than the competition, we only get a year’s protection. Which we think isn’t right.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the best product on the market – if you’re charging a higher price, you should put your money where your mouth is and guarantee your customers years of functionality.

However, this is still a fantastic product. It would be tied-first, if not for the warranty.  But we just can’t ignore that fact.