Fans

[electra225]

I sold 50 or so fans at our sale. I kept a few, mostly Emerson, with a Hunter thrown in. I kept the bigger, older ones. They all run, all need TLC. I kept some newer, smaller ones that I figured would not sell well. Most all the older ones need taken apart, cleaned and painted with new wiring.

[hermitcrab]

I just threw out a metal westinghouse box style fan from the 60's ... the bearings or bushings whatever you want to call them were gone , you had to push it to start and it would eventually slow down due to the bearings being shot... but it was a good fan while it lasted ...all the new fans today are junk..

[electra225]

I bought a little 9" fan from Walmart that was on clearance. I gave three dollars for it. It is all metal, metal blade, metal cage, pretty nice chrome on the cage. The motor is open, but it has real brass-looking, self-aligning bearings. It is three-speed and a pretty good fan for a cheap little Chinese fan that I got on clearance. Not up to the quality of the 1920's certainly, but surprisingly good for what it is. Generally, though, you are right. Those plastic box fans aren't worth hauling home. Walmart sells a ton of those things.

[Firedome]

Those cheap-o box fans have their place, we have 7 or 8 of them dispersed between NY and VT and they do a decent job of moving air around the house when we don't want A/C. We don't like A/C much and in Central NY and Northern VT we can get away without using it 80+% of the time in summer. Some of them are 15 - 20 yrs old. Interestingly they keep getting smaller as time goes on, but other than making some rather weird noises sometimes they work just fine for the $15 to 20 we paid for them. That'd be like $3-4 in 1950s terms.

We have a 1950s all green-blue all metal 15" Vornado table fan from my Wife's Grandparents, the kind with the concentric airfoil rings making it very efficient, like the old Westinghouse MobilAire. Westinghouse made some great fans too. I see a re-issue of a vintage all-metal Vornado has been introduced, and it looks pretty decent quality, wonder if it'll last 60 years like our original, but does have an impressive 5 yr warranty, quite unusual. I wouldn't make the blanket statement that all new fans are junk, these new Vornados aren't cheap at $149, but they seem to be of very good quality. You get what you pay for, those good 'ol 1950s ones were quite expensive when inflation is taken into account.

https://www.vornado.com/shop/circulator ... circulator

[electra225]

I have always wanted one of the small Vornado fans. I like their styling and how quiet they run.

[TC Chris]

Those cheap-o box fans have their place, we have 7 or 8 of them dispersed between NY and VT and they do a decent job of moving air around the house when we don't want A/C. We don't like A/C much and in Central NY and Northern VT we can get away without using it 80+% of the time in summer. Some of them are 15 - 20 yrs old. Interestingly they keep getting smaller as time goes on, but other than making some rather weird noises sometimes they work just fine for the $15 to 20 we paid for them. That'd be like $3-4 in 1950s terms.

My Mom never lived with air conditioning, either as a kid in Alabama nor later in Michigan. I haven't either but I've spent my whole adult life save one year in Michigan. (OK, true confessions; my workplaces have almost all been air conditioned). Fans do help when those really hot days come along. Mom could not resist a house-sale version. One she bought for me is at the little summer cottage. It's a serious device. Steel-cased motor; aluminum blades. When I have tenants, I tell them it's the hurricane version. It really moves a lot of air. More recently I bought a newer version. Its small enough to fit into a window, an important factor. A best use for fans is to sit in a window, exhausting air at night. Put it far from sleeping areas, then close all the other windows except those where people are sleeping. The exhaust fan will pull air in through the open bedroom windows but without noise. And one fan can cool several bedrooms. That little one will never live as long as the hurricane version, to be sure. But it serves its purpose. The hurricane version will not fit into the window.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

As kids we each (4 of us sibs) had one of those big metal window fans for our BRs that we'd use in the hot humid Baltimore summer weather. They worked well as the extension panels made for a tight fit in the window and less air loss and they reversed to draw air in or suck it out. Wish those kind of fans were still made.

My late Uncle's 4 level split here had one huge industrial-type fan mounted in a big rectangular cut-out in the upstairs hall ceiling. When turned on it would suck all the air out of the house to be replaced with outside air from any windows left open. At night it would really cool the house down well.

I don't even like A/C in the car much, I miss the old swiveling side vent windows and the big side-floor vents with the on-off pull-out controls under the dash. I think they got rid of those to force people to buy built-in A/C.

[electra225]

Roll down the windows, open the wing vent, then lay your arm on that piece of stainless trim on top of the door that is about 800 degrees after sitting in the sun all day.

[Firedome]

In Central NY that wouldn't be a problem!
More likely it'll be chilly...high of 46 here today, with 30 mph wind it felt like 30s with the wind chill, where is Spring?

[electra225]

It is beyond gorgeous here today. We have such pretty weather all year, we dont have Spring.

[TC Chris]

I don't even like A/C in the car much, I miss the old swiveling side vent windows and the big side-floor vents with the on-off pull-out controls under the dash. I think they got rid of those to force people to buy built-in A/C.

I had forgotten what a huge effect those GM footwell vents had until my Chevy was back on the road. Open them underwway and whoosh!!! It's cool. I miss those.

Somebody will have to remind me again which way to turn the two wing-window cranks in the '61. Mine are kinda stiff and I don't want to force them the wrong way. The Chevy is supposed to get its new top this spring when it emerges. We finally had temps in the 60s today so maybe warmth will arrive.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I believe you crank them backward to open, opposite to close. This is where power wing vents come in real handy.

[Motorola minion]

Only recently, I found a Monkey-Wards 12" mini box fan for $5 at habitat, a perfect size and in its original 60s copper and while colors. Made by McGraw Edison also identical https://www.ebay.com/itm/175260117669?_ ... BM1qSWoZFg

I have managed to stay free of the fan collecting bug . But I still have three full sized box fans used mainly when we lived in my grandparents house, built of stone and in the woods with little need for AC. One was a light green Vornado box (not that cool round one) that has a reversible motor and neon indicator, still used on our front porch on hot windless days. Solid built and no plastic except knobs, which broke almost right after we started using it. I'm sure my grandma got it at WT Grants and this McGraw Edison in blue later on from "Two Guys, Nichols or possibly Kmart. https://www.ebay.com/itm/324825597831?h ... Sw3pVhY3cT , which I use at my barn-shop.

The coolest one I have is a lt blue Lake Breeze with colored pushbuttons like a GE range and thermostat my parents got for a wedding present. It is by far the most solid and retro but the bearings in its motor make noise on high and reversing it or oil no longer help. This fan is the epitome of the style, like so many others by Dominion, GE, Westinghouse, McGraw Edison, Emerson....

[electra225]

I used to work for McGraw-Edison then called Bersted Manufacturing, located in Boonville, MO, in the middle 1960's. We built 2500 of those chrome-blade fans a day in sizes from 8" to 24". Round and square. Zero was the house brand. We made fans for Western Auto, Gambles, Monkey Ward and lot of others. I ran a forklift. It was an 8000 pound Heister with a Continental M-330 flathead six ran on propane. There was a gal named Paula who stamped out 12" blades. There was a water fountain at the top of the ramp that went into the press room. She would run water from the drinking fountain down that ramp so I'd slide down it with my forklift and its smooth tires. We built the entire fan in house with the exception of the power cord.

[TC Chris]

That fan looks like my hurricane-force one--metal motor housing & grates, aluminum blades. But mine has a 3-position push switch (4?) low, high, off.
The last summer tenants tried to rotate the pushbutton with pliers. I fixed it and used a marker to say "PUSH" in two places.

Chris Campbell