Trailer Fans: Yay or Nay?

[zorion]

I have a Sundowner two horse straight load and am considering putting two fans in the horse compartment. I live in the southern heat/humidity and currently trailer my horse an hour away for my riding lesson. My horse does fine until I get stuck in slow traffic and the airflow slows down. At that point he can get quite warm. My hope is that the fans will offer some air flow in these situations.

When I approached my trailer repair shop about installing the fans, the customer service lady told me that they have gone away from installing the fans because they haven’t been happy with them and that they don’t put out enough air flow to make a difference. She advised me not to do it.

I would love to hear the pros and cons from those of you that have them. I don’t want to spend the money if they are worthless. If you do have them and like them, do you suggest a particular brand/size? TIA!!

[Training_Cupid]

Absolutely yes! Even though my trailer has several windows and vents, my horse came off sweaty until I got fans installed. We typically do have to sit in traffic xoming home from a show or trail ride and it’s made a huge difference.

i have a 2 horse slant, and put in 2 fans on the tail side.

[LetItBe]

I love my fans and run them pretty much every trip.

LetItBe

[Archer]

I put fans in my 2H Sundowner SL and I love them. Strong recommend.

[LCDR]

I have been looking into adding a fan in my trailer… The existing trailer wiring is fine for running the LED lights and such, and maybe a small low output personal size fan built to plug into a cigarette lighter outlet, but for a higher flow larger fan I will need to add larger diameter direct wires from the truck to the fans. I’m not sure yet whether the truck wiring to the trailer plug is sufficient size for the draw of a decent high airflow 12V fan.

If not, I’m considering adding a 12 volt deep cycle marine battery to the trailer as the power source for the fan(s)., with a battery maintainer solar panel setup to charge it between runs.

I’m still in the midst of the load and duration of run calculations. But I may just go the deep cycle battery route regardless since my hauls are all around an hour.

Another decision is whether I want individual fans blowing directly on each horse, or an exhaust type fan to draw the hot air out of the trailer and pulling in cooler outside air.

[enterata]

Yes, get them. My 2-horse straight load has 4 fans mounted on the ceiling. One at the head and one at the rear for each horse. They can be adjusted to blow on each horse depending on height, each has a low and high speed. Even though my trailer has plenty of ventilation, it can get pretty hot here in Florida when in slow moving traffic.

[wsmoak]

Another option, especially if you don’t have power available…
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Vacuums-and-Fans/Jobsite-Fans/0886-20
(Milwaukee M18 Jobsite Fan)

It has holes in the bottom to slide over mounting screws or bolts, so you could put it on the head wall during travel, then use it in the dressing room while you’re at the venue.

[zorion]

You all have confirmed what my gut was telling me. Time to order the fans! Are you all using the small 9" diameter ones?

[DMK]

I’ll be the voice of dissent. I’ve never met anyone who thought those fans were worth the time/cost to put them in (also in the deep south)

In fact a few of us had a private conversation to discuss alternatives to the (generally agreed to be) POS fans. One person mounted and wired in 02cool fans and was happier with them than the industry option (they are bigger). The rest of us did a variation on the Milwaukee suggestion and bought the Ryobi Air cannon+batteries, which is AWESOME. (In my case I have stud doors and a +1 area so I just set it down there and I hearth that thing so much)

[anon38350891]

I adored my trailer fans when I had the Equispirit. They were in the upper right or left corner of the horse space, and aimed right at the horse’s head. They ran off the tow vehicle battery and used very little charge, so I could stop for food, turn on fans, open windows, and not worry. However that was an unusually cool and well insulated trailer.

Generally, with a horse in an enclosed space, any air movement is a great idea.

[LCDR]

To follow up, a 20 inch box fan from a big box store, which many use for stalls, moves approximately 2,000 cubic feet of air per minute. In comparison, the best 9 inch 12 volt fan I have found so far is a heavy duty, metal Maradyne brand, manufactured in Cleveland, which moves 270 cubic feet per minute. The cheaper plastic import fans vary, but their airflow is in the 140 CFM range. Now I am wondering whether such a small airflowfan is worth the effort to install.

Amperage draw of the 9 inch fans variy as well, depending on motor size, but the Maradyne fan draws 2.7 amps - so a pair would draw 5.4 amps. more on startup. I found that on my trailer, the existing wiring for its lights is not adequate gauge to tap into for the fans. I will need to run dedicated larger gauge wires for the two fans.

I suppose, as posted above by thoroughbred21 , something is better than nothing.

[dressagegirl123]

In my 2 + 1 trailer, the two tiny fans mean the difference between my horses sweating, or not. Even when its only in the 80’s, they will sweat without them on.