I’ve used box fans in the past but they really don’t provide much airflow. I saw a few high velocity fans on sale so I grabbed them, only to realize that they are not indoor/outdoor use.
Im looking for a powerful fan that is designed for barn/outdoor use and doesn’t break the bank. Preferably one that I can just bungee cord to the stall as it would be impossible to corner mount a fan due o the way my stalls are designed.
Any other tips to keep the horses cool while they’re in would be much appreciated as well! Thanks!!
I actually invested in those box fan bags by Classic Equine ($18 a piece) and hung 2 box fans this summer.
They just hang on my stall front, but 2 fans, set at medium speed, seem to help A LOT more than the one fan ever did.
20 dollar box fans. Some horses stand right in front sucking it up others seem to not really use them as much. Horse always look comfy with them.
I use air movers for my dogs when outside in a pen.
I invested in good fans with sealed motors. The ones that I have are the Durafan from QC Supply but you can find similar fans at other vendors. One of my stalls isn’t suited for a wall or ceiling mount so I do just bungie that one on the stall front when needed in hot weather here. They cost considerably more than box fans but I would rather spend more for the safety (and mine are probably 5 years old and still work great, so they do last – but of course, I live in a temperate climate where they aren’t used as much as some warmer areas).
I second horsepoor. It is advisable to invest in fans with sealed motors that are designed for your purpose. Box fans are known to fail and cause electrical fires. They aren’t designed to be used in barns where there is a lot of dust. It isn’t worth taking the risk.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-attachmentid”:“9791904”,“data-size”:“small”}[/ATTACH] I have these in our barn. The are very powerful on high (and a bit loud), they aren’t cheap although. They do not have a speed control on the fan, that is sold separately and must be hard wired into the electric wiring. I just have mine plugged in, they run on a high setting like this.
I did buy and hang box fans last year when it was 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity, but talk about nerve wracking. So much better to have something that’s designed for the environment and safe.
Yeah, you wouldn’t throw a lit match into your hayloft and “hope” it didn’t burn the barn down. Box fans are KNOWN to catch on fire. If you can’t afford the metal sealed motor ones, just let them sweat. They would prefer it to dying of smoke inhalation!
Utilitech sealed motor fans. I got ones with variable speed and a chain switch that hangs down where I can reach to turn on/off easily even if they are hung high. Love them! I think they were around $120 apiece.
TSC sealed motor barn fan and standing fan. Prefer the standing fan, bigger and moves more air. You do have to take the stand off to mount it. All are zip tied to my stall bars.
I use the wall-mount sealed motor fans from Tractor Supply, too. They move a lot of air, and I feel so much more at ease with them than I did the box fans I previously used.
I didnt mount mine to the wall. I just put them in a hay bag and hung them from the rafters and tied the bottom of the bag back to the wall to put them at the angle I wanted.
I have the 18" outdoor basket fan from Ramm and it’s pretty sturdy. I ordered it in a pinch in the summer, thinking that I would buy a second one for my horses stall later, but it put out so much air that I only needed the one for his stall. It was pricey, but I have heard complaints from people who bought cheaper fans that theirs died within a year.
Used to use the 18" sealed motor fans from tractor supply, but had a few die on me. Took a hit to the wallet and invested in 4 durafan the 18" ones. These are sealed and rated for outdoor use which the tractor supply ones are not. I’ve got them mounted fairly high up in the rafters above the stalls and can just hose them off if they get dirty. They’ve been running for a couple weeks now and are much quieter then the TS fans. I’ve got them on medium and it’s by far enough air movement. Glad I decided to go with them!
ETA: The VP of Lasko even wrote a letter to the editor of The Horse in June 2010 (shown in the comments below) stating that people should use fans appropriately built for barns! So I cannot blame them for people choosing to ignore the manufacturer’s own warning.
This is just ONE of several incidents every year - rarely can owners so DIRECTLY and CLEARLY pinpoint the origin of the fire.
If you need fans in your barn, get ones with SEALED MOTORS and rated for agricultural use. Yes, they are more expensive. But I bet most of us would rather spend our money on SAFETY and PREVENTION as opposed to replacing beloved/valuable horses and building new facilities.
Dobbin, the I-lived-in-a-25-acre-field-for-3-years horse, has become quite the pampered pony. The first day, he wasn’t entirely sure about the sorcery mounted above his stall . . . . until he stepped into the air path. Now he won’t budge from it on hot days for treats, nibbles, nothin’.
Most stores also carry a clamshell to prevent dust from building up on the outlet connection.
If you use the country line style wall fan from TSC, how would you fix it to a stall and not the wall? Just looking for ideas to fix it to a stall for a 2 week show I will be going to in a few weeks.
While I don’t disagree with the premise of your comments. But things should be put into prospective.
Taken from the Lasko link you profided
“Lasko has received seven reports of fires associated with motor failures, including two house fires and one barn fire, resulting in extensive property damage. No injuries have been reported”
Given the fact that millions and millions of these types of fan are use on any given hot day and have been for years This particular recall is dated 2011 for fan made /sold 03 to 05, 4,8 MILLION units. TWO house fires, ONE barn fire reported. Again out of 4.8 MILLION in use. To use this “statistic” in a bit of “fear mongering” IMO. No snark intended.
According to a quick fact check, from 2001 to 2012
Cow kill 20 people on average per year
Dogs 28
Bees, wasps and hornets 58
Horses 20
Over 100 from riding accidents
I am not saying people should use cheap box fans for 24/7 stall use. They really aren’t designed for 24/7 use regardless of the application,sealed motor or not.
But they are not unsafe to use for X amount of time in a barn on any given day. Especially when the barn is occupied, being monitored. 7 reported fires from fans that were 5-10 years old out of 4.8 million is a ridiculously low number. Even it if were a 100. Close to 1 in a million. Do people around here really feel that unlucky around here?
According to statics barn fires are so low so insignificant there are no numbers just for “barns”. They are lumped into all Agricultural structures in general. And that number is exceptionally low compared to the number in use.
John Stossle had a very informative show talking about “Fear mongering” based on public perception due to the reporting of things that are a TOTAL exception to the “rule”.
People are scared to death of sharks. In 2016 six people were killed by sharks WORLD WIDE. 38 people were killed by lightening in the US alone. But you hardly ever hear about that. 150 people were killed by falling coconuts Around 3 people a year die from a vending machine falling on them.
As others have said - sealed motors only!! Not worth taking the chance.
We use the 18" sealed ones from TSC and mount them to the ceiling, aimed at the grooming area, aisles in each direction and in the outside stall. It keeps the air moving and the barn stays cool in summer without blowing directly down on the horses. We also have used one of the big barrel fans that are designed for barn use, but please make sure to get one with a sealed motor!!
A neighbor of ours lost his barn to an electrical fire (fans were not involved) but it was a horrible sight. Animals were burned alive. Young lambs and pregnant ewes. It was gruesome.
I honestly believe that if any horse person saw this sight, the debate about box fans would come to a screeching halt. Electrical fires are devastating and terrible. And we know for a fact these fans can cause fires. Box fans don’t have a place in a barn. They aren’t designed for agricultural use and the manufacturer has said so.
I wrote the article about barn fans for Horse Journal. I was prompted by a fire near me that killed a large number of Arabian show horses.
Do not use box fans, please. Box fans have been the cause of many barn fires.
In the article I recommended the 18" fans from QC Supply that other posters have recommended. The same fan is sold by FarmTech and several others, but QC Supply had the lowest price. After five years the ones I bought then are still going strong. They run 24/7 during part of the muggy Gulf Coast summer. They don’t cost much more than box fans if you can keep them from year to year. Most of ours are hung from horizontal boards that run above the stall dividers. (These boards are part of the barn and were not installed just for the fans.)
I also bought some of the larger version of this fan for the loafing areas. Two of the four of these have failed. Based on my limited experience, I will replace them with two of the smaller ones. The horses seem to prefer the smaller ones anyway. We had one horse that liked to keep her face in front of one of the larger ones, but she passed away at 34 and none of the others share her preference.
I seriously considered becoming an importer and seller of this exact fan myself. (The manufacturer puts the brand logo on the center of the front.) I went as far as to design a wood hangar that would allow the fan to be mounted on a sliding door or a typical wall of an engineered stall (one with bars or a grille.) I planned to ship this bracket with the fan, and I had some distributors lined up. However, the Chinese manufacturer was sold out for that year. I went so far as to look for another manufacturer, and had great discussions with other factories, but I would have to have known more than I knew about fan design to work with them. I told the most eager factory about OSHA requirements for the grille and about UL certification, but when they started asking about fan design I told them they were just over my head. I tried to get Vornado to take on U.S. design of an appropriate fan (my nephew works there) but they concluded that they did not know this market.
