A Cooling and Refreshing Breeze
by
gamblin_man
,
in Home and Garden at Epinions.com
,
Jun 5, 2006
Pros:
Good air movement and good features
Cons:
A little more expense for the features if not needed
The Bottom Line:
This fan is approved by Brry (say brie), Crackers, and Zinnie (Zinfandel), the three miniature dachshunds who wanted it most.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
We have a room that was added on to the house. Air conditioning ducts were not extended to this room. It depends for its cooling on an open door to the air conditioned area and an inefficient ceiling fan to circulate it. The dogs and I spend most of our time in this room and we wanted to be cooler.
We could have gotten a simple old-fashioned circulating fan, but the adult in this group, me, felt it would be dangerous to the doggies. We (I) went to Target and found a tower fan. We could have gotten a simple fan that moved air, but there in all its glory stood the Honeywell Tower Fan. It was the Model HY-048BP, one of a series made under the Honeywell name by Kaz, Inc.
The fan comes in a nice gray plastic case with chrome accents. It is billed as a two-height fan and honors its billing. The base and pedestal (for the taller height) come in two parts each that hook together easily and are held by four provided bolts that can be easily finger tightened, no tools are needed for assembly. The remote for the fan parks on the top of the tower unit when not in use. In addition to three speeds and off that can be sequenced by repeated presses of the power button, either the chrome one on top of the fan or on the remote, it can be set in breeze mode which cycles the fan periodically through either two of its speeds or all three speeds. This can be accomplished at the tower or through the remote. It can be preset to turn on and off at a series of temperatures in 2 degree increments. The room ambient temperature is normally shown on the LCD display on top of the tower, but when the up or down arrows, on the tower or remote are pressed, the set temperature is shown. You can choose a run time instead of temperature or you can have both. It truly is a set and forget device. The ion generator, negative ions only, can be turned on by cycling with the oscillate/ionic breeze button on either the tower or remote. This is more than just a fan.
There is a washable dust filter that covers the air inlet on the back of the fan. This is easily removable for cleaning periodically. Although the Honeywell Tower Fan is not an air purifier, it does help with the dust and pollen, both through the filter and through the generation of negative ions which can attach to smaller dust particles and be attracted later to positively charged surfaces.
Using the Fan
We setup the fan in its high position which puts most of the air over the heads of the dogs. They are three miniature dachshunds, two short-hair and one long-hair. We have it set to oscillate from a corner of the room. The room is about twelve by 16 and air is moved throughout the room. We have it set to cycle on and off at 72 degrees and the time set to off. We have it set for the three speed breeze mode and the ion generator running. It has run for a month continuously now with no problems. With the five year warranty provided by Kaz we have few worries.
Last week we had our first warm spell with daytime temperature in the mid-nineties all week. The indicated temperature in the room never got over 78 and with the breeze the dogs and I found it quite comfortable. They drag a blanket out of their bed and sleep on the floor where the breeze blows lightly over them. They seem pretty satisfied with their new fan. There is some noise associated both with the air movement and the oscillation. It is not objectionable, but noticeable when the room is quiet. The dachsies don’t mind it at all.
I took the filter out after the second week (the dogs wouldn’t do it) and it was noticeably dirty. I think that is good. It washed easily and I let it dry before reinstalling it, running the fan without it in the interim. The one thing we have noticed is that a power interrupt causes the fan to turn off and the settings to return to default. This is where the remote comes in handy. The remote also has a led light so you can use it as a flashlight if the power interrupt is more than momentary.
We apparently had a power interrupt while I was away the other day. When I got back it was off. The brashest of the dachshunds barked at me and then looked at the fan until I got it running again. I guess they like it too.
