How much electricity does a tower fan use? Find out by entering your wattage, how many hours a day you run it and your electricity rate, then hit Calculate. You get your monthly cost and the kWh it uses. Those same results also cover tower fan electricity consumption. Also see how much electricity does a dishwasher use.
Wondering how much electricity does a tower fan use before you plug one in for the summer? The short answer is that your fan draws roughly 27 to 83 watts depending on the speed it runs at, which works out to about $0.005 to $0.014 per hour. That is a small slice of your electricity bill compared with any air conditioner, and the rest of this guide shows you how to calculate your own number, compare it with other cooling options and keep the power consumption even lower.
A slim, vertical fan has a small motor that spins a long cylindrical impeller, so its running wattage stays modest even on the strongest setting. The draw rises with fan speed because the motor works harder to push more airflow through the grille. The figures below are typical for a mid-priced 40-inch model, and they are the numbers used in every example later in this guide.
| Speed setting | Watts | kWh per hour | Running cost per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low speed | 27 W | 0.027 kWh | $0.0046 |
| Medium | 44 W | 0.044 kWh | $0.0076 |
| High speed | 68 W | 0.068 kWh | $0.0117 |
| Maximum with oscillation | 83 W | 0.083 kWh | $0.0143 |
The hourly cost column uses an electricity rate of $0.172 per kWh. Swap in your own rate and every figure scales in proportion.
Going from the top setting to the lowest one trims the draw by roughly two thirds. The breeze you feel changes far less than that, which is why sleeping with the fan on low is the cheapest habit you can adopt.
Different designs use different amounts of power, so it helps to see where a tower sits among the other common types. Each row shows a typical medium-setting draw and what it costs when the fan runs 9 hours a day for 30 days.
| Fan type | Wattage | kWh per month | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desk fan | 23 W | 6.21 kWh | $1.07 |
| Tower fan | 44 W | 11.88 kWh | $2.04 |
| Pedestal fan | 49 W | 13.23 kWh | $2.28 |
| Ceiling fan | 36 W | 9.72 kWh | $1.67 |
| Box fan | 72 W | 19.44 kWh | $3.34 |
A ceiling fan with a modern motor can undercut a tower because its large blades move plenty of air at a slow spin. An older box fan is usually the thirstiest of the group. A small desk fan costs the least, but it only cools one person, while a pedestal fan and a tower both cover a whole seating area.
You only need two pieces of information to work out the electricity cost of any fan: its wattage and your cost per kWh. Utilities bill in kilowatt-hours, and one kilowatt is 1,000 watts, so the first step is a unit conversion.
$$\text{kWh per hour} = \frac{\text{watts}}{1{,}000}$$ $$\text{Running cost} = \text{kWh per hour} \times \text{hours used} \times \text{rate per kWh}$$Look at the fan label on the base or back panel, which lists volts, amps and watts. If the label only shows amps, multiply amps by volts to get watts, and that figure is the starting input for the electricity formula above. The manual or the specification sheet on the retailer's page normally lists the maximum draw, and the figure for lower settings is often given as well.
Your utility statement shows the electricity price in cents per kWh. The national average changes every year, so use the number printed on your own statement instead, because a household with a time-of-use plan can pay quite different amounts at night and in the afternoon.
Take a fan on medium at 44 watts, used for 9 hours a day, at $0.172 per kWh. Start with the conversion, then build up from the hourly cost.
$$\frac{44}{1{,}000} = 0.044\ \text{kWh per hour}$$So the average cost of keeping a tower going through a long season is about eight dollars at medium. Run the same fan on its high setting for those hours and the season climbs to $12.63, while a low setting brings it down to $5.02.
Seven hours on low is 0.189 kWh a night, which is about $0.033. Over 30 nights that is 5.67 kWh, or $0.98 on your monthly cost line. For a bedroom fan that is the least you can spend while staying comfortable.
The real saving comes from choosing a fan over an air conditioner. A window AC or a portable air conditioner uses a compressor to remove heat from the room, and that mechanical process demands hundreds of watts. A fan only moves air.
| Appliance | Wattage | Cost per hour | Monthly cost (9 hrs/day) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tower on medium | 44 W | $0.0076 | $2.04 |
| Tower on high | 68 W | $0.0117 | $3.16 |
| Portable air conditioner | 980 W | $0.1686 | $45.51 |
Running the portable unit for the same hours costs about 22 times as much as the medium fan. A tower is therefore cheaper to run by a wide margin, though it does not lower the temperature of the air at all.
Moving air speeds up the evaporation of sweat from your skin, and that wind-chill effect makes you feel several degrees cooler even though a thermometer reads the same. Because of this, fans only help when someone is in the room, so switch yours off when you leave.
In a long heatwave or in high humidity, sweat evaporates slowly and a breeze gives less relief. Evaporative cooling units add some real cooling in dry climates, but in muggy weather you may need air conditioning for part of the day. Pairing the two lets you set the thermostat higher while the fan keeps you comfortable.
Two towers that look alike can differ noticeably in energy consumption. These are the main reasons.
The motor type matters most. A DC motor typically draws about half the power of an older AC motor for the same airflow, and it also runs more quietly with less noise. Better-balanced blades and a smooth impeller cut wasted effort as well.
Each step up in speed setting raises the wattage, and oscillation adds a few watts for the small turning motor. An oscillating fan spreads air across a wider area, so you may need a lower speed to feel the same breeze. A bladeless design usually needs more power than a bladed tower of the same size because it pulls air through a base motor first. Models with purification filters and a remote control also add small extra loads.
A fan that stays plugged in with its remote ready can pull 1 to 3 watts around the clock. At 2 watts over 30 days that is 1.44 kWh, or about $0.25, for doing nothing, so a switched power strip is a simple fix.
A ceiling fan swings a large, slow rotor, so it moves a big column of air with very little effort. At the 36 watts used in the earlier comparison, it burns 0.324 units of energy over a 9-hour day, against 0.396 for the 44-watt tower. The gap is only $0.012 per day, which adds up to roughly 37 cents per month. Neither choice will move the needle on your finances, so the decision usually rests on where you want the breeze and how much work you are willing to do to get it.
A ceiling fan suits a living room or bedroom you use every day, because it needs no floor space and cools everyone underneath. If you are already replacing a light fixture, a modern unit with a DC motor and an LED kit gives you light and breeze from a single power connection. The main drawbacks are installation cost and the fact that it stays in one place.
A tower plugs into any outlet, rolls from the study to the bedroom in seconds and fits a corner where a pedestal would block the doorway. Renters, students and anyone with a high ceiling usually end up with one for exactly those reasons. A ceiling fan on a tall ceiling pushes air that never reaches you, while a tower puts the stream right at seat height.
Most people run a fan for only part of the year, so the annual picture is smaller than you might expect. Suppose your fan runs on medium for 9 hours a day through 120 days of warm weather. That is 47.52 units of energy, and at $0.172 the season costs $8.17. Add 2 watts of standby draw for the other 245 days and you add roughly 11.8 units more, so the grand total for the year is close to $10.20. Now compare that with the way a single month of air conditioning is billed, and you can see why a fan is the easy first step.
The same fan costs different amounts depending on the electricity rate your utility charges. The table holds the usage at 11.88 units a month and changes only the price, so you can find the row that looks like your own statement.
| Rate you pay | Hourly cost at 44 W | Monthly cost (9 hrs/day) |
|---|---|---|
| $0.098 | $0.0043 | $1.16 |
| $0.172 | $0.0076 | $2.04 |
| $0.265 | $0.0117 | $3.15 |
| $0.341 | $0.0150 | $4.05 |
Even at the highest rate in the table, the fan costs less per hour than a single pocket of loose change. Your own fan will land on one of these rows, give or take a few cents.
Real households rarely hold one setting all day, so a blended example gives a better estimate of what the fan will add to your monthly statement. Picture a fan that runs on low for 4 hours in the morning, on medium for 5 hours at midday and on high for 3 hours during the hottest part of the afternoon.
The three blocks add up to 0.532 units for the day, which costs $0.092 at $0.172. Over 30 days you use 15.96 units and pay about $2.74 per month. That is roughly 35 percent more than the steady medium case, and the whole gap comes from those 3 hours on the top setting, so a few minutes spent choosing a lower step pays off.
A few ideas about fans keep circulating, and each one can lead you to waste either money or comfort. Compare with how much energy does a power shower use.
A fan does not remove heat, so the thermostat reading stays where it was. What changes is how your body sheds warmth, and that is the reason leaving one running in an empty room is pure waste. Turn it off at the door and you cut the energy used without losing any comfort.
Run on low, a fan uses under 0.2 units across a full night, which costs about three cents. The habit that really costs money is leaving the high step on while you are away from home.
A big, slow fan can move the same volume of air as a small, fast one at lower wattage. This is why the efficiency of the blade design and motor matters more than the size of the casing. Look at the airflow rating per watt when the maker gives one.
Fans depend on sweat evaporating, and in damp air that process slows down. When humidity climbs, your fan may feel weaker, and many people respond by raising the speed, which then pushes the cost up. Controlling the moisture first, for example with a dehumidifier, lets the breeze work at a lower step.
You can reproduce every figure in this guide with a pencil and your latest statement. Follow these steps in order.
The last step is the one that people skip, and it is also the only one that changes from one address to another. If your utility publishes a seasonal rate, repeat the sum with each price to see the range. A plug-in meter is handy for this because it also reveals the standby draw that the label never mentions.
Two small fans rarely cost more than one large one if you switch off the one nobody is using. Place a fan near the window to bring in cooler evening air, then switch it to a low step once the temperature indoors has dropped. Good ventilation in the evening does a lot of the work that a stronger fan would otherwise do, and it is the cheapest form of energy saving you have, because it costs nothing at all.
Every habit below lowers the watts or the hours in the cost formula above, so you can save energy without giving up comfort. These habits deliver the biggest savings for a typical household.
When you shop for a new unit, compare the wattage at the speed you will actually use, not only the maximum. Look for an Energy Star label where one exists, a DC motor and a quiet rating. Check the room size too: a fan that suits a small room can waste power if it is oversized, and one that is too weak will end up running on high all summer. Compare with how many watts does an electric furnace use.
A good appliance choice pays back quickly. Even so, the difference between the cheapest and most expensive fans is only a few dollars a season, so pick for noise level and airflow first and efficiency second.
If you want a number you can carry in your head, use these. A fan on its lowest step costs about half a cent per hour and under five cents per day for a long stretch of use. On medium it costs under a cent per hour and about seven cents per day at nine hours. On the top step it reaches roughly a cent and a quarter per hour, and a full waking day of about 12 hours costs near fourteen cents. Keep the unit price in mind as well, since a doubled rate doubles every figure here. Anything much higher than these ranges, such as a draw above 100 watts on a fan this size, suggests an ageing motor or a faulty control board that is worth replacing.