I was wondering if anybody knows how much difference (as far as cost is concerned) in usage and efficiency in trying to keep the cost down if we use a powerful floor fan versus our noisy and old air conditioner system in our rented apartment. In other words, does anybody know how to calculate, or how to start calculating, our price and comfort dilemma?

The room we want to put the fan in is 144 square feet. What output (BTUs?) should the minimum be? Would an industrial floor fan be better than, say, one I get at KMart?

Thanks for your help, and best regards.

Rene
:p

Ok, so you're looking at a 12x12 room: when you say industrial floor fan, are you speaking of something like one of these (http://images.google.com/images?q=industrial+floor+fan%3F&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images)?

Fans don't put out btu; all they can do is move air.

Actually, I really didn't know if industrial would be what I wanted or not... I just thought that being industrial it might blow better or keep the room a little cooler than one we might buy at some department store. The problem is that the air conditioner in the apartment is v-e-r-y loud and we cannot hear the TV; so, we thought that having a fan to keep the room at a comfortable level might be useful. Geez, I just don't know; it's all so complicated! O:)

You can compare the cost of running the two different fans by doing some checking to see if you can find the information on the motors that tells you the Amp usage and the volts of the two motors. Then you do some math.

If one fan is 120 volts and the amps is 2.5 then multiply them to find out the wattage. Then you can call your service provider and find out the cost per kilowatt hour. Do this for the second motor and compare the results.

Now about the difference in fans. A large residentual stand-up fan that ossulates would be all that you would need, but it would not do any cooling. It might make you feel cooler because of the chill factor. And you could have to look at a chart to see what that would be. But it would be something like if you were in a 85 Degree F room and the fan blowing it might feel like 80 degrees F because of the chill factor.