Vonhaus 18″ Floor Fan Review
A powerful yet noisy floor fan
Verdict
The Vonhaus 18″ Floor Fan is too noisy, too basic, and just too blowy for the average home. Its functional design is more industrial loft space than country cottage, and it lacks convenient features such as oscillation, a remote control and timer. At full chat it sounds like a light aeroplane, and at any speed it’s surprisingly power hungry. But while it’s something of a brute, that’s reflected in its prodigious ability to simply move air about.
Pros
- Extremely powerful air circulation
- Straightforward design
Cons
- Limited controls
- High power consumption
- Noisy
Availability
- UKRRP: £49.99
Key Features
- TypeThis is a floor fan, designed to sit on the floor blowing air upwards at you.
Introduction
Vonhaus has a track record of producing effective, affordable fans. The Vonhaus 18″ Floor Fan looks set to continue this run. It’s a simple device, designed to sit on the floor and do one thing well: move huge amounts of air.
If you’re looking for a quiet bedroom fan, this isn’t it. Its controls are basic, it uses plenty of power and it has no concept of a gentle breeze. However, if you’re after a reliable way to circulate air in a large space, Vonhaus has you covered.
Design and Features
- Has an industrial appeal
- Manually tilt it up or down
- Don’t expect any smart features
At less than £50 this isn’t an expensive fan, and it certainly isn’t overflowing with features. From the front there’s nothing but functional steel blades set within a smart black metal grille. The whole fan assembly is mounted on a stable floor stand, and can pivot vertically through roughly 135 degrees – from slightly downwards, all the way back to almost diagonally backwards.
Look around the back of the fan and on the motor housing you’ll find a set of four radio buttons that control power and speed. Look harder and you’ll spot two hooks to stow the power cord, and a simple carrying handle.
There are literally no other controls or features. While many room fans offer automatic oscillation, remote control or a sleep timer, the Vonhaus has nothing of the sort. It’s very much designed to be left alone to get on with the serious business of moving air from one side of the room to another.
Performance
- Really not a quiet fan
- Incredibly powerful breezes
- Comparatively high power consumption
Turn on this 18-inch floor fan and the first thing that will strike you is that you wouldn’t want it in the bedroom. Even at its lowest speed it sounds like your neighbour mowing the lawn, while at full tilt it’s like a light aeroplane taxiing. One-metre away on the lowest setting I measured it at 65.5dB. Just 15cm away I measured the same, thanks to the comparative shelter provided by the Vonhaus roundel on the front cover.
The blustering from powerful fans often inflates their noise level, so I also measure at an angle of 90 degrees, completely out of the airflow. Here, the Vonhaus recorded 50.5dB at 15cm, and 40dB at 1m. At minimum speed, the fan consumed a steady 68 watts (W) – almost twice what we’d expect from a typical tower or pedestal fan. However, one advantage of this fan’s purely mechanical controls is that you can pair it with a smart socket – such as the TP-Link Tapo P100 – to turn it on and off from an app.
Switched to the top speed, this fan’s power consumption increased to 99W – roughly the same as 10 low-energy light bulbs. The sound output stepped up to about 67dB measured in front – again, the roundel hushed the 15cm measurement. At a right angle, I measured 55.2dB at 15cm, dropping to 43.4dB at 1m. In reality, while the fan isn’t deafening, you’d need to raise your voice to hold a conversation in the same room.
The plus side to the comparatively high noise and power consumption is that this fan produces an incredibly strong breeze. Even at the low setting, it creates a diffuse and powerful movement of blustery air. The fact that you can feel it even several metres away, well off-centre, hints at the impressive volume of air being pushed around.
The measurements back it up. On full speed, my anemometer recorded an astonishing 7.4 metres per second (m/s) from 15cm away. One metre away, this fell to 4.8m/s, and even 2m away I recorded a strong 2.4m/s. At the lowest setting, I measured ‘just’ 6m/s from up close, falling to 4.3m/s at a 1m, and 1.8m/s at 2m. It’s one of the strongest fans we’ve measured.
Conclusion
It’s basic, power-hungry and like living next to an airport, but is the Vonhaus 18” Matte Black Metal Floor Fan worth buying? The answer depends on what you need from a fan. If you’re after a civilised way to waft air round the bedroom on summer nights, you’ll want something else from our list of best fans, such as the MeacoFan 1056P
The same is true if you’re after features. With no remote control, you’ll have to walk up to this fan to change its speed. Without oscillation, you’ll need to turn or tilt it manually to point it somewhere else. And with no sleep timer… well, you won’t be able to sleep anyway.
But if you have a big room, or a tall hallway, or a small marquee prone to overheating in the summer, the Vonhaus 18” Floor Fan could prove ideal. Its ability to point straight up lets it circulate air without strong drafts. Its huge power helps it to make a difference to the biggest rooms, and its taxiway chatter should get lost somewhat among a room full of guests.
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Should you buy it?
This fan is only interested in moving lots of air. If that’s what you need – and if you don’t mind using something loud and basic – this is a great choice.
There are quieter, more efficient, more fully featured fans out there. This one is just too loud and powerful for bedrooms or smaller rooms, and its basic controls may be a limitation elsewhere.
Verdict
The Vonhaus 18″ Floor Fan is too noisy, too basic, and just too blowy for the average home. Its functional design is more industrial loft space than country cottage, and it lacks convenient features such as oscillation, a remote control and timer. At full chat it sounds like a light aeroplane, and at any speed it’s surprisingly power hungry. But while it is something of a brute, that’s reflected in its prodigious ability to simply move air about.
FAQs
Rather than blowing air at face or body height, floor fans help circulate air, moving the cooler air at the floor around the room to help cool and refresh.
Not as such. Fans move air around, so they can help push hot air out of your home and bring in cool air, and they help sweat evaporate to make you feel cooler, but they can’t lower the temperature of a room.
You can manually angle the fan and point it in the direction you want it to blow, but there’s no oscillation.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
