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Post by Jordan U on Sept 28, 2014 19:04:54 GMT -5
I love the motor in these! Those blades look like ones off a Lasko/Air King. These do have serious motors in them! I think the only point of failure of these units is the blade set breaking due to aging plastic, the motors usually hold up. |
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Post by Jordan U on Sept 28, 2014 19:06:27 GMT -5
They are. The blade was conceived by Vernco in the late 70's. Vernco made a lot of fans for Sears, this would be one of their later models before vanishing into history. The blade and motor and some other design features were then picked up by Air King in the 90's. What kind of motor did Air King use in these fans? |
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Dob
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Post by Dob on Sept 28, 2014 23:16:54 GMT -5
They are. The blade was conceived by Vernco in the late 70's. Vernco made a lot of fans for Sears, this would be one of their later models before vanishing into history. The blade and motor and some other design features were then picked up by Air King in the 90's. What kind of motor did Air King use in these fans? Same exact motor, Emerson. |
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Post by Jordan U on Sept 29, 2014 6:33:37 GMT -5
Are there any companies that still make a 20 inch unit with the plastic blade? I looked around, and all I could find was a 16 inch version from Lasko.
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Dob
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Post by Dob on Sept 29, 2014 6:50:07 GMT -5
Are there any companies that still make a 20 inch unit with the plastic blade? I looked around, and all I could find was a 16 inch version from Lasko. No. That blade has been discontinued. |
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Post by Jordan U on Sept 29, 2014 8:00:03 GMT -5
No. That blade has been discontinued. I wonder if the blades flying apart has something to do with the fact that when you turn the fan off, all the heat from the motor just been running sits inside the center of the blade causing the plastic to become more brittle. I know the sun can deteriorate plastic, its probably not getting into the center of the blade as much as the heat is. |
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Dob
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Post by Dob on Sept 29, 2014 18:08:22 GMT -5
No. That blade has been discontinued. I wonder if the blades flying apart has something to do with the fact that when you turn the fan off, all the heat from the motor just been running sits inside the center of the blade causing the plastic to become more brittle. I know the sun can deteriorate plastic, its probably not getting into the center of the blade as much as the heat is. Plastic is only good for so many years. It dries out and becomes brittle. Sun light and heat just accelerates this process. I have had plastic things packed away, no where near any source of heat or sun light and they still turned yellow and became brittle. |
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Post by Jordan U on Sept 29, 2014 20:33:03 GMT -5
Plastic is only good for so many years. It dries out and becomes brittle. Sun light and heat just accelerates this process. I have had plastic things packed away, no where near any source of heat or sun light and they still turned yellow and became brittle. This is true. The hub of the blades are constantly drawing away the heat from the motor, so its exposed to plenty of heat to speed up the process. Nothing beats good old metal blades! |
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Dob
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Post by Dob on Sept 30, 2014 8:28:44 GMT -5
Plastic is only good for so many years. It dries out and becomes brittle. Sun light and heat just accelerates this process. I have had plastic things packed away, no where near any source of heat or sun light and they still turned yellow and became brittle. This is true. The hub of the blades are constantly drawing away the heat from the motor, so its exposed to plenty of heat to speed up the process. Nothing beats good old metal blades! I should also add that not all plastic is awful. There are some that are crap, mostly used on box fans and such, and then there's some that is seemingly resilient to aging. Other than the extremely brittle grilles on this very unusual fan, the plastic is in surprisingly good shape, still very flexible and sturdy. No idea what kind of plastic it is, but it's definitely not the soft crap used on the later Lakewood box fans and it's not extremely hard like the Lexan blades used on those colorful table fans.  |
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Post by Jordan U on Sept 30, 2014 13:41:06 GMT -5
I should also add that not all plastic is awful. There are some that are crap, mostly used on box fans and such, and then there's some that is seemingly resilient to aging. Other than the extremely brittle grilles on this very unusual fan, the plastic is in surprisingly good shape, still very flexible and sturdy. No idea what kind of plastic it is, but it's definitely not the soft crap used on the later Lakewood box fans and it's not extremely hard like the Lexan blades used on those colorful table fans. That is one odd unit! If it's yours, I'd love to see more pictures of it! Who made it? I have a Lakewood box fan, 2nd generation, and I have nothing wrong with the blade. Its reasonably flexible and sturdy, not deteriorated. The grill has a bit of a brittle feel to it, but nothing has ever broken off of it. Those desk fans, those blades are pretty hard. I could see those breaking easily if it takes a fall. What I find ironic, on my Dayton desk fan with the wide blue blades, it has an "Unbreakable" label on the center of the blade set. Ironic! |
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Dob
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Posts: 336
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Post by Dob on Sept 30, 2014 15:11:48 GMT -5
I should also add that not all plastic is awful. There are some that are crap, mostly used on box fans and such, and then there's some that is seemingly resilient to aging. Other than the extremely brittle grilles on this very unusual fan, the plastic is in surprisingly good shape, still very flexible and sturdy. No idea what kind of plastic it is, but it's definitely not the soft crap used on the later Lakewood box fans and it's not extremely hard like the Lexan blades used on those colorful table fans. That is one odd unit! If it's yours, I'd love to see more pictures of it! Who made it? I have a Lakewood box fan, 2nd generation, and I have nothing wrong with the blade. Its reasonably flexible and sturdy, not deteriorated. The grill has a bit of a brittle feel to it, but nothing has ever broken off of it. Those desk fans, those blades are pretty hard. I could see those breaking easily if it takes a fall. What I find ironic, on my Dayton desk fan with the wide blue blades, it has an "Unbreakable" label on the center of the blade set. Ironic! When I speak of a soft blade, I talk about how the blade is too soft to efficiently move air, or if the blade is too stiff where it becomes brittle or is easy to break. This 4 bladed oddball seems to avoid both of those. The blade is sturdy so it maintains its shape at high RPM while being soft enough where it won't shatter from shock or vibration. That's why I don't care for most plastic box fans, especially the later ones. I had a 90's Lakewood that we bought brand new. I could literally fold the blade in half (DO NOT TRY THIS.) without snapping it. Now think about what that blade will do under load at their rated RPM. It flexes in the wind, loses pitch and wobbles, causing the famous box fan vibration. This thing is made by Fasco. It's branded Arctic Aire, model 200. I have the only one known to exist right now, bought it off a YouTuber.    |
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Post by Jordan U on Oct 2, 2014 6:47:31 GMT -5
When I speak of a soft blade, I talk about how the blade is too soft to efficiently move air, or if the blade is too stiff where it becomes brittle or is easy to break. This 4 bladed oddball seems to avoid both of those. The blade is sturdy so it maintains its shape at high RPM while being soft enough where it won't shatter from shock or vibration. That's why I don't care for most plastic box fans, especially the later ones. I had a 90's Lakewood that we bought brand new. I could literally fold the blade in half (DO NOT TRY THIS.) without snapping it. Now think about what that blade will do under load at their rated RPM. It flexes in the wind, loses pitch and wobbles, causing the famous box fan vibration. This thing is made by Fasco. It's branded Arctic Aire, model 200. I have the only one known to exist right now, bought it off a YouTuber. (Picture1) (Picture2) (Picture3) On my Lakewood P-223, the blade shape keeps them quite sturdy. I have a Lasko 3733 from 1999 or 2000, and that has filmy blade syndrome very badly, as you noted the blades have the resilience of thick paper at best. Granted, that fan has the better motor in it and moves a decent amount of air, so I'm sure its not half as bad as what they put out today. I don't think I've hard of Arctic Aire before, and I've definitely never seen one of those before, so its a rare one for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the only one existing. It looks like it would be fairly powerful, is it a good performer? |
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Dob
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Post by Dob on Oct 2, 2014 7:51:31 GMT -5
When I speak of a soft blade, I talk about how the blade is too soft to efficiently move air, or if the blade is too stiff where it becomes brittle or is easy to break. This 4 bladed oddball seems to avoid both of those. The blade is sturdy so it maintains its shape at high RPM while being soft enough where it won't shatter from shock or vibration. That's why I don't care for most plastic box fans, especially the later ones. I had a 90's Lakewood that we bought brand new. I could literally fold the blade in half (DO NOT TRY THIS.) without snapping it. Now think about what that blade will do under load at their rated RPM. It flexes in the wind, loses pitch and wobbles, causing the famous box fan vibration. This thing is made by Fasco. It's branded Arctic Aire, model 200. I have the only one known to exist right now, bought it off a YouTuber. (Picture1) (Picture2) (Picture3) On my Lakewood P-223, the blade shape keeps them quite sturdy. I have a Lasko 3733 from 1999 or 2000, and that has filmy blade syndrome very badly, as you noted the blades have the resilience of thick paper at best. Granted, that fan has the better motor in it and moves a decent amount of air, so I'm sure its not half as bad as what they put out today. I don't think I've hard of Arctic Aire before, and I've definitely never seen one of those before, so its a rare one for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the only one existing. It looks like it would be fairly powerful, is it a good performer? The best plastic blade Lakewood made is their second generation P-223 blade from the 80's. This one moves the most amount of air quietly, of course it still suffers from the same vibration they all do but this is basically inevitable. It's the type of flexible plastic they used and the process of injection moulding they used. They're just not the best they can be. The first generation blade is pitiful in air movement and the third generation and so on is crap. Good motors but crap blade. The best common plastic blade box fan would belong to Lasko with their D-shaped blade and their later metal motor. Preferably the ones from the early 90's with the strap handle. Lasko also had their ups and downs with their plastic motors...but their blade is superior in air movement. The only reason I still own two of them, my blue one and another one from the 90's which I use as a workhorse. Hunter's 20" 7-wing box fan blade weighs in at second place just because it's harder to find compared to the Lasko. More powerful though. As for this Fasco/Arctic Aire, it's performance is on par with a metal blade box fan. It completely out performs Lakewood, Lasko and even Hunter's 7 wing blade. So far, it's the most powerful plastic blade box fan I have come across. The best part about it is the fact that this fan has NO VIBRATION. It runs smooth as silk! The motor is very powerful and spins the blade up relatively quickly. I am guessing the motor was meant for a metal blade but they used a plastic blade on it instead. Now for the downsides... There isn't much of a difference between high and low. It's noticeable, but barely. Also, being such an odd shape, the fan happens to be very loud. It's not unpleasant sounding but it's certainly noticeable when watching movies and playing music. Here's some literature.  Tried to find the video of the fan on YouTube but I don't see it up anymore. I guess the person I bought it from took the video down. |
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Post by Jordan U on Oct 2, 2014 8:11:26 GMT -5
The best plastic blade Lakewood made is their second generation P-223 blade from the 80's. This one moves the most amount of air quietly, of course it still suffers from the same vibration they all do but this is basically inevitable. It's the type of flexible plastic they used and the process of injection moulding they used. They're just not the best they can be. The first generation blade is pitiful in air movement and the third generation and so on is crap. Good motors but crap blade. The best common plastic blade box fan would belong to Lasko with their D-shaped blade and their later metal motor. Preferably the ones from the early 90's with the strap handle. Lasko also had their ups and downs with their plastic motors...but their blade is superior in air movement. The only reason I still own two of them, my blue one and another one from the 90's which I use as a workhorse. Hunter's 20" 7-wing box fan blade weighs in at second place just because it's harder to find compared to the Lasko. More powerful though. As for this Fasco/Arctic Aire, it's performance is on par with a metal blade box fan. It completely out performs Lakewood, Lasko and even Hunter's 7 wing blade. So far, it's the most powerful plastic blade box fan I have come across. The best part about it is the fact that this fan has NO VIBRATION. It runs smooth as silk! The motor is very powerful and spins the blade up relatively quickly. I am guessing the motor was meant for a metal blade but they used a plastic blade on it instead. Now for the downsides... There isn't much of a difference between high and low. It's noticeable, but barely. Also, being such an odd shape, the fan happens to be very loud. It's not unpleasant sounding but it's certainly noticeable when watching movies and playing music. Here's some literature. Tried to find the video of the fan on YouTube but I don't see it up anymore. I guess the person I bought it from took the video down. You've got the ad for it too? Nice! The picture isn't large enough to read the text, but 1970 is pretty early for plastic blades, must have been one of the first. Would explain why its so sturdy. I have a 3rd generation "banana blade" Toastmaster box fan. While it moves about as much air as the Lakewood, its bloody loud and you can just see the blade flexing around as it runs on medium or high. I agree, those Lasko D blades are pretty good. Even though they went really cheap with the plastic motors for a while, they still were built properly and last forever. |
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Post by mome1191 on Apr 11, 2017 10:25:17 GMT -5
Hello. I bought a house which has a huge vintage attic fan. The company is EAGLE PICHER WITH 13,300 CFM. I'm looking to sell it, but appreciate any info.
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