Why is each garage fan brand ranked only against itself?
Garage fan makers print decibels under different conditions, and only Big Ass Fans names one, so a figure from one brand cannot fairly sit next to a figure from another.
Air King prints a dB A figure for each speed with no distance. It says its fans are tested to AMCA standard 230-99, which covers airflow, and it does not tie that test to the decibel column.
Vornado prints three numbers per fan with no speed labels and no distance. Lasko prints a High and a Low figure, also without distance.
Big Ass Fans footnotes every cutsheet: "Fans are sound tested at maximum speed in a laboratory environment." That is a condition, but no other maker shares it.
So the picks fall into four brand groups, and inside each group a high speed is set only against another high speed, and a low only against a low.
How loud is an Air King garage fan on each speed?
Air King garage fans print from 36 dBA on Low, for the 12 in. 9012 wall fan, to 75 on High, for the 30 in. 9230 floor fan and 9030 wall fan, each speed listed separately.
These are Air King's figures for the fans most likely to hang in a garage, High / Med / Low as printed, with Quiet in place of Low on the two quiet models:
| Fan | Size and mount | dB A, High / Med / Low |
|---|
| 9012 | 12 in. commercial wall | 45 / 41 / 36 |
| 9018 | 18 in. commercial wall | 51 / 48 / 43 |
| 9220 | 20 in. floor | 62 / 55 / 48 |
| 9020 | 20 in. industrial wall | 62 / 55 / 48 |
| 99539 | 24 in. quiet wall | 69 / 65 / 48 |
| 9071 | 24 in. industrial wall | 69 / 67 / 59 |
| 9024 | 24 in. industrial wall | 72 / 69 / 64 |
| 99538 | 30 in. quiet wall | 68 / 64 / 50 |
| 9230 | 30 in. floor | 75 / 71 / 67 |
The table shows two patterns. Size raises the figures, as expected, but the two Quiet models break the pattern at the bottom: both drop to 48 or 50, close to the 20 in. fans, while moving 2,280 and 3,450 CFM.
The 99538 is also the only 30 in. fan that prints a lower High than a 24 in. one, 68 against the 99539's 69. Air King gives the quiet pair a much slower bottom speed, 480 and 530 RPM, against 673 to 860 RPM on Low for the regular 24 and 30 in. wall fans.
Is a quiet garage wall fan quieter than a floor fan?
No, a garage wall fan prints the same as its floor or pedestal twin at Air King: 62 / 55 / 48 dBA for the 20 in. 9020 and 9220, and 69 / 65 / 48 for the 99539 and 99533.
Air King prints the same motor rating, speed and airflow for each pair, so a wall bracket or a stand changes where the air goes, not what the spec sheet says.
A wall fan does keep cords and a stand off a floor that sees creepers, carts and tires. In a garage with a car in it, the 99539 on a wall bracket above head height leaves the floor clear and can sweep 90 degrees across both bays.
Air King's quiet pair also comes on a pedestal, the 99532 at 30 in. and the 99533 at 24 in., on stands that adjust within 54 to 80 in.
What is the quietest shop fan?
Vornado's BXR HD prints the lowest top figure in Vornado's heavy duty shop fans, 52 dBA, and Lasko's U15617 utility blower prints 57.6 on High; the two brands are not ranked against each other.
Vornado prints these figures, with no speed labels, for four of its heavy duty fans with IP54 motors; its EXO5 page showed no specification table when we read it:
- BXR HD: 52/47/45 dBA, 873/518 CFM
- EXO61: 60/57/51 dBA, 1168/980/747 CFM
- EXO51: 62/42/38 dBA, 786/680/572 CFM
- RTR HD: 63/56/49 dBA, 1082/833/557 CFM
Each fan's watts row falls in the same order, so we read each list from high to low. On that reading, the BXR HD is lowest at the top and the EXO51 is lowest at the bottom, at 38.
The EXO51 has a 20 dBA drop from its top speed to its middle one, the largest gap in the line. On October 26 vornado.com listed the EXO51 as out of stock, which is why it is not a pick.
A small blower for one spot
Lasko's U15617 is a different kind of shop fan: a pivoting blower rated up to 375 CFM that points air at a floor, an engine bay or one person at a bench.
Lasko prints its High and Low figures, 57.6 and 52.3 dBa, and leaves the middle speed out. Two outlets on its housing let it power a tool or a second fan from the same cord.
How loud are large garage fans from Big Ass Fans?
Big Ass Fans floor fans print 64 to 78.2 dBA at maximum speed in a laboratory, with the eight foot AirGo lowest and the Black Jack highest.
From the cutsheets, each at max speed:
- AirGo, eight feet tall: 64 dBA
- AirEye, 24 in.: 69 dBA
- AirEye, 36 in.: 72 dBA
- Yellow Jacket, 30 in.: 76.6 dBA
- Black Jack, 6.5 feet: 78.2 dBA
All five share the same footnote, so these do rank against each other. The AirGo is the lowest, but it weighs 425 lb and costs $10,999, which puts it in warehouses rather than garages.
The 24 in. AirEye at 69 dBA is the smallest Big Ass Fans floor fan with a printed figure. The AirEye cutsheet shows no figure on its 20 or 30 in. rows, so we do not assume one.
Big Ass Fans prints nothing for slow speeds. A fan that runs well below its maximum most of the day should be quieter than its cutsheet number, but the maker does not say by how much.
Is a ceiling fan quieter in a garage?
No published figure shows a garage ceiling fan to be quieter, because Big Ass Fans prints only an upper limit of 35 dBA at max speed for its Haiku fans, and a limit cannot be ranked.
The Haiku, the Haiku L and the i6 all carry that limit, written with a less-than sign in front of the 35. A limit says the fan stays below 35, not where below it sits, so we quote it and leave it unranked.
A ceiling fan also needs headroom. Over a garage door track or a car lift, a 52 in. blade may not fit, and then a wall or floor fan is the only option.
Milwaukee and most of Lasko's garage fan pages give no usable decibel figure, and iLIVING prints a range too wide to read, so none of those fans could be ranked.
Lasko's page for its 20 in. Max Performance high velocity fan with a wall mount shows "Noise dB-High 0 dBa", a blank spec field. The pages for its A20303, A20562, H20685, A20700 and A20100 air circulators show no noise row.
Milwaukee's US page for the M18 Jobsite Fan, 0886-20, lists airflow and run time but no decibels. Hessaire's site lists evaporative coolers and cooler parts, with no plain fans in its menus.
iLIVING lists "Sound Level: 5 to 68 dB" for its ILG8M24-70EC 24 in. floor fan, a range that starts below the hearing threshold of most adults, so we quote it and leave it out of the picks.
