What do tower fan makers publish about noise levels?
Tower fan noise levels are the maker's word alone, because nobody checks them. ENERGY STAR has no category for tower fans, so there is no certified figure and no directory to check a claim against. Every figure from Lasko, Levoit, Vornado, Dreo and Dyson on this page is therefore the maker's word alone.
The makers fall into four groups.
Both ends, as two figures.
Lasko lists a low and a high figure for most of its tower fans, in a unit it writes as dBa. Levoit prints a range, 25 to 48dB, in its manuals. Our Levoit fan decibels page quotes the figure for every Levoit fan, towers included, with the condition Levoit states for each.
Every speed.
Vornado lists a dBA figure for each speed, highest first. The OSCR37 is 52, 49, 45 and 41. The ARA is 60, 53, 45, 40 and 39.
The quiet end only.
Dreo's product page says as quiet as 25 dB, with a footnote: tested under internal laboratory conditions at lowest speed setting.
Nothing.
Honeywell's QuietSet page gives no decibel figure. Neither does Pelonis for its 40-inch fan.
Units differ as well. Vornado and Dyson write dBA, Lasko writes dBa, and Levoit and Dreo write plain dB with no weighting. Each tower fan figure keeps its maker's unit here, and a dBa from Lasko is not read as a dB from Dreo.
How quiet is the Dreo Pilot Max S?
Dreo gives the Pilot Max S two different figures for its lowest speed: as quiet as 25 dB on its product page, and about 35dB on its support page.
Dreo's Pilot Max S is advertised as quiet as 25 dB at its lowest speed. Dreo's own support page for that fan answers the question "why is the tower fan not quiet?" with a different number: the noise level is about 35dB at the lowest speed. The same support answer appears for the cheaper Nomad One, whose product page gives no figure at all.
Our Dreo fan decibels page gathers every figure Dreo prints for its tower, pedestal and table fans, each with the condition Dreo states, and ranks them only where they are like for like.
Ten decibels is a large gap. We do not know which figure is right, so the guide quotes both and ranks the fan on its features.
Lasko has a smaller problem of its own. Most of its spec tables are careful, but one DC model we looked at lists its high-speed noise as 0 dBa, which is plainly a data-entry error. We left models like that out.
Are DC tower fans quieter?
Yes, DC tower fans are quieter on Lasko's own figures, which put its DC towers fifteen decibels below its best-known AC model on low.
The clearest evidence comes from inside one brand. Lasko lists its DC tower fans at 23 to 24 dBa on low. It lists its best-known AC model, the Wind Curve, at 39 dBa on low. Same maker, same way of reporting, fifteen decibels apart.
Our page listing every Lasko fan's figure ranks all of Lasko's current towers by their Noise dB-Low and Noise dB-High rows, and the EcoQuiet's 23 and 46 dBa is the lowest pair among them.
DC fans also give you more speeds. Every DC fan in this guide has 12, and the AC fans have 3 or 4. More steps between quiet and loud means you are less likely to be stuck choosing between too little air and too much noise.
The same split shows up on the desk: our desk fan guide finds Lasko listing its DC Whirlwind at 26 dBa on low against 35.5 for the AC version.
They use less power too. Lasko puts the EcoQuiet motor's saving at over 60% of the energy a similar AC tower fan uses, and its listed draw tops out at 19 watts.
A tower fan's low and high figures both matter in a bedroom: the low figure at 3 am, and the high figure at bedtime, when the room is still warm.
The low figure matters at 3 am. The World Health Organization's community noise guidelines recommend less than 30 dB(A) in bedrooms at night for good sleep. On the makers' own numbers, only the Lasko DC fans, the Levoit Classics and, by one of its two figures, the Dreo sit under that, and only on their lowest speed.
If you would rather raise the air to mattress height on a stand, our pedestal fan guide covers Lasko's DC pedestals, listed at 23, 24 and 25 dBa on low.
The high figure matters at bedtime, when the room is still warm and the fan is working. This is where the EcoQuiet stands out: 46 dBa at full speed. The Levoits list 48dB, the Ascend 54.5 dBa, and the Vornado ARA 60 dBA.
To see how Lasko's 23 to 24 dBa on low and the EcoQuiet's 46 dBa on high compare with a whisper or a fridge hum, see our decibel chart.
If you live somewhere dry and want cooler air rather than only moving air, our evaporative cooler guide covers swamp coolers, which Honeywell says work best below 60% relative humidity, and explains why the low-speed figure is the one to watch at night.
Look beyond the fan noise as well. A bright display and a beep at every button press will bother a light sleeper as much as the motor, and the next section reads each manual for what the sleep mode, the display and the timer do once the lights are off.
What does a tower fan's sleep mode actually do?
A tower fan's sleep mode depends on the maker: most lower the speed over time, some dim or switch off the display, and one starts on High. After lights out a fan is judged on four things the headline figure skips: the speed it settles on, its sleep mode, whether the display can go dark, and when it switches off.
Lasko says the EcoQuiet's Night Mode lowers the speed and dims the panel, but not by how much.
The Ascend's manual says its Sleep Mode shuts the display off while the speed gradually decreases, and the manual for the Lasko Pinnacle 40-inch DC, which we did not rank, puts it as "The display will shut off and the speed will gradually decrease as you sleep".
Levoit's Advanced Sleep Mode starts at the speed you were using, eases it down after an hour, then follows the room, up a level if it warms by 2 degrees F and down one if it cools by 2, so it can get louder on its own.
Dreo's support page says the Pilot Max S steps down every 30 minutes and holds at level 3, 2 or 1.
Lasko's Wind Curve manual says its Nighttime feature dims the lights by 50% and runs the fan on High for one hour, Medium for one hour, then Low: the first hour of its sleep mode is its loudest setting.
Displays and beeps
The Ascend's display dimmer has four settings, the last of them Off. Levoit switches the display and the button sounds off after 5 seconds in sleep mode. The EcoQuiet's Night Mode only dims the panel, and Dreo says the Pilot Max S display adapts to the room's light, which is not off.
The Pinnacle, listed by Lasko at 24 dBa on low and 54 dBa on high, has the same dimmer down to Off plus a base night light you can leave off or set to 100%, 80%, 50% or 10%.
Steady or changing
Lasko says Nature Mode "replicates natural wind by varying the fan speed randomly", and the Auto modes on the Lasko and Levoit fans follow the room temperature. If a change in sound wakes you, a fixed low speed and the timer beat any mode: 8 hours on the EcoQuiet, up to 12 on the Ascend, the Levoit Classic 36 and the Dreo, up to 24 on the Pinnacle.
Which pick
The EcoQuiet for the lowest pair of figures, the Ascend for a room with no glow, the Levoit if you can sleep through a speed change. The Vornado OSCR37 lists no sleep or night mode and a slowest speed of 41 dBA, so it is for daytime.
Box fans and ceiling fans are measured at different settings; our box fan guide and the bedroom section of our ceiling fan guide take each in its own type.
How much does the quietest tower fan cost?
The quietest tower fan on paper costs under $100. The Lasko EcoQuiet and the Lasko Ascend both sit here, with DC motors and two-year warranties.
Around $100 to $130 adds app control and smarter sleep modes: the two Levoits and the Dreo Pilot Max S. The Vornado OSCR37 is in this range too, and what it adds is airflow and a five-year guarantee.
Near $290, the Vornado ARA is a different kind of fan: far more airflow, a metal body, and a figure for every speed. For a bedroom alone, it is more fan than you need.
Spending more does not buy a lower published figure. The most expensive fan we checked, a Dyson purifier fan, has the highest low-speed figure of all.
How do you make a tower fan quieter?
A tower fan stays quieter on a hard, level floor, at the lowest comfortable speed, kept clean and never on a dimmer.
Stand it on a hard, level floor. Levoit's manual gives this as the fix for a fan that makes noise while running.
Use the lowest speed that keeps you comfortable. Dreo's support page says it directly: the higher the setting, the louder the fan.
Keep it clean. Lasko says to clean its fans only with a vacuum and a brush attachment, and never to take them apart. The Lasko Ascend's mesh filter and the Levoit's removable back cover make this easier.
Do not plug it into a dimmer
Levoit's manual warns against using the fan with a solid-state speed control such as a dimmer switch. It also says not to place the fan in a window.
What mistakes do buyers make with tower fans?
The usual tower fan mistakes are comparing "as low as" figures, trusting the word quiet in a name, paying more for less noise, saving on an AC fan and trusting marketplace listings.
They all describe the lowest speed. The useful question is what the fan sounds like on high, and only a few makers answer it.
Buying on the word quiet in the name
Honeywell's QuietSet publishes no decibel figure.
Paying more for less noise
On published figures, the quietest fan here costs under $100.
Choosing an AC fan to save a little
Lasko's AC Wind Curve costs the same as its DC EcoQuiet and is listed 16 dBa louder on low.
Trusting marketplace listings
Decibel figures in listing titles for Dreo and Pelonis fans do not appear on those makers' own pages.
Before you weigh Levoit's 25dB against Lasko's 23 dBa, note that one is plain dB, the other Lasko's dBa, and neither maker gives a distance; our page on comparing decibel ratings explains why that matters.
A tower fan that stands beside a bed at 3 am faces a different test from one in a living room, and how quiet is quiet enough gives the bedside tower and the living room tower separate targets.
If a tower fan you own still rattles on a hard, level floor at a low speed, the remaining suspects for a noisy tower are listed in why your appliance got louder.
