28 October 2014

Your Fan has a Remote? Whatever Gives You a Chill

Seville Classics Ultra Slimline Tower Fan



Whether from old age or indignities suffered at the hands of movers, our old tower fan had begun rattling like a '77 Chevette accidentally fueled with diesel. We wanted our fan to be quiet, though, because we used it in the master bedroom to augment  the A/C's somewhat anemic circulation at night.  It wasn't, so “ new tower fan" went down on our shopping list.

We found this Seville Classics Ultra Slimline Tower Fan bundled in a twofer at our local Costco, packaged with a the sixteen-inch "personal" fan that the Ms keeps on the kitchen counter now. The big one includes a remote control (the necessary pair of AAA batteries included) that you can  hook onto the rear of the unit for storage. Seville's package blurbs boast that their fan is "ultra-quiet" and features "ECO SPEED." The bit about quiet is important, and  mostly true. The "ECO" business is the same sort of gimmick as "natural" supposedly meaning "coming from (somewhere) in nature"; hoping people will confuse it with “organic” (whatever that means).


Controls

Besides having a four speed-motor, the fan’s timer can be set for up to 7-1/2 hours in increments of a half hour. Naturally, it will oscillate through five different arc widths and it can also be run on either of two variable patterns: "sleeping wind," reduces fan speed speed by one step every half hour, "natural wind," follows a changes wind speed according to a pseudo-random pattern. The patterns vary a bit depending on the fan speed.

Assembly

The fan is partially assembled in the box; requiring just a Phillips screwdriver for attaching base to tower. Including the base and control panel, the fan stands 40 inches tall, including  27” that’s vented. The column is 6-1/2” in diameter and stands on a round base a foot  in diameter. Power is delivered through a a 6-foot cord routed through the base.

We run ours eight or more hours a night during A/C season (about nine months a year) and it’s as quiet as when we bought it more than three years ago. Having adjustable oscillation means that we aren’t cooling the the closet or the dresser; just letting it swing back and forth over the bed. Even on its low setting (as opposed to "ECO") setting, the Seville pushes plenty of air; enough that there’s a significant breeze ten feet away, even on LOW, and does so quietly. The control panel has a cluster of faint green LEDs, which are almost the only way to tell that it's on.

I like this fan because it's quiet and the settings give me lots of options. Even if I only run it on "LOW" with the swing turned on, it's good to know there are additional choices. The included remote manages all functions including oscillation, though it is basically never used. Considering that the bundle of two fans cost just a couple of dollars more than the fan it replaced, it's proven to be a pretty good deal.

Summary

Plus: quiet, timer, multiple speeds and ranges of oscillation ranges
Minus: different "wind" options are silly, a tad top-heavy, who needs a remote?
What They're Saying: Our old fan now blows hot air around in the garage now that we have a Seville Classic Ultra Slimline Tower Fan.


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