Written by Angela Reviewed by Daniel

Are Bladeless Fans Like Air Conditioners? (do they cool air)

There’s a lot of talk lately about bladeless fans and we get asked many bladeless fan related questions. Questions like are bladeless fans like air conditioners?

The fact is, no fan is like an air conditioner because they work using different principles.

Fans, including bladeless fans move air around the room but don’t change the temperature of that air. You feel cooler when the air from a fan touches your skin and evaporates the sweat that your body has produced because you are overheating.

On the other hand…

Air conditioners actually remove warm air from the room, cool it down and return the cooled air to the room whilst expelling the heat through a vent to the outside.

Let’s take a closer look at both products and see which is best for your situation.

Table of Contents

How Bladeless Fans Make You Feel Cooler

Due to their air multiplier technology, bladeless fans force around 15 times more air in your direction than the take in at the base of the fan.

This large blast of air passes over your skin and allows sweat to evaporate at a faster rate. It’s this evaporation of sweat that cools you down because the air that leaves the fan is at exactly the same temperature as the air that enters the fan.

Bladeless fans might give the impression that they are cooling fans, but that’s just an illusion. They don’t cool the air, which in turn, doesn’t cool the room.

It’s simply that a bladeless fan produces a more powerful and uninterrupted airflow which allows your skin to cool through the evaporation of your sweat.

However, if you were to keep a bladeless fan switched on in a room all day, the air temperature would not cool down at all in that room.

How Portable Air Conditioners Cool A Room

Unlike fans (bladeless or otherwise) a portable air conditioner actually cools the temperature of the room. They work by sucking in warm air from the room, cooling it down and releasing it back into the room.

Whilst removing the heat through a vent to the outside which is usually transported through an exhaust hose that is suspended in an open window.

You often find with a portable air conditioner the room can become too cold if you leave it running too long.

However you will need to buy an air conditioner with a high enough British Thermal Unit (BTU) rating to cope with cooling large areas. If you were to buy a portable air conditioner with too low a BTU rating you would find it wouldn’t work as efficiently as it should.

How Do Bladeless Fans & Portable A/C Units Compare Pricewise?

When looking at any price comparison there’s often more to the price than meets the eye. And that is definitely true when it comes to comparing portable air conditioners with bladeless fans.

The initial cost price is not the only factor to consider although it is significant (more on this later).

What’s just as important here are running costs. Whichever you choose, the fan or A/C is going to be running for many hours during those hot Summer months.

Which means you’ll be clocking up the units on your electricity meter. By their design, portable A/Cs will use considerably more power than a bladeless fan.

Depending on the wattage, a portable A/C unit could cost upwards of three times more to run than a bladeless fan.

Purchase Price

There are many surprisingly reasonably priced portable A/C units available online. Many are around £100 less expensive than brand leading bladeless fans.

However, the most effective A/C units will cost considerably more than a bladeless fan.

How About Portability?

When it comes to how much space taken up and more importantly how easy to move they are, bladeless fans are out and out winners. Even the largest bladeless fan is easier to move than the smallest portable A/C unit.

Bladeless fans can be unplugged and moved from room to room with ease. The weight of a bladeless fan comes in at under 5 kg for the largest and less than ½ kg for the smaller models.

Portable A/Cs are supposed to be portable with many even having castors to facilitate movement. However, they will still be bulky and heavy with many weighing in anywhere between 20-40 kg.

Plus there’s that exhaust hose to consider. Whether it’s lugging it from one room to the next or even just finding a suitable opening to the outside, you can’t forget that hose.

When it comes to Winter storage, again it’s the bladeless fan that comes out on top. Due to their weight and size, A/Cs will take up considerable storage space.

Bladeless fans are often left in position Summer and Winter due to their aesthetically pleasing design.

What About Noise Levels?

It turns out that many portable A/Cs run quieter than many bladeless fans on full power. That said, if you were to run the bladeless fan on a low level, it would be the quietest.

But to compete with our hot Summer temperatures, the bladeless fan wouldn’t be effective at low speed.

Which Is Easier To Use?

A bladeless fan is far easier to use than a portable A/C unit simply because you need to do more to set up an A/C unit.

Bladeless fans can just be plugged in and switched on. A/Cs need to have the exhaust hose attached to the back of the unit, then passed through an open window.

This involves finding a window that’s situated close to a plug socket to ensure the power cord reaches the socket whilst also ensuring the exhaust hose can reach the outside.

You will then need to add a window seal to prevent warm air re-entering the room.

Added to which, A/Cs have more features including:

Timers
Dehumidifiers
Sleep Modes
Temperature Settings
Speed Settings

All of which will need to be set before you can operate the unit.

Which Is Easier To Clean?

Most bladeless fans will need cleaning after around 3 months which is usually at the end of the hot Summer season. They are relatively easy to clean as can be seen by clicking here.

Portable A/Cs on the other hand will usually need to be cleaned every 2 weeks. The air filters will collect a considerable amount of dust which can restrict the airflow. This in turn, reduces the efficiency of the unit.

A/Cs often have 2 filters which are situated one at the top and one at the bottom of the unit. Both should be cleaned at the same time to keep the A/C unit running correctly.

Clearly bladeless fans are easier to clean and need cleaning far less than A/Cs.

So, Are Bladeless Fans The Same As Air Conditioners?

The reality is a bladeless fan just pushes air around at room temperature.

They are not like air conditioners because air conditioners actually remove hot air from the room by expelling it outside, cooling the remaining air down by removing the heat and then recirculating that cool air back into the room.

Bladeless fans are also not like A/Cs because A/Cs are large, bulky, heavy appliances that need to be connected to an exhaust hose that fits through a window.

Whereas a bladeless fan is a far more compact, lightweight appliance that can be placed anywhere (within reason).

So, no, bladeless fans are not like air conditioners. Although, it could be argued that those bladeless fans with HEPA filters do actually condition the air, but that’s just semantics.

Do You Have Any Questions?

Whether you decide to buy a bladeless fan or an air conditioning unit we hope this article has been helpful. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask us in the comments section below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do bladeless fans cool the air?

Bladeless fans don’t cool the air. You feel cooler on a hot day when sitting in front of a bladeless fan because the air flowing across your skin evaporates sweat. However, that air is still at room temperature, the bladeless fan has just concentrated it and directed it towards your sweating skin.

Is a Dyson fan as good as an air conditioner?

A Dyson fan is not as good as an air conditioner because fans are not designed to cool air. Only air conditioners cool air. Fans just push air at room temperature, they do not alter the temperature of the air.

Is there a fan that feels like an air conditioner?

There isn’t a fan that feels like an air conditioner because fans do not cool the air. They don’t remove heat from the room. All a fan does is move air at room temperature. The more power the fan has, it can give the illusion of cooling the air because more air will pass over your sweaty skin which allows evaporation to occur on a larger scale.

Why is my room so hot even with the fan on?

Your room will remain at the same temperature whether you have a fan on or not. Fans are not designed to cool rooms. All a fan does is move air around under force. To cool the room you would need an air conditioning unit (A/C).

Does a fan cool a room with no one in it?

A fan will not cool a room whether there’s anyone in it or not. Fans do not cool the air. All they do is push air around under pressure. But that air is still at room temperature. Only an Air Conditioner (A/C) will cool a room.

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