Achla Designs Room-to-Room Minuteman Doorway Fan

I have a ventless gas heater in a back room of my garage which heats the back room where my laundry and wash basin is located. I have to heat the garage due to pipes and a home woodshop. I typically keep the temperature at around 50 degrees in the winter, however the heat gathers in the ceiling of the back room and the front of the garage hovers around the 38 degree mark during the winter. My solution is to place a box fan to circulate the air. This is not ideal or efficient. So I bought on of those corner fans from HD that are placed in the doorway, the one shaped like a bloated triangle. That fan was so loud I couldn't stand to work in the shop with it on. So I took it back after 2 days.Searching for a quieter solution I found this little treasure. It comes in 4 pieces. You have to install the fan guards and the mounting bracket. It's a very simple instal and with the 10 foot cord I could place it exactly where I needed it. When I turned it on I aw amazed at how quiet it was. Very quiet. I have it mounted on the outside of the entry way so that I can swivel it into the doorway in the winter and out of the doorway in the summer. So far with 3 days use the garage is much more evenly headed with minimal electric use per my belkin volt meter, at about $1.20 to run it for the year constantly. That is much more efficient than my box fan. Longevity of continuous use is unknown.Pros: Quiet, very quiet. Sturdy build. Easy to put together and mount. 10 foot cord. Efficient. Size, not nearly as intrusive as the other loud corner doorway fan that is available.Cons: Air flow, a little more could help but so far it doing what it says it does. Mounting bracket, would like to see a way to point it in a direction and secure the position, it swings a little too much. A drop of locktite fixed that problem.Recommendation: I would recommend this to anyone that is looking to move a little warm or cool air from one room to another. It is also designed to sit on a register or on a flat surface to move air. It's very quiet and does what it says it does. It is not going to move a ton of air but just enough to make a bit of a difference.

I bought 2 of these model plus 2 of the "Heat Helper Stove Booster" 110 CFM fans at the same time to compare. I can't speak of the durability of either since they're new, but I believe the motors on all these fans are only designed to last for about 2 years of use. The best way for me to describe this fan is to compare it to the other model.Both looked about the same. The housings and fan blades were almost identical and differed only in minor decorative details. Both were equally easy to assemble: 2 screws into the doorway/wall through the bracket, and one bolt (Minuteman) or plastic plug (Heat Helper) through the fan housing and fan blade guard to hold them onto the bracket.Both had cords that plug into the fan housing. The Stove Booster model had an angled plug that snugged up against the housing and seemed more practical than the 90-degree bend in the Minuteman model, though neither style of plug was functionally better or worse. The Minuteman card had a switch near the wall plug end so it can be turned on and off while remaining plugged in; the Heat Helper has no switch so you unplug it to turn it off and plug it in to turn it on. The Heat Helper cord was about 1 foot longer than the Minuteman cord, but at around 11 feet in length, both were plenty long for my needs.Brackets: The Minuteman fan had a hinged bracket so the fan can be aimed to the left or right. The Heat Helper bracket was fixed in place so the fan blows in one direction only. Both fans blow in one direction only, so you have to bear in mind which way you want the air to be blown when you decide which corner of the fan housing and which side of the doorway to mount the bracket on.Hardware quality: The Minuteman fan came with 4 long metal bolts and nuts to hold the front screen and the rear screen to the fan housing. The Heat Helper fan came with plastic plugs shaped like bolts with small fins on that you push into place to hold the screens to the housing. Maybe the plastic things are faster to pull off, but they seemed far less durable and useful to me than the bolts.Packaging: The Minuteman fan came in a sturdy cardboard box with separate spaces for the cords and hardware, and an instruction booklet with detailed but simple installation instructions, diagrams, and warnings. The Heat Helper fan comes in a plastic bag with a page of warnings but no installation instructions (though installation ought to be easy to figure out without instructions). Both brands arrived undamaged at my home, but I imagine the Minuteman is more likely to arrive safely due to the extra secure packaging.Power: The Minuteman fan claims to move 55 cubic feet of air per minute and the Heat Helper fan claims to move 110 cubic feet of air per minute. Consumption maybe is about the same - the Minuteman fan claims to use less than 15 watts, and the Heat Helper claims to use 18 watts. The Heat Helper fan did put out a far stronger blast of air than the Minuteman, but I felt that the 55 CFM was sufficient for the rooms we needed the fans for.Noise (my greatest concern): The Minuteman fan was FAR quieter - "whisper" quiet - I could barely hear it when it was running. The Heat Helper fan was not horribly noisy, but it was loud enough that its constant sound immediately bothered us when it was mounted in the living room doorway where we sit all night every night. The Heat Helper fan is described by their seller as "quiet", which is very relative/subjective; to me it was about as loud as a loud fast fan in an old desktop computer (much louder than a quiet fan in a new desktop computer). For this reason, plus the general lower quality and unmovable bracket, I returned the Heat Helper brand fans. I felt I got a lot more for the 10% higher price with the Minuteman fans.

It is fine and does distribute heat from the wood stove downstairs up to the upper mail floor. The air upstairs flows down so this forces warn wood stove heat up . The only thing I do not like are the cheaper screws and nuts that is packages for the fittings on the front and back screen shields.. Too thin and too tiny .. I replaced an older 10 yrs older one with the same design so did not have to use the wall mount screws the new one provided.. The fan is quiet and remember to clean blades often so over time they do not stick and not turn..

Good fan. Fan worked as it said it would. Very quiet and it doesn’t take up a lot of size. Also extra long cord come in very handy. I would recommend it.

This little guy cools my room off when it gets too stuffy. I have a small window with not much breeze. I place this small fan on the window sill and turn it on when my room feels stuffy. I didn't want a large fan as it must sit on a sill. I also didn't want a plastic fan. I am impressed at the volume of fresh air this Achla fan delivers. It's not totally silent but also not too bad comparing it to other fans. Noise level is relative I suppose. You've got to expect a little hum... it's got to work to circulate the air. It doesn't rattle as it is of a solid construction. Some other review said that the design was not as great as it could be because the on off switch is located towards the bottom of the extension cord. However, that is exactly where it should be because most people place it on the doorway and need the switch to be where it can be reached. I am a fan of this fan and use it everyday. I am in favor of "forever" items, and this one seems to fit the description. It's not the "cheapest" but it is quality and worth the extra buck in my opinion.