Air King 9230 Industrial Grade High Velocity Pivoting Floor Fan, 30-Inch

These Air King circulators are pretty much the best fans on the market today since most fans made today are engineered to break after two years of use, and are made from the cheapest materials possible. This unit is all metal, very powerful, and rather quiet. The parts seem to be of decent quality. It uses a cast aluminium ball bearing motor (made in 2016. -for awhile, these used a cheaper sleeve bearing motor, but it appears they have gone back to the ball bearing motor like all their other fans had all along) It is also assembled in the USA, with imported parts, of course. Which is better than most fans have to offer. But there are a few issues I had:

-Balance- The blade was not at all aligned or balanced at the factory, causing a slight vibration that most non-perfectionists would not notice. This bothered me quite a bit as the blade of a fan is by far the most important part to get right. it cost me more than $120 CDN for this so I expected them to at least try and balance the blade. This was also an issue on my 20″ Air king stand fan.

-Powdercoat- The coating is amateur at best, It has thick and thin spots, and missed spots altogether exposing bare metal in some tight spots. I could have done a better job back when I was 12.

-Rear housing- Or as I call it the “tumor” Is far over sized since they use the same plastic rear housing on the larger fans as well. This blocks some airflow (as well as motor cooling) and amplifies motor hum ever so slightly. Its also the only plastic part of the fan and looks rather cheap. It houses the switch as well, and leaves it vulnerable to breakage if the fan where tipped over. Its just bulky and needless. No biggie.

-The Lasko/Air King fused ‘safety’ plug- This is only here to make sure the fan doesn’t work for more than a few years. Of course the fuse is not replaceable and there is a tag on the cord telling you to throw the fan out if it stops working. Ridiculous, and almost insulting to read after spending this much. A small power surge or use in very hot climates can pop the fuse accidentally. So I’ll be cutting the plug off when the fan stops working and putting on a normal 3 prong male plug without the “times up” fuse. That is what a whole house breaker panel is for.

The reason for the 3 stars even with the couple issues? Well for starts, Patton fans are now made by Jarden and are flimsy cheap, and no different to a walmart brand fan. And Lakewood fans has gone out of business, only to later be brought back by….Jarden. so they are the same garbage as the Patton, but with a different logo on it. In my opinion, Jarden owned companies make absolute garbage and almost unsafely cheap products, and are contributors to the death of American manufacturing and of course, The throw away society. So the Air king is all thats left that is actually built decent, and performs as expected of a high velocity fan, Rather than a spinning noisemaker.

After a ton of research I bought this 20″ fan. I have a 70’s era Lakewood 18″ high velocity fan that I use in the garage for when I’m tinkering around. Unfortunately the wiring insulation broke down with age and it shorted out on me, damaging the motor. I rewired it but now I only have the high speed, medium and low are dead. So I was faced with spending well over $100 for a new motor or just replacing the fan. I wanted something actually made in the USA, but I quickly learned that no longer exists. This is the closest I could find… assembled in USA with domestic and globally sourced parts. Sigh…
So anyhow I got the fan, and it’s OK. The frame (I call it a cradle) that supports the fan was bent upon unpacking, so only 3 of the 4 rubber foot pads made contact with the level concrete floor. The fan didn’t walk across the floor but it had a noticeable wobble that bugged the heck out of me. I managed to bend the cradle just a bit and fix that so it runs smooth with no wobble now. The blades seem to be pretty well balanced. But the truth is I am not real impressed with the airflow. I went from an 18″ fan to a 20″, so you would think there would be much more air flow. Wrong…. my old 18″ Lakewood blows this 20″ fan away, literally. The Lakewood still works, but only on high speed. I always ran it on medium or low because it moves so much air. Looking at them side by side the Lakewood has much more pitch to the blades and there is much more ‘scoop’ to the blades. The Air King blades are, well, basically flat. They just don’t push the air like the old fan did. But it is what it is. I find the Air King to be relatively quiet, probably due to the flat blades not pushing a lot of air. It seems to be put together well and I guess I’ll keep it, but the reviews calling it a hurricane and blowing pictures off the wall….well, I think my pictures are safe. Even my wife, who has zero mechanical aptitude, says “the old one blows way more”. Just an honest observation from someone who did side-by-side testing with a vintage made in USA fan vs. the assembled in USA Air King. As I said I’ll keep it, but I’m kind of like “meh, it’s ok, but it’s not what I had”.