You can always keep the garage door open. But for security reasons, that isn’t the best option. The next ideal solution is to put a fan inside the garage. It helps the room get better airflow and reduce indoor temperature to cool off your garage.
But what type of fan should you get? Do you need to get a big fan, or would a small garage fan do? Is a fan mounted to the wall better than a garage ceiling fan? How about a floor or standing fan?
We understand that buying the best garage fan can be intimidating with all options available. So, we decided to bring this complete garage fan buying guide to help you.
Should You Put a Fan in the Garage?
- Do you find yourself sweating profusely while inside the garage?
- Is the room too hot or too chilly that it makes you uncomfortable to stand inside?
- Does your garage give off an intense, undesirable, chemical-like odor?
If you answered all these with a resounding yes, it means that your garage has poor ventilation, and you absolutely need to put a garage fan.
Although garages don’t often have the same room temperature control compared to the rest of your home, they should at least remain bearable. Plus, garages shouldn’t smell like you are walking into a hazard zone.
Unless you want to do some costly repairs or renovations and install a couple of windows, adding the best garage fan is the next best solution.
What Type of Fan is Best for Garage?
But there are plenty of garage fan types you can choose from. Check out the advantages of each type and find out which one makes the most sense added into your garage.
1. Floor Fans – for portability
If you want a quick way to help air circulate inside the garage, floor fans are the easiest to work with. They don’t require any installation and are typically plug-and-play. You place this model on the floor whenever you are working in the garage, and it can help make the room more comfortable.
But perhaps the best quality of floor fans for the garage is that they are incredibly portable. You can take the fan anywhere, in and out of the garage. Although this type of fan is primarily for use on the floor, you can also put it on top of a workbench.
Many floor fans are more portable than others. Some models may feature handles and have wheels, making them easier to move around the garage.
Our Best Picks:
- Vornado EXO5 Shop Air Circulator Fan – This shop fan features a stable tripod, allowing you to sturdily put it on the floor or top of your workbench. It has three-speed settings that can deliver up to 225 CFM with better airflow efficiency, thanks to its unique vortex airflow pattern.
- Black & Decker 16” Stand Fan – Cool your garage fast with this programmable stand fan that features 90-degree oscillation and 3-speed settings for an evenly distributed airflow inside the room. This unit only weighs 10 pounds, making it easy to cart around the garage.
Lasko Cyclone Pivoting Floor Fan –
Combine power, performance, and precision comfort in keeping your garage cool with this pivoting floor fan. It has an aerodynamic blade design with three-speed options, an ideal personal fan when working inside the garage. But perhaps, its most advantageous feature is the energy-efficient operation, keeping your garage cooler while spending less.
2. Ceiling Fans – for high-volume airflow
Perhaps the most notable feature of ceiling fans is you can reverse the blades’ direction. It means the fan can keep your garage cool during summer as well as warm during winter months. You can also get a garage ceiling fan with light to keep the room illuminated and cool at the same time.
Most garage ceiling fans have a large metal blade and either has a protective housing or not. Since they are situated right in the ceiling, this type of fan can give high-volume airflow. They also run quieter than other garage fans.
Another ideal thing about ceiling fans is they offer remarkable value for money. You can significantly save on energy costs with a ceiling fan inside the garage. The only downside is it requires wiring into your garage’s electrical system. Installing a ceiling is a bit more complicated than, say, a floor fan.
Our Best Picks:
- Hunter Cassius 52” Ceiling Fan – For high-performance garage cooling without the disturbing rattling noise, you won’t go wrong with the Hunter Cassius. It also comes with shorter down rods, ideal for installing in lower garage ceilings.
- Big Ass Fans 2025 Shop Ceiling Fan – Are you looking for the best garage ceiling fan for extra-large garages? Big Ass Fans is the ideal brand that produces motherlode of heavy-duty ceiling fans. This unit can deliver around a 10-degree cooling difference inside the garage.
- Prominence Home Garage Ceiling Fan with Light – This model offers an inexpensive garage ceiling fan with the light option to provide strong airflow while lighting dark areas in the room. It has a lot to offer regarding performance: reversible motor, 3-speed setting, and ETL Damp rating.
3. Wall-Mount Fans – for limited spaces
This style keeps the fan off the floor, avoiding falls and trips, especially if you have kids and pets running around. Since they are kept from a distance, using a wall-mounted fan in a garage workshop makes sense because it’s not likely to accumulate dust and dirt build-up.
Another advantage of wall-mounted fans is you don’t need to wire them into the electrical system. Most of them allow you to use a plug point for power. Although they will stay in the location where you installed them, many wall-mounted fans have oscillating features to increase air circulation around your garage.
Our Best Picks:
- Tornado 16-Inch Digital Wall-Mount Fan – If you want complete peace while working in the garage, this unit is engineered to provide ample airflow in the room quietly. There are three speeds to choose from and an oscillating feature you can control by remote. It has excellent safety features, like thermal overload protection and auto shut-off when assembled incorrectly.
- Maxx Air Commercial Grade Wall Fan – This rugged wall-mount fan features rust-resistant, powder-coated steel construction and can deliver an impressive 2,500 CFM air flow in the garage. There’s also a 3-speed pull chain and a fantastic 180-degree head tilt capacity for maximum focus and adjustability.
- Air King Industrial Grade Wall-Mount Fan – With an impressive airflow output of up to 2670 CFM and almost 360-degree rotation, this industrial-grade wall-mounted fan offers optimum circulation inside a larger garage. But despite the intense and high airflow, this fan works quietly at only around 62 decibels.
4. Blower Fans – for garage/workshop settings
This type of garage fan is the best option for most garage/workshop settings. They tend to have a stronger motor and higher CFM rating so that you can benefit from more air at higher speeds. If you use this garage fan in the workshop, it will blow dust and light debris outside.
Blower fans are also powerful enough to keep pests and insects out of the garage. They also work well with providing enough ventilation if you are working in a garage involving toxic fumes and anything alike. The high-powered air pressure blower fans generate also make them a good option for large garages.
But beware that the pressurized air blower fans produce make them significantly noisy during operation.
Our Best Picks:
- Stanley 655704 Garage Blower Fan – This fan is among the lightest garage fan picks, but it has three powerful speeds that can deliver air efficiently up to 475 CFM. It also features an oscillating head to direct airflow where you want it, and while it can produce strong air movement, this blower fan operates quietly.
- Lasko X-Blower Utility Fan – This blower fan works at the floor level, delivering heavy air streams at incredibly high speeds where you want them. This utility blower fan doesn’t disappoint with its rugged design with non-slip feet that can create six stable positions.
- XPOWER Mini Mighty Air Mover Blower Fan – This unit may be as small as a blower fan can get, but it can produce a generous airflow capacity of up to 800 CFM. Plus, it comes with a three-speed option and four angle-drying positions, kicking up airflow up to 90 degrees.
5. High-Velocity Fans – for powerful airflow
They can also project air at relatively long distances. When the temperature increases, this type of fan can do plenty in maintaining a cooler garage.
A high-velocity fan can be small, personal unit, or in pedestal models. Some will be more portable than others, with handles that make them easy to move around. Most high-velocity fans for garages will also include speed settings to give you flexibility. But remember that running a high-velocity fan at its highest speed tends to become noisy because of the amount of air they are moving.
High-velocity fans may look like regular garage fans, depending on the style and design. But what makes them different is their efficiency and durability. High-velocity garage fans bring industrial strength in providing air circulation in the room.
Our Best Picks:
- Lasko 20” High-Velocity Fan – This high-velocity fan is a top pick for its efficiency, despite the relatively portable style. You can use the unit on the floor or mounted to your garage wall. This unit can project air up to 3460 CFM with three robust speed controls and a pivoting head, ideal for shops and garages.
- Hurricane Stand 20” Pro Series – If you have a high-velocity fan that is sturdy but still portable, consider this 20-inch stand fan from Hurricane Stand. It runs airflow at an impressive 4500 CFM with an oscillation head and three-speed settings, well-suited for larger workshops and garages.
- Vornado 560 Whole Room Air Circulator – This fan might be a smaller pick, but it can project air up to 75 feet away. It offers plenty of flexibility with a tilting head and four-speed settings. Plus, it has a unique vortex airflow pattern that can move air around the entire room, designed to cool your garage.
FAQs:
Where can you buy a garage fan?
You can explore garage fan options in your nearest appliance stores. The other option is buying them online, whichever is more convenient for you.
Do shop fans help?
Yes. The breeze from shop fans helps disrupt stagnant air inside the garage, providing the room with better airflow. With good ventilation from shop fans, the room gets cooler to a degree. It also helps blow intense and undesirable odor out of your garage.
How can I cool down my garage with no windows?
An exhaust fan for a garage can help cool down the room by providing access to fresh air from the outdoors. As long as the air temperature outside is cooler than inside, a garage exhaust fan can help cool indoors.
Unfortunately, even the best garage vent fan won’t have much cooling power if the outdoor temperature is hotter. In this case, units like high-velocity fans and blower fans can help provide strong airflow and cool the garage.
