Best tower fans 2024: The top options we’ve tested for keeping you cool

You can never bank on getting hot weather in the UK, but when it does come it comes with a thump. Hot days and stuffy evenings can make it hard to sleep or think, and – for many of us – proper air conditioning would be overkill. Get hold of one of the best tower fans, though, and you can at least get some air flowing through the room and make the temperature a bit more bearable.

While tower fans aren’t your only option, they’re often the most practical, giving you plenty of cooling from a stylish column that won’t take up a lot of floor space.

But which tower fan to buy? I’ve tested over two dozen fans over the last five years, including many of the best options from all the leading manufacturers. In this guide, I’m going to pick out the products that I would recommend for a selection of different spaces in the home and budgets. If you’d like to know more about what to look for in a tower fan before making your decision, check out the buying guide below the reviews. 

Our expert picks

Best budget tower fan

Best compact tower fan

Best tower fan for larger spaces

How we test tower fans

Our fan tests start with a battery of airflow tests, where we measure the speed of the air pushed through the fan at a distance of 1m with an anemometer. We test at maximum and minimum fan speed settings, plus a medium setting in-between.

We also measure sound levels at these settings, along with power consumption at the highest and lowest. From there, we use the fan in a selection of different rooms to gauge how effectively they work in different situations and layouts. We also try out any special modes and get to grips with both the built-in controls and the remote control, if supplied.

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The best tower fans you can buy in 2024

1. Igenix DF0030: Best cheap tower fan

Price when reviewed: £33 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… cheap and cheerful cooling and carrying around the home
• Not so great for… noise levels or getting some sleep

This 30in tall Igenix fan delivers useful cooling at a bargain basement price. It’s one of the lightest tower fans and is perfect for carrying around the home. Despite its size, it can push out plenty of air at each of its three speed settings. Meanwhile, the wide 80-degree oscillation does a fine job of moving the airflow around to cover more of the room.

The Igenix has something of a noise issue, however. Even at its lowest setting, I found the hum obtrusive, and sleeping while it’s running will be a non-starter if you’re easily disturbed. But if you’re looking for something inexpensive to make things bearable in the hottest days of summer, this budget fan will more than do the job.

Key specs – Dimensions (WDH): 24 x 24 x 76.2cm; Weight: 2.66kg; Oscillation angle: 80-degrees; Cord length: 1.8m; Warranty: 2yr; Power: 45W

2. Honeywell HYF1101E1: Best budget tower fan for larger spaces

Price when reviewed: £43 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… ease of use, good build and decent airflow
• Not so great for… sleeping or oscillation features

There’s no getting around the fact that the Honeywell HYF1101E1 is pretty basic. It’s a simple fan with three speed settings, a shut-off timer and no remote control. Where other tower fans offer 80 to 100-degrees of oscillation, the HYF1101E1 settles for just 55. Frankly, it’s not much of a looker. However, on the plus side, it’s reasonably powerful – I measured a maximum air speed of 2.1m/sec from a 1m range in our tests – and it’s not horrendously noisy, with noise levels of around 47.5dB running at full blast, dropping to just under 39dB at the lowest setting.

I wouldn’t advise trying to sleep while it’s up and running, but it’s still better than most budget fans when it comes to excess noise. Once you’ve put the two-part stand together and slotted the cable into position, it’s a reasonably robust and well-built tower that’s not as inclined to tipping as some bargain basement rivals. Another £20 will net you the superior HY245E QuietSet, but if your budget stops at £50, this is the tower fan to buy.

Key specs – Dimensions (WDH): 21 x 17 x 80cm; Weight: 2.5kg; Oscillation angle: 55-degrees; Cord length: 1.8m; Warranty: 3yrs; Power: 36W

3. Ansio 30in Tower Fan: Best budget tower fan for cooling performance

Price when reviewed: £60 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… huge airflow on a budget
• Not so great for… keeping noise levels low

This striking 30in tower fan doesn’t offer much in the way of modes or features but gets the job done very effectively. With air speeds reaching 3.2m/sec from a metre away, it’s one of the most powerful options I’ve tested and it still performs well at the lowest of its three speed settings, with air speeds measured at 2.4m/sec.

It’s worth noting that its power is at its strongest low to the ground, which isn’t ideal, but its 60-degree oscillation enables air to spread around a decent section of your bedroom or living room. I also like that it doesn’t take up much space, making it a good choice for smaller rooms.

Unfortunately, it’s a rather noisy operator. I measured noise levels at 41dB at low power, which rose to 49.9dB when operating at full tilt, so light sleepers will struggle to doze off with it on. However, its mechanical timer works surprisingly well, and despite not being the most refined option on this list, its cooling power is hard to argue with.

Key specs – Dimensions (WDH): 24 x 24 x 76.5cm; Weight: 3.96kg; Oscillation angle: 60-degrees; Cord length: 1.75m; Warranty: 2yr; Power: 45W

4. Honeywell HY245E QuietSet: Best tower fan for the bedroom

Price when reviewed: £60 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… low noise levels, ease of use and decent airflow
• Not so great for… wobbling on its stand

The Honeywell HY245E QuietSet is an established favourite: slim, well-designed and solidly built, even if it wobbles a little on its round plastic stand. There are some thoughtful touches such as the compartment where you can dock the supplied remote, the carrying handle and the soft-glow indicators at the top, where they won’t shine in your eyes as the fan oscillates from side to side. It has five fan speeds ranging from “Sleep” to “Power cool”, plus a one, two, four or eight-hour timer. The straightforward controls make it incredibly easy to use.

The best news is that the QuietSet name isn’t just marketing hype: the HY245E is quieter than many tower fans, even at its higher settings, with a night mode you can sleep through. Other fans are bigger and put out more air over a wider space, but this one delivers more than enough cooling for the average living room during the day and works better in the bedroom at night.

Key specs – Dimensions (WDH): 27.3 x 27.3 x 84cm; Weight: 4.8kg; Oscillation angle: 75-degrees; Cord length: 1.75m; Warranty: 3yrs; Power: 35W

5. Princess Smart Compact Tower Fan: Best compact tower fan

Price when reviewed: £65 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… decent airflow, smart features and voice commands
• Not so great for… wobbling while it oscillates and noise at high speeds

Princess’s Smart Compact Tower Fan doesn’t make a fantastic first impression. The column’s glossy white finish looks more expensive than it is, but the plastic feels more like what you’d expect from a cheaper budget model. In testing, the tower wobbled as it oscillated on its two-part plastic base. On the plus side, the touch controls are easy to use and the bundled remote is a definite bonus, and you get a sleep mode and a natural mode on top of the three speed settings. The sleep mode starts at your current speed and then ramps down to the lowest setting, while the natural mode varies the speed for a more lifelike wind effect.

It’s a shame that noise levels on both modes are still a bit too high. In my tests, the Smart Compact Tower Fan never got louder than 44.5dB, but the 39.2dB I recorded in sleep mode is still too loud for dozing. It’s a better fan for use in the living room, where the 40 to 42.7dB you’ll get in low to medium settings can be dealt with by turning the TV up a notch. You’ll still get a decent 1.8m/sec airflow, along with 85-degree oscillation to help spread it around.

As you might guess from the name, the Smart Compact Tower Fan also incorporates smart features. These are limited to using the app as a remote control and being able to schedule when it turns on and off, but it’s still pretty cool to be able to control your fan with your smartphone or by using Alexa and Google voice commands. This is neither the quietest tower fan nor the most powerful, but it can create a decent breeze without making too much of a racket, and you get a good set of features for the price.

Key specs – Dimensions (WDH): 30.7 x 30.7 x 80.8cm; Weight: 3.3kg; Oscillation angle: 85-degrees; Cord length: 1.6m; Warranty: 2yrs; Power: 36.8W

6. Dimplex Ion Fresh Cooling Tower Fan: Best tower fan for fresher air

Price when reviewed: £110 | Check price at Argos

• Great for… a well-controlled airflow with a fresher feel
• Not so great for… using while you’re trying to snooze

This Dimplex fan comes with a couple of standout features, including a tilt that enables you to push it back by up to 7-degrees to direct the airflow upwards, and built-in ionisation. Dimplex claims that this discharges negative ions that attach to positive ions in the air and that this helps freshen up the airflow. Whether this works and has any tangible effect is a matter of opinion, but the Ion Fresh does a great job of making stuffy rooms more bearable, partly because it’s a thoroughly effective fan.

I measured air speed at maximum settings at a healthy 2.3m/sec, going down to a still noticeable 1.3m/sec at the lowest setting. With the tilt feature, you can angle the airflow exactly where you need it, while the 70-degree oscillation keeps it moving to cool more than one spot in the room.

With its 1.03m height and brushed copper finish, the Ion Fresh has a little more style than many other tower fans, and I also found it easy to use, with intuitive controls and a bundled remote. It also packs in a timer, a sleep mode and a natural mode, where the speed is varied to make the airflow feel more like a natural breeze. It’s not the ideal fan for bedroom use, putting out 41dB even at its quietest settings, but it’s a great, good-looking option for use everywhere else around the home.

Key specs – Dimensions (WDH): 31 x 31 x 107cm; Weight: 5.6kg; Oscillation angle: 70-degrees; Cord length: 1.5m; Warranty: 2yr (3yr after online registration); Power: 45W

7. Levoit 36-inch Tower Fan: Best tower fan for big air

Price when reviewed: £90 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… cooling larger areas without much noise or fuss
• Not so great for… noise levels at the highest speeds

This is one of the tallest tower fans I’ve tested, but also one of the best. For once, a two-part plastic base doesn’t seem to result in any wobble as the tower slowly oscillates, and the build quality throughout is impressive. As well as simple and intuitive touch controls, the Levoit packs in some genuinely useful features, including an Auto mode that sets the speed according to the current room temperature, and a Sleep mode that keeps a gentle airflow moving while remaining almost whisper quiet. On its lowest settings, I measured the noise output at a barely noticeable 31.8dB.

It’s louder on its highest settings and can reach 45.2dB on its highest Turbo mode, but what you lose in terms of noise you gain in airflow, with air speeds maxing out at 3.3m/sec. Even at the next to lowest setting, you still get a comfortable 2.1m/sec airflow along with noise levels of around 32dB. That wasn’t loud enough to disturb me while I was working or watching TV. If you’re after an affordable fan with good all-round performance, you won’t do much better than this.

Key specs – Dimensions (WDH): 16.5 x 16.5 x 92cm; Weight: 3.6kg; Oscillation angle: 90-degrees; Cord length: 1.8m; Warranty: 2yr; Power: 39W

8. John Lewis Tower Fan: Best tall tower fan

Price when reviewed: £95 | Check price at John Lewis

• Great for… effective cooling of large spaces with minimal noise (and wobble)
• Not so great for… buyers on a budget, as it’s quite expensive

This John Lewis own-brand tower fan is not just one of the biggest, but also one of the best. Despite its 1.07m height, its glossy white and black plastic finish looks stylish, and the solid build puts it miles ahead of some cheap and creaky budget options. It has superb touch-sensitive controls and a clear display that’s smart enough to turn off when you’re not making adjustments, and even the remote control is better than the norm, looking more like something you’d get with a TV streaming stick.

What’s more, I found it a good performer, pushing through air at speeds of up to 2.8m/sec to cover more vertical space than most tower fans, and across a 60-degree arc when I turned on oscillation. Here, only the inner portion rotates back and forth, meaning minimal noise and wobble. And while it can go loud, putting out nearly 50dB at max speed, it’s relatively quiet on its lowest speed setting, at 32.4dB. That’s barely higher than the ambient noise in my home, and I could doze through it without any problems. It also has a Sleep setting, where it starts at your current speed and reduces it over time, along with a variable speed natural mode and a 12-hour off-timer. It’s slightly more expensive than your average tower, but well worth the extra money.

Key specs – Dimensions (WDH): 30 x 30 x 107cm; Weight: 5.7kg; Oscillation angle: 60-degrees; Cord length: 1.8m; Warranty: 2yr; Power: 45W

How to choose the best tower fan for you

Decided that a tower fan is for you? Well, now your choice comes down to size and features. Generally speaking, the larger and taller the fan, the higher the airflow and the bigger the room it can cool, with the added bonus that you might not have to push it so hard to have the same effect. This means you can run the fan at a slower speed with – usually – less noise. That’s handy, as noise is the second-biggest factor. A noisy tower fan can be distracting in the daytime, but a real issue if it stops you dropping off to sleep at night.

Oscillation is the other key feature. Nearly all tower fans oscillate, turning slowly from side to side to cover a larger area, but they differ in how wide the angle of oscillation is. Again, the bigger the space you want to cool, the wider you want it – and you can always turn oscillation off if you just want to keep yourself comfortable.

What controls and features should you look for?

Most tower fans offer a choice of speeds, and the vast majority have a timer function that lets you set your fan to cool you down while you drift off to sleep, but go off after a couple of hours to give you a quieter night.

You may find other settings that vary the speed to give you the feeling of a natural breeze – although the rise and fall of the fan noise tends to spoil the overall effect – and sleep settings designed to minimise the hum and keep you cool without keeping you awake.

Finally, it’s worth looking at the practicalities. Is the cable long enough to place the fan where you want it? How stable is the fan on its stand? Some tower fans we’ve tested have been surprisingly wobbly, and while they tend to be less prone to falling over than your average pedestal fan, you still want to know it won’t tip over at the slightest provocation.

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