Have you ever been to a historical museum?
If you have, then you know that It is commonplace to see the bust of a famous Greek philosopher or Roman emperor displayed on a column or podium as part of the historical attractions.
How does that have anything to do with a pedestal fan?
It is because those famous busts are actually sitting on what are called “pedestals”.
The proper definition of a pedestal is “a base or support on which a statue, obelisk, or column is mounted”
I think you see where we’re going with this.
What does a pedestal fan mean?
A pedestal fan is a fan that is mounted on an adjustable stand. It is unique to other types of fans in that the height can be adjusted and it can be vertically tilted.
The majority of pedestal fans are circular fans that sit on stands that have a large base to support it.
They have the unique characteristic of being able to adjust the height of the fan by adjusting the stand height.
They are typically oscillating fans that can be tilted vertically as well.
Though the majority of pedestal fans are circular, that is not always the case and is not necessary to be called a pedestal fan.
Technically you could put a tower fan on top of a stand, and you would have a pedestal fan.
Which is a good idea because tower fans are height challenged but they tend to be more directional in their air flow.
Pedestal fan shortcomings
Because of the chance that a pedestal fan has a becoming top heavy, the base on a pedestal fan has to be extra large to hold the fan steady as it blows and osculates.
That means that they inherently take up a lot more space then a tower fan would.
That also means that the stronger and larger that a pedestal fan is, the heavier and larger that the base has to be to hold the fan in place.
An added benefit to having a heavier base is that the fan is less likely to move out of place when it is blowing on high.
You may find that a lot of the plastic pedestal fans that you can purchase are not very strong blowers.
Because of their light materials, they don’t have the strength to keep a more powerful fan motor solidly in place.
Wrap Up
What does a pedestal fan mean?
A Pedestal fan is simply a fan that is mounted to an adjustable stand with a large base.
A pedestal fan brings something to the table that other fans cannot.
That is that they are height adjustable.
This is a feature you cannot find on other types of fans.
Another feature that is extra valuable on a pedestal fan is that they have a heavy base and are not as likely to move out of place as easily as say a box fan can.
It is true though, because pedestal fans have to have a large base to support the fan, they tend to be more bulky and take up more space than other types of fans.
And the lighter the materials that a pedestal fan is made out of, the lesser the amount of airflow you can expect to get out of one.
