How Often Should You Clean Your Electric Fan?

How often should you clean your electric fan?

1. Ceiling fan: Once a month 
2. Stand fan: Once a week 
3. Box or desk fan: Once a week / twice a month 
4. Window fan: Once or twice a week 
5. Floor fan: Once or twice a week 

No matter where you live, your home is sure to collect dust. One home appliance that is especially sensitive to dust is your electric fan. Once dust collects in your fan’s blades and combines with fuzz, lint, or mold, it could either blow that illness-inducing debris through your house’s interior or slowly destroy your fan’s mechanism.

You don’t want either outcome to happen, so make sure to clean your fan regularly. But how often is a “regular” cleaning? Let’s discover how often should you clean your electric fan.

Signs Your Fan Needs Cleaning

Before we branch off into different kinds of fans, there are some signs to look out for no matter what type of fan you have. Once you see these signs, it’s high time to clean your fan, and hope the damage hasn’t been done yet.

Some of these signs include weird noises or strange smells coming from your fan, a visible accumulation of lint, fuzz or mold, and dusty-looking blades. Once you’ve reached the point where you notice any of these things, it’s likely the problem has already been persisting. So at that point, it’s definitely time to clean and don’t let it get that far next time.

Ceiling fan: Once a month 

This kind of fan is the widest and hardest to reach, making it also the hardest to clean. When it collects dust, though, you have a big problem: thanks to its wide range, anything caught on or in between its blades will spread everywhere. 

The good news is that a thorough wiping of the blades is enough to remove most of the dust collected there. You can use a u-shaped brush (found in most hardware stores) that encases the blade so you’re cleaning the top and bottom of the blade at the same time. Or you can use a rag if that’s your usual go-to.

The other good news is that you don’t have to do this very often. Depending on how dusty your house gets, once a month should do the trick.

Stand fan: Once a week  

Dust is probably the #1 killer of standing fans because once it accumulates, it forms clumps that can find their way into your fan’s gears and break the mechanism. Additionally, these clumps can pollute your air, and particles of them can get caught in your lungs.

We don’t know which scenario is worse, but they’re proof that you should never let dust on an electric fan accumulate. You can do this by making sure standing fans, like your Fukuda FG128 10″ Industrial Stand Fan Electric Fan, get a good dusting at least once a week. A deeper clean should also be done at least once a month with a damp rag. Make sure you wipe it down after because a wet fan blade is sure to attract rust or mold.

Box or desk fan: Once a week / twice a month 

These portable fans can be placed practically anywhere, and the amount of dust they collect is largely dependent on where they are. For example, if your Fukuda FRF600 6″ Rechargeable Desk Fan is in a place that collects dust easily (like a stuffy storage area or rarely-used room), you may have to check up on it and make sure it’s clean every week or so, like the stand fan. If they’re used in a relatively dustless area, you can do it less often, like twice a month.

For either case, however, remember a light dusting isn’t always enough. It will still benefit you to clean the grill and the blades with a rag and a cleaning solvent—we recommend an all-purpose cleaner or a mix of water and dish soap.

Window fan: Once or twice a week  

As in the previous section, the cleaning for window fans largely depends on their location. Since windows have the added purpose of bringing in air from outside the home, you have to consider the immediate environment of your house, too. If you live next to a road or street, consider the exhaust from cars and other vehicles. 

In most cases, you’ll want to clean your window fans pretty often. Dust them once a week, and if the fan cover can be removed, wipe the blades and non-electric parts with a damp cloth once or twice a week. 

Floor fan: Once or twice a week 

These fans are also pretty portable, so their placement is a factor in how often they need to be cleaned. But consider this: dust, grime, clumps of lint, dust bunnies, and all other debris always fall to the floor. 

Clean your floor fan once or twice a week. Wipe the front and back of the grille, and if you can open it up to make sure the mechanism is dustless, that’s even better.

Key Takeaway

So, how often should you clean your electric fan? Regardless of the kind of fan you own, you have to dust, wipe or even wash its blades, grille, and mechanism pretty often—say, 1-2 times every two weeks. This is because too much dust in your house can lead to allergies, asthma, and other illnesses, and also because you don’t want your fan to get broken. Prevention is key!

If you’re looking for high-quality and affordable electric fans in the Philippines, check out our Fukuda electric products! Good Guys is an authorized distributor of Fukuda appliances in the Philippines.