Berns Air King PL20P Box Fan Overview and Demonstration 

Couldn’t agree more about vintage fans! I’m actually typing this while listening to the soothing “whoosh” of my 1960s Lakewood XC-20 box fan. I run my vintage/antique fans year-round because I love the sounds they make. Nothing that soothes me to sleep quite like the sound of a nice old fan.

That was a great find for $2! These had solid motors in them,, probably pulls 3 amps or more.. Amazing too how those bearings are as free as the day they were made, and probably haven't been oiled since.. From my understanding, Lasko, Galaxy, Air King, and Dayton all come from the same factory.. Even going back as far as 40 years ago,, identical models could be found being sold under each of those names.. While I'm no advocate for modern fans and a classic like this is what sits in my windows during the summer,, I do have to say that Air King's higher end models such as their all-metal high velocity fans, and Lasko's higher end models, such as their all-metal box fan you mentioned (which is the only one on the modern market that I'm aware of) are actually built quite well.. Unfortunately I have my doubts on their success due to the price.. Most people, myself included, are not willing to pay triple digit prices for a simple home appliance of that nature.. Especially when there are probably superior alternatives going for a few dollars at the tag sale down the street,, or even quite possibly for free sitting in the trash.. Lasko and Air King are 'assembled in USA' with parts sourced from China,, which is about as close as you can get to Made in USA for now.. But at least that is in some way supporting an American job..

You're the only guy I would ever watch reviewing a vintage fan

I'll tell you myself I love vintage metal propeller fans as I have a good few at home + a good handful of spare metal propellers, one of which I'm planning on doing a window fan project with.

Those old fans are just jewels.

A bright green top! - Your wardrobe must look like a rainbow!

I came into this video thinking "drat, not a computer!" I left pleasantly surprised. You make some very interesting stuff!

your the best youtuber who can make a video about a fan

Recently while cleaning out my Grandmother's garage I found a nice little circular up blowing fan before she got central HVAC in the mid '70s. I brought it home and gave it some much needed cleaning and lubrication and it works amazingly well. So much airflow with so little sound.

You're right about Air King. I can't speak to their box fans, but I bought several floor fans from them, and while they do have a lot of plastic in their build, they push air just like older fans do.

My biggest gripe about most fans is the NOISE they make, especially on high speed, much like the noise this fan of yours makes. I have a fan that I have had for years, which makes MUCH LESS noise than most fans. It is a Black and Decker Silent Force Blade Technology fan, Cat No. BDSF1600. The blades are shaped such that the outer edge of the blade comes to a point where it bites into the air and I believe this makes for a quieter fan. I have not googled this particular fan but it is my favorite of all the ones I have or have had in the past. It is a cheap chinese plastic oscillating fan on a stand, but after being in and around Data Centers and all the fan noise that is inherent in such an environment, I simply LOVE this quiet little unit.

Honestly I don't really care at all about fans, but you seem to manage to make everything entertaining dude, cheers for the videos!

This fan sold for $10.66USD ($77.75 in 2017 money) in 1967. ~Jack, VEG

I had one of these a few years ago. Oddly one day when I switched it on the motor made a loud POP and never worked again. Gave it to someone who collects vintage fans and I'm sure they repaired it easily.

My grandma has a 1960s GE box fan that they purchased new in 1969. When my grandma passed away, she left said fan to me. It needs to be repainted and it needs a new cord, but other than that, it still works as well as it did in 1969.

I completely relate to this. Although ceiling fans are more up my alley, I can never pass up a good box fan.

I still remember the box fans Kmart used to sell years ago. Seemed like they were everywhere.

I'm never going to knock anyone who collects vintage fans, but I will be jealous lol. it took years to find a modern oscillating stand fan that was anywhere decent enough to compare with my old westinghouse desktop. one that I bought new had to actually be taken apart right out of the box, as upon diagnosing a rattling noise, I discovered that one of the four screws holding the two halves of the motor together was missing a nut, which I later found after it fell out of the housing. not that it mattered much I guess, it lasted exactly 3 months, and died.

I'm so tired of my Lasko NoiseMatic 2000 fan that I decided to build a custom fan! I'm using a nice low-rpm ceiling fan motor and a salvaged condensing-unit fan blade assembly (very steeply-pitched blades). Preliminary test are very promising! In fact, I'm more excited than I should be.

Glad to see more videos again...hopefully see more computer repairs and auto updates

Great score! It's amazing how the spin down is nearly comparable to a ceiling fan.

I remember these and even older ones growing up. The ancient ones had wooden case, louvers in wood at the sides, and great motors.

As I’m watching this for the hundredth time, I’m doing a pull chain replacement surgery on my red Hunter Original, whose light pull chain switch decided to give in.

I'm a big fan of fans. We have a fan from the early 1960's that was my grandparents fan from 1962 up until the late 80's early 90's. It still works without any issues, but one side rattles since there's a missing screw on the grille, which the whole fan, excluding the speed knob is metal all the way.

Great find!!! This particular example was manufactured for Air King by Vernco. Vernco also made several Sears Homart and Kenmore box fans, and Vernco was originally a metal products supplier. Lasko bought Berns Air King in [I forget the year] and simply called it "Air King" after the purchase. Modern Air King fans are made by Lasko and contain slightly beefier components, thicker metals, etc...think of Air King as the "commercial-grade Lasko." And in case you miss the comment, we have a B20725 that we haven't filmed yet, we shall do so soon. It's underwhelming.

I had a all metal 3 speed thermostat controlled w/ aluminum blades and metal grates on it that was my grandfathers ,i used to oil it and 3x in the 30 or so yrs i had it even put new brushes in the motor,that my grandfather tought me how to do back in the mid 70's,sadly it disappeared 5 yrs ago in a long distance move.And haven forbid ya got a finger in it,it once sucked in some vertical hanging mini blinds and destroyed em

My late grandmother had one of these when i was a kid it would squeak, so now i expect every old fan to go Whoop whoop whoop whoop!

I picked up a fan very similar at a yard sale real cheap with the name Frigid and I believe the model is XG-20. After I researched it a bit I found out its a re-branded Lakewood S-223. Mine has a Westinghouse motor and looks like yours does as well.

I love all things vintage (not antique) Especially fans. Thank You William.

My Westinghouse fan from 1968 is not noisy unlike my Kenmore Fan from 2014 and run much better than the kenmore, The westinghouse suffered terrible things like housefire but only damaged cosmetically and not mechanical, Im still in love to it this day

Great buy for $2! I used rust converter for rust on my 1961 Fasco Fan and let it dry for a day and then sanded the remaining painted parts and for a spray paint job it came out pretty fine. I also just bought a heavy duty Berns box fan (1956 model) & boy is it a gem and relatively so easy to service with a separate plug in outlet inside the fan box for ease of servicing the motor!!. What are the amps of your Berns motor? Mine is 3.5 AMP with a thermostat setup & 3 push-button speeds It's a tank! But it cost me a monstrous $10! Outrageous! ;-) I already took it apart and cleaned it including inside the motor & it was all swell with the lube wicks moist & no scaring on the shaft. -I don't even need to paint it except for the grills.... Regarding these modern el cheapo fans, a big part of the problem is that people are used to prices being so low for a fan and are so turned on by buying new inexpensive machinery or appliances that they have resistance to purchasing a modern new well built fan for anything like $150 in today's inflation adjusted market of 2024. In addition women hate heavy appliances and help drive the stupidity by insisting on lightweight crappy products such as modern lightweight vacuums and electric fans that are cheap and can work well for a few years and then are hard to repair so the low price means just pitch it and buy another. I do not see that mindset changing because people do not give a hoot, and modern men are awful at maintaining anything as well just preferring to throw it out... Furthermore we have these morons who state that I will save $9 a year if I use my heavy duty Berns electric fan instead of a Chinese fan. In addition one reason for the added cost is that we have boatloads of oil and natural gas but our present government says we are killing the planet if we use it so we have higher prices, which is absurd as we could be energy independent if we desired it. Or look at a new updated water saving dishwasher that will save me energy costs and use less water, and folks act like I am killing the planet if I prefer instead an older model that uses more water but actually cleans the dishes! Same thing with the water saving toilets I purchased 25 years ago that used 1.6 gallons of water. They saved water but left some of the feces in the bowl!! With added engineering time this concern is now solved, but I have two of these beauties that I have to flush twice to get the unmentionable stuff down to the septic field. My 55 year old Kohler toilet still works great but it uses 4.5 gallons of water. However I am in the Great Lake state loaded with lots of fresh water, so I prefer one that actually works. Now, again the modern engineers have finally solved this dilemma with toilets that flush and do a good job at a much lower amount of water per flush so eventually concerns can be solved. Perhaps someday some company will be honest and sell a good solid $200 electric fan that combines serviceability features of the older 1960s models and yet is more efficient and people would recognize that it could easily last 100 plus years with regular service, and buy it... Right now the attraction of a $30 or $40 fan still wins out. Right now I am OK as there are a lot of good older models still out there... Just like my 1969 Cub Cadet still in the family since new. Heavy, lots of metal, good engineering and fixable and a good solid 12 hp air cooled hydro model. Same trans since new. Still works.

great stuff Bill!

My grandpa had this old vintage fan from I think 1970s because it was like an avocado green which was all metal including the blades and man it had some neat featues too. Like 2 normal fan speeds as well 2 speeds in reverse which was very useful for exhausting a smokey room. The fan you posted Bill looks like a great quality fan. If you are curious enough Bill there is a youtuber that reviews that particular fan

grandparents had one of those old box fan, it ran for like 40+ years. and like you say, i have a new one and it lasted one season before i had to throw it out because it got super noisy before finally locking up and not running recently. though i do have a little $10 desk fan that's been going strong for 4 years now running perfectly and the one that broke was 4 times that price so i guess you don't always get what you pay for

I have a 3 speed GE box fan that my parents bought in the late 60's that needs a new power cord, but otherwise is still in great shape.

And as a fan of white noise while I sleep (wow, that's a pun), that box fan would be perfect for something like that.

always a good fan with metal blades they always produce more air power

nice vintage box fan

Great video! The motor on the fan was made by Westinghouse.

I like vintage box fans

I totally get it. I got a few myself. I think we at one time had one almost like the one you are showing us. We kept it at our place up north when we had that. Then my sister got it then I dont know what happened to it. They are better made than the new ones.

nice! i wish they had vintage fans at the estate sales i go to

I like the propeller that fan has. I see one on eBay, hopefully I'll still be able to purchase it.

I have a mid 60's Berns Air King P20E, I think its a few years older as the back grill is still metal. It'll circulate air through the entire house even on low.

I have the exact same fan, same color and everything, I got it at a yard sale for a $1 last summer and that was nice when it was hot during the summer. Its i good shape except the handle is a little beat up.

I have an old McGraw Zero box fan that is all metal and light blue in color. It needs a new cord but I think it would still work. I think it is from the 60's.

I find it funny that YT picked the video on the MDD G4 for "Up next".

I Own a Lasko B20725 and its pretty well made! its very loud due to the thin blade, but it'll move air! but still not as good as any Lakewood. but for this era pretty decent!

Bill, i can see why you like a real box fan, on slow its plenty good enough for normal use, but on high speed it has the power to make a polar bear ccccold :-D. Quality design, the bearings are super low friction. I felt cold just watching the fan running LOL :-D.

Right on old stuff is better made im with you Bill

those old fans were the best!And they sure could move a lot of air! and as long as you kept them boiled with a little bit of sewing machine oil or electric motor oil they call it will last forever Zoom spout is the kind that I got oil?

got to love a bargain!

Nice fan Nice video,that plug appears to be time period correct!

wow it has been ages since UXWbill posted a Box fan demo!

cool old fan

I have an old white Westinghouse oscillating fan that puts out more air on low than my modern crap box fan. It also does ot alot quieter

When I scanned by this in my subs I thought it said "Berns Air King PL0P Box Fan Overview and Demonstration". I missed the 2. LOL. Sorry Bill, I just had to.

I want a box fan like this one

That new all-metal box fan you saw is nothing more than the guts of one of those typical cheap "high velocity" floor fans, just mounted in a square box. Yes, they may be better than the $12 all-plastic Walmart box fans, but they're still nowhere near as good as the fans of yesteryear. Now, when they re-release an all-metal box fan that has wide blades like the old-school Lakewoods, Laskos or Air Kings, then they'll finally have my respect again...if that even ever happens.

From what i can see from the video. It looked like a Westinghouse motor in it.

I own one of them newer lasko all metal box fans it's good for a utility room to dry the floors or dry rabbit cages but let me tell you it's loud on all speeds I got mine wanting to use it in the window of my room but Its too loud but it's a move in the right direction for fans

I love older things like this. The problem is the safety concern for young kids. I believe that parents should teach their kids not to put their fingers into things that could possibly remove them. Most parents have become far too complacent in recent decades and it's a blight on the face of humanity because it produces incapable and incompetent people who can't function in the real world. It's a shame really but there are those of us out here who are trying our best to mitigate that. There's The Geek Group which is one of the major contributors to helping solve that problem and our startup which is The Pillars of Avalon. While new technology is good and should be improved upon there's something to be said for devices that can be repaired instead of being thrown away like so much of our disposable society is guilty of these days. Old fans like this one are a prime example of how we believe things should be.

It'd be nice to find box fans over here in the UKbut alas, such things don't exist, we have floor-standing round fans, but you can't sit those in a sash window without it falling out cos it's too round and wonky...

I should get a nice old Lakewood box fan for garage ventilation needs. Got any I could buy?

Uxwbill I've got a fan that is at least 15 years old, I lost count by now. I could never figure out how to get to the motor to oil it. It's one of those turn from side to side ones. To this day it still works. The power switch is on the back on top of the motor and I have no idea if I can get the cover off. I'm amazed it still goes without being oiled all these years. Any idea if it's possible to get it apart?

I picked up a vintage mint GE three speed reversible box fan, and a old Kenmore Roll-A-Matic box fan, that is super heavy duty.... it even has a "start capacitor". Here are my videos on them, the GE ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vaKLKquZXyM.html and the Roll-A-Matic ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TowwQG37Cfk.html I made a stand for the Roll-A-Matic. I think you will enjoy the videos, seeing you like the old box fans like myself!

I imagine new fans are restricted by EPA rules.

The motor may be made by a company called Knapp Monarch.

A three blade fan, wow

what about the dyson hot+cool bill?

Hey I know this is not about a computer but you should cheepbout freedos 1.2 it's a new version of dos and it looks and runs amazing

Would you say a nice vintage fan like this compares to the air output of a furnace fan?

Hay i collect old humidifires from around the 80's ... i hate ultrasonics and they dont make decent impeller ones ... not that the older ones were made to last persay. but theres a few modles that lend themselvs to referbing.

UXW Consider this Take the orginal price for a good fan do the inflation calc and youll see 150 200 bucks is about right for a Good fan. and they are defenitly still out there at that price point. note 150-200 is midrange if you go high end of 500ish you get some niiiice air movers.

i have a great condition old box fan

Thanks Bill, Can you Overclock it?

A fan for your fans?

what pc do you use for editing videos??

Dear UXWBill, Please make a video to all the other novice and amateur video makers on RU-vid as to how to effectively make a review/ informational video on RU-vid. Your videos are good because they: -Are concise and to the point. -Minimal bullshit -Accurate -Convey useful information in an effective manner -Funny -Educational and -Edited to eliminate all the non action. After watching your videos; it is very painful watching other people's videos on RU-vid as you consistently have very high standards and tact in making videos. I swear, you could make a review on a pile of dog shit and make it interesting and gainfully educational. Please keep up the good work! You are a fascinating and very humble person, and do fantastic work.

I am not surprised you don't know whether Lasko bought out that name mentioned. Lasko isn't even on Wikipedia, so there is not way there to research them. Their website looks like someone from NASA designed it. Evidently, the name Lasko is Slovenian, which is a difficult language to learn. It is similar to Polish.

Old equipment simply works better, that's all the reasoning you should have to give. Besides, why should I have to give validation on why I enjoy something? PS Nice crocs, I have a blue pair just like that

Uxwbill, what do you think about Microsoft stoping updates for windows 7 and 8.1 if you're on a skylake, kaby-lake or ryzen cpu?

Would you be interested in making some videos of the box fans you have that haven’t been made into videos yet? I also am a sucker for a good old box fan.

I just watch in the native resolution on my 1080P monitor that way I dont need any upscalers and dont have to be part of that argument

that's one of things i absolutely HATE about modern electronics, the fact they are designed to break down after say a couple years, where as, say a fan that's older runs like a charm with no issues

If you want more vídeos about vintage fans and restoration check out Spats Bear channel

I am not a fan dude. I do not restore fans or anything like that. However I can definitely tell you that you dont need to spend over $100 on a nice metal fan. If it was not 12:36am right now I would go downstairs and get the name for you. But although it is not a box fan, I have a full metal fan with a very very nice looking motor in it sitting in the basement. It is one of those table top fans that turns on its own, its not very small but not box fan sized. If you have interest and reply I can find it soon and reply with the name. Id like to see what you think

When will you do your next computer related video?

I remember back in the day when they used to have all those box fans over the doors into liquor stores or grocery stores or meat markets or whatever to keep the flies down please to have them everywhere you don't seem that anymore you don't even see the door like you used to anymore I don't know why maybe all those new bug zappers they don't need it but I do get what you mean build those old fans are the best they last forever heavier than then six of those cheap do fans but they're good they don't tip over or they don't need a little stupid legs are so skinny and cheap!

If junk is defined as anything priced 2 dollars or less at a thrift store - or junk store - as William calls them, what do you call the group of items sold at 99 cent stores?

Wow thats the loudest fan ever.

Make a Ryzen build with it.

Oh, those damn cheap plastic fans. I remember having one as a young kid (roughly 2-3) and one of the blades broke causing it to shake so violently it (I am not making this up) move from side to side. So much so I feared fans for a couple years afterwards. Damn cheapo box fans.

They don't make them like they used to!!!

Vintage box fans are the only way to go. Those new little fans are just imbarrassing. I now have 4 vintage box fans. One more and I'm happy.

when I buy a modern fan for my job (a little one) I have to buy a new one like once or every two years. It's all crap. What they make today is not even an excuse for craftsmanship.

25th!!! (Ban me :D)