Can anyone please recommend a fan for user while Zwifting?

Don’t overthink it, just by a boggo 12″ desk fan for a tenner-ish from Argos/Wilkos/Robert Dyas/store of your choice.

That ^^^ and then run it through a smart plug so you can turn it on and off when on the bike!

Vac master is very good.

Otherwise something big from a DIY place.

https://amzn.eu/d/bMdI4iy

Vacmaster air mover. They also do a version with a remote control.

I thought I needed a really big fan and got an 18″ one. Don’t do that. A small desk fan will be fine.

How quiet is that vac master?

For me it’s an 18″ floor fan for my body and a small desk fan for my head.

I thought I needed a really big fan and got an 18″ one. Don’t do that. A small desk fan will be fine.

No, just… No.

Tell me your small desk fan is good enough when it’s 25 degrees in summer and you’re in the middle of a brutal under/over session and the sweat is dripping off every part of your body…

I have 2x vacmaster fans, on hard sessions in summer they’re both turned to max level.

Overheating when riding indoors is no fun.

Vacmaster with remote here, works a treat and sits on floor, angles up so keeps me and the Wattbike dry throughout

I use a £35 18″ fan from Screwfix but it’s set up beside an outside door, sideways on to my body and head. I don’t see the point of forcing warm, damp, recirculated air around me.

Do you lot Zwift at the North Pole???

I sweat buckets on a Zwift ride (even in winter) and use 2 Vacmasters.

Remote well worth the extra – nice to start with no fan and then ramp it up as you get going.

mickyfinn
Full Member
How quiet is that vac master?

Impressively so considering the hurricane coming out of it

Do you lot Zwift at the North Pole???

not quite, integral garage, temp in there was 4.5 degrees at beginning of my 1 hour session yesterday, Vacmaster went on at speed 1 after 10 mins, and stayed on that throughout, air temp was 6.9 degrees at end of session, I was warmish and dry..

Must confess that I Zwift in the house – was probably 16 degrees when i started session last night! 🙂

I prefer wearing long sleeves and even gloves sometimes but I still need the fan on, as I’m still sweating no matter how cold it is.

I run 36 fan inches when going full bore 😎
A standard sized fan on a stand for Z2 and recovery rides and a big industrial one on the table for racing/intervals. Both when it’s above 10 degrees outside.

Do you lot Zwift at the North Pole???

LOL.

It was minus 3C outside yesterday when I was Zwifting. By the time I’d finished doing Ven-Top my feet were numb with the cold.

I thought I needed a really big fan and got an 18″ one. Don’t do that. A small desk fan will be fine.

I agree with taullpaull that you’ll likely need MOAR FANS eventually!
I run 2 vacmaster and a 12″ one blowing at me from straight on… I still get hot!

you should have at least 1 or 2 vacmaster for full benefit!

DrP

Tell me your small desk fan is good enough when it’s 25 degrees in summer

Ah – no, I only Zwift in the winter when it’s too cold and grim to ride outside. And it’s generally in the garage with the door open. Zwifting in the summer sounds even more miserable than the winter!

I have my Zwift set-up in the garage.
On yesterday’s ‘endurance’ 2hr session, I didn’t need the fans, although it was down near freezing.

I quite often do as molgrips and end up with arm warmers/gloves on with the fans going as bare arms get bloody freezing when the fan is blowing in cold weather.

In terms of fans I use an 18″ pedestal fan which is on it’s last legs (the motor is dying, so can’t spin up at speeds 1 & 2). It only works on speed 3.
I also use a small fan (8″ perhaps) that normally points straight at my face, although I currently have nowhere to put that since buying a larger monitor so need to think the whole set-up through!

Not really related to the OP question, but sweat bands are great for stopping the constant drip-drip of sweat from your brow.

Ah – no, I only Zwift in the winter when it’s too cold and grim to ride outside. And it’s generally in the garage with the door open. Zwifting in the summer sounds even more miserable than the winter!

Where do you live that it’s only grim in the winter? 🙂

Ah – no, I only Zwift in the winter when it’s too cold and grim to ride outside. And it’s generally in the garage with the door open. Zwifting in the summer sounds even more miserable than the winter!

Fair enough – even my winter zwifting is done indoors so at 16-17 degrees minimum.

And you’re right, doing tough sessions, races etc when it’s high 20’s outside is horrible, overheating and the effects of that are very real – hence the need for a proper fan set up if you intend on doing any hard zwifting during spring/summer/autumn.

I started out thinking that I’d only ever need level 2 on a single vacmaster, that didn’t last for long! 🤣

18″ generic floor/gym fan in a cool/freezing garage, the only thing I’d change is perhaps a remote to switch the thing on after i’m warmed up a bit.

6th winter and still going strong, was a fair bit cheaper back then though…

e2a: Everyone else might prefer something quieter if you’re in the house

Perfect opportunity to show off the Zwifticles setups again!

DrP

On the new rocker plate 😁 single vacmaster going as it was only an easy hour long z1/2 ride.

The Vacmaster Cardio 54 looks interesting, anyone with any real world experience on how these compare with a generic 18″ floor fan?

Just thinking for when mine finally bites the dust, remote option a big positive.

As some have already suggested, a Smart plug can function as a rudimentary remote.

I use this – https://www.screwfix.com/p/hf-45a-18-industrial-floor-fan-220-240v/105rj – but it was less than £30 when I bought it about 18 months ago…plugged into a smart plug and it works well.

Is that a home made or shop bought rocker plate is that @tallpaul?

The Vacmaster Cardio 54 looks interesting, anyone with any real world experience on how these compare with a generic 18″ floor fan?

I started with an 18″ fan and then added a smart plug to turn it on and off but it was still a bit annoying not to be able to control the speed.

Switched to the Vacmaster Cardio.. it’s a bit pricey (think mine cost £80 in a sale) but operationally it’s great to have the remote control. Plenty powerful enough too as it’s much more directional than a rotary fan.

The Vacmaster Cardio 54 looks interesting, anyone with any real world experience on how these compare with a generic 18″ floor fan?

The vacmaster have a very directed but narrow airflow, 1ft either way and there’s nothing but if you’re in the airstream you know about it!!

You can have the air directed at your body but note your head. And the air movement moves stuff the other side of my room, 15ft away.

The vacmaster have a very directed but narrow airflow, 1ft either way and there’s nothing

Which is probably why some folk feel they need more than one.

Is that a home made or shop bought rocker plate is that @tallpaul?

Home made, DIY.

I needed one on castors and there are precisely none off the shelf options for that. It’s a fairly standard DIY set up of rod + linear bearings giving fore & aft and rocking movement.

Cost about £270 all in to make for the materials, and about 30hrs of labour at a guess.

Thanks for all the responses. So Vacmaster is the way forward?

Not IMHO. I’d rather have two 18″ rotaries at the cost of one Vacmaster 😁

Of course, if money is no object, then two Vacmasters seems to be your answer.

VAcMaster is efficient but quite load IMO. My setup is in the garage so itls cold to begin with this time of year. I tend to reserve the vacmaster for warmer weather use. Two fans is a good idea – my second is a Meaco. It runs much quieter, has variable speed, and does’nt look out of the place in the house if it gets stiffling in the summer. I tend to prefer the Meaco when its cooler.

I like those movable wheels on the rocker, might see if I can incorporate those into mine, although I have a (rough) carpet floor. I made mine from marine ply, inline skates and tough dog tennis balls, with some regular skates as stabilisers just in case the angle gets too extreme.

I use an 18″ fan mounted high on a smart plug, can’t imagine using a smaller one ! and a garmin bluetooth fan that was a gift, but was only really used when I was zwifting with my son at the same time. Here is a link to fan and board making album.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0oGgZLKuGASzbE

There are plenty of pedestal fans out there that have a remote, so if you want a remote the Vacmaster isn’t your only choice.

I have 3 fans available (1 biggish floorstander that’s actually hanging from the garage ceiling in front of me and right in front of a window, 1 2ft or so mini-tower thing that fires up from the floor in front, 1 little Honeywell thing that only appears if I’m daft enough to ride in summer)

I also have a guilty pleasure which is a fan heater that I run when it’s really cold in there, at least for the 1st 20 minutes or so 😳 – airflow is important but warm airflow isn’t as bad as it sounds

They’re all variable but all I can do from the saddle is switch on&off using a switched 6-gang extension