Anyone purchase from Big A** Fans?

[hoovarmin]

We had a 14x14 cedar cabana built in our backyard and need a really good ceiling fan to move this muggy Florida air over the summer. Big A** Fans .com was recommended and so I called and they took the dimensions of our cabana and made a recommendation.

https://store.bigassfans.com/en_us/catalog/product/view/id/9822/s/i6-oil-rubbed-bronze-config/category/76/

I have to say that their fans do appear to be a cut above in terms of torque and quietness, and their staff is quite amazing. But the 60 inch fan, once loaded with a light, remote, and 6 inch pole kit is $2600! I am willing to pay more to get it right the first time, but if there's an alternative I'm all ears. Anyone else have one of these?

[realdocBBQ]

Yikes. That's spendy!

I know one of our local eatin' places has those in the roof, theirs are like... yuuuuge. I bet they're 8 feet. Good luck, though, that's serious money.

[Alan Brice]

Our Auto dealership has many in the service area. Must be great. They run constantly.

[Purc]

I know of a number of commercial installations in Chattanooga Tn that have had these fans for years. One is a large semi opened building that houses a farmer's market and events area. As always, YMMV.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

We used them a lot at work. Normally I shy away from things marketed as military grade, but these fans are legit. We were using them in gyms, aircraft hangers, even outside under sun shades in the middle east. Anything that survives running 24/7 more than a few months in that environment is a product I would gladly buy for my home.

Stateside we usually have them installed in warehouses and the gym. They move a lot of air, efficiently and quietly.

[radiodome21]

My gym has them. I didn't even know you could order them for your house. We had to add 5 fans in our house when we remodeled it 2 years ago. 2 were Casablanca, and the 3 were something else. As far as moving air I have no complaints. But the lighting on them all kind of suck, and the non Casablanca fans hum when they're on. So I don't envy you right now b/c that's a lot of money but if you're going to do it then you want to do it right.

[Grillin Dad]

We looked at getting a Big A** for a couple of rooms. Yeah, they’re pretty much the most expensive fan on the market (at least from what I’ve seen). While seemingly being top quality, we decided that they were overkill for residential use. I also really didn’t like the ‘smart’ technology that was included in their residential fans. It has temperature and humidity sensors and you program a temperature that you want your room to ‘feel like’ and the fan automatically sets the speed based on the sensors and your settings. Again, seems like overkill to me, I just want to set a fan speed and leave it alone (this is me turning more and more into an old man … ‘and get off my lawn!!’). We ended up getting a fan from Modern Forms. It’s supposed to be really quite and move a lot of air, but I haven’t gotten around to installing it, so I guess I’m not much help.

[Grillin Dad]

But my brother-in-law is a residential wireman. He’s installed a number of BA fans and has raved about them. So if you want the best, BA is probably it. But you can also get good fans for a lot less money.

[Huskee]

I'm with you on the 'get off my lawn' thing with "smart" devices. No one buys a fan for moving 88 degree air to 'feel like 72' for Pete's sake. We buy fans for Low Medium High and Off.

[hoovarmin]

Grillin Dad the model we are considering doesn't have any of those features.

[holehogg]

From above comments it's a solid unit. Recommend you make sure the Cabana is well secured to terra firma ;-)

[hoovarmin]

LOL

[luvthemstillers]

I work in an engineering firm where we spec this style of fan regulary. In the industry, they are referred to as HVLS or high-volume low-speed fans. Big A** is just the one with the most name recognition (think Kleenex for tissues). There are other brands on the market that may come in at a more friendly price. Hope this helps.

[hoovarmin]

That's very helpful

[hoovarmin]

luvthemstillers Can you think of some other brands that are reliable?

[luvthemstillers]

Brands that I've put on projects include Loren Cook, MacroAir, Greenheck and
Qmark. I'm not sure if they have what you're looking for, but you never know.

[ofelles]

I installed one in the large entry lobby of a Kaiser Hospital with a 12' dia. on the blades. High quality and great service.

[Dadof3Illinois]

I have a 14' x 14' Cabana also (He Shed as the wife calls it). I looked at these and couldn't justify spending more on the fan than most of my cookers. I ended up buying an Emerson three blade 60" fan that works AWESOME...moves a ton of air. It's for indoor use but since it's inside a covered area and only paying a fraction of what the Big A** fans cost I gave it a shot figuring that i could buy 10 of these for the price of one BA fan.
Sorry to say these are currently unavailable but this one I believe is the same fan???
Kathy Ireland Home Loft 60" ceiling fan #CF765BQ

[hoovarmin]

Yeah, I've thought that myself, however the humidity in NE FL and Illinois are vastly different. We also live 4 blocks from the Atlantic, so there's salt to deal with as well. An indoor fan will probably last about 3-6 months here.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Your humidity just lasts longer, it's bad here during the crop season. Just ask the contractors that come up here to work for us...HA. They can't believe how humid it is in July-Sept......the good thing is doesn't last near as long as on the gulf ( we lived in Mobile for several years).
This fan isn't a normal indoor fan....it's built more like an industrial fan, heavy duty because it has a pretty steep pitch to the blades so it can move a ton of air. I've messed with my fair share of ceiling fans and this is well worth trying at 10x cheaper...IMO.

[hoovarmin]

Then I will definitely check it out!

[hoovarmin]

OK, I'm really tempted now but my wife is lobbying for the more expensive fan, mostly because this one doesn't have lighting. I'm going to have to get her buzzed so that my persuasive powers have an advantage.

[Dadof3Illinois]

hoovarmin ....LOL. I installed 4 lights around the fan and then put up several sets of string lights around the interior. I'll see if I can find some pic's

[jfmorris]

Those are nice fans, but I'll be honest - I think $2600 for a 60" fan is too speedy. Unless that is 60 per blade (i.e. over 120 inches across the entire fan). The places I know that have them are bars, gyms, breweries, where they have 24 foot or larger spans on the Big A$$ Fans.

Looking at Lowes website... you can get 138 different fans in the 61 to 70 inch category, with lights and remotes, rated for outdoor installation, and all for much less - topping out at $1100, and many for under under $500.

I've got a 12 x 21 pavilion out back, and installed 2 ceiling fans on conduit, and expressly went with pull chain outdoor rated models, so that I can flip a switch and turn them on. I don't want to hassle with or lose a remote to an outdoor fan, and with some of the Hunter fan's I've had, the remote is the ONLY way to turn it on.

You can see a switch box in the far corner that has a switch for the fans, and one for the lights. The fans are on downrods that put the fan about 9 feet off the ground, and we get a pretty good breeze from two sub $100 outdoor rated 54 inch fans. In your case I would go bigger, but still.... I've had these up since 2017, in a very muggy and humid Alabama climate. No rust or deterioration yet. These are either Harbor Breeze (Lowes) or Hampton Bay (Home Depot).

[hoovarmin]

jfmorris it is 60 inches per blade. Believe me, I'm studying your post.

[jfmorris]

hoovarmin ok, so we are talking 10 foot across - you won’t get that air movement with the smaller fans from the hardware store, but you also won’t break the bank, and can probably find something that works.

How are you wired right now? Could you do several smaller fans?

[Dadof3Illinois]

Here’s what I have, sorry the pics aren’t great but I built this a couple 3 years ago and have slowly filled it in.
This fan does a great job of moving all the smoke out and keeps a nice pretty strong flow of air moving. It came with a speed control switch instead of a toggle.
The lights are pretty basic but look nice and instead of conduit I just painted PVC black and used that,
I built knee walls along the sides and added the all weather blinds a couple years ago.

[Dadof3Illinois]

@hovarmin That top pic shows the fan. The room is exactly 14x14 and it does a really great job moving the air.

[jfmorris]

So do you have the fan reversed to move the smoke out along the ceiling? I was grilling tonight under cover and the fan kept pulling smoke down on me, and I thought about reversing it while cooking.

[Dadof3Illinois]

jfmorris No, I just roll up one of the blinds if it get bad enough, that with the fan on high gets it out in no time flat.

[HawkerXP]

We have a couple BAF in each hangar. They work great.