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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.
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...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HU3BF22/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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.
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.
https://flic.kr/p/2oaMGY2
https://flic.kr/p/2oaKdT6
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
18" screwfix style fan on from the very start, I did have one of those Honeywell turbo fan things but it's turd in comparison.
I don't get this 10" desk fan stuff, do some of you either run really cold or not really put much effort in?
To those who are talking about remote controls - why would you want to run the fan on anything but max?
I don’t get this 10″ desk fan stuff, do some of you either run really cold or not really put much effort in?
When you weight dope it makes the races much easier 😉
PrinceJohn
Full Member
To those who are talking about remote controls – why would you want to run the fan on anything but max?
Very rarely have my fan above the first setting, 2 if I'm really cooking, 3 is strong enough to push me off the back of the bike*
*maybe
PrinceJohn
To those who are talking about remote controls – why would you want to run the fan on anything but max?
I did a 2 hour endurance workout on the turbo last night. Max speed would have been way too high - it would been bloody freezing.
As mentioned above in my original response, my fan only works on max (I need a new one) so I just rode without it on. I probably could have done with it on speed 1 initially.
When it's colder than about 5deg outside, the max speed on my fan is a bit too cold unless I am doing a really hard workout with short rest periods, or racing.
That is a nice bit of work @tallpaul. Those pics were useful too @haloric. I'd like to have a go at making my own I think.
I'm in a shed and use a pretty small Honeywell turbo fan which works for riding in the winter months, though at the moment I can manage without for the first half of a session since it's pretty nippy and the shed is uninsulated.
Taotronics pedestal fan more than enough for winter, in warmer turbo sessions I'll use another pedestal fan or the Honeywell HT900E as an extra.
I wouldn't stop at "just" one fan. Don't mess around with little weedy desk fans, you need some fairly serious air moving power if you're going to be working hard. It also depends how much you are willing to spend.
I've got a cheapish screwfix one on a smart plug that works great, and a wahoo headwind that is similar but betterer in terms of features - more focussed airflow to hit just your body, and ability to control it via phone app or via heart rate. I'm keeping both for extreme summer days when you just want as much airflow as you can get.
I wouldn't recommend one or the other, it just depends on your budget.
If anyone is in Leeds I have one of those 18" Screwfix floor fans going spare. You can have it for a £10 donation to charity.
3 speed floor fan, I always have it on highest setting…even when it’s super cold in the garage, hat and gloves on until I’m warmed up a bit and can face the arctic blast 😁
Same as DrP for me - big floor fan, hung off the wall in front of me. Plugged into an extension cord with switches which I can reach while riding.
Set to speed 1 in the winter; if it's cold enough i'll just use it in bursts. Up to 2 or 3 in the summer, but I'm not so likely to be on Zwift in the first place.
I went all posh and got the Wahoo Headwind. It's great. I have it set up to respond to heart rate, so it's one less remote to faff with.
Also have a cheapo floor-standing job that provides a higher volume of air movement, but at a much lower flow rate. The Headwind provides a very powerful, yet concentrated stream of air.