Box fans are ridiculously cheap to run

Running a box fan for 8 hours a day costs about $5 a month. Maybe less, depending on your electricity rate.

Most box fans draw between 50 and 120 watts on high. Call it 100 watts to keep the math easy. That’s 0.8 kWh per day (100W × 8h = 800 Wh). At the US average of $0.12 per kWh, you’re looking at about $0.10 a day, or $3 a month. Even a bigger fan on high won’t push past $6-7.

People overthink this. A box fan is one of the cheapest appliances you can run. Compare that to a space heater (1500W) which would cost 15x more for the same runtime. If you’re using a fan instead of AC, you’re saving serious money.

So don’t sweat the box fan. Let it run. Future You will appreciate the airflow.