Bionaire Twin Reversible Airflow Window Fan with Remote Control

by people ...

Remote control operation
Electronically Reversible Blades
Fits most double-hung and slider windows
3 speed settingsDigital, programmable thermostat
LED control panel5-year limited warranty

Size:1 Pack Draws in cool air, exhausts hot air, or exchanges air with outside Electronic control with LCD screen and remote control; three speeds Thermostat turns fan off/on to maintain selected comfort level Fits double-hung, vertical slider, and casement windows 24 to 37 inches wide Extenders permit custom fit; 13 inches high overall, with 8-¹⁄₂-inch fans

Product Reviews

Triple Comparison Review - Bionaire BW2300 - Holmes HAWF2043 - Honeywell HW-628

You are in luck today.This is a direct comparison review between the three most popular currently available twin window fans:Bionaire BW2300 Twin Window Fan with Remote ControlHolmes HAWF2043 Twin Window FanHoneywell HW-628 Enviracaire Twin Window FanIf you are interested in purchasing any of those window fans, read on…I didn’t intend to have to do this review because I didn’t intend to purchase more than one of these fans. I can tell you now that all of these fans are super cheaply designed and built and none of these fans are perfect, but in my opinion, one is worse than the others.Holmes HAWF2043 Twin Window Fan: my rating - 3 of 5 starsI first purchased the Holmes HAWF2043 unit. It was lightweight and fit the window nicely although I had trouble with the extender which is located on the right side. The locks for the extender are located on the right side along the top and bottom edge of the fan, which is supremely stupid because as soon as you place the fan in your window frame and put weight on it, the bottom lock locks and you can not move the extender. What rocket scientist thought of this? So you have to unlock the locks before you place the unit in the window AND keep weight off the bottom lock until you have the extender adjusted to where you want it. This maneuver is not so easy, especially at first. Plus, the lock mechanisms can be difficult to move. At the time, I could not imagine anything worse, but I was wrong as I found out with the extenders on the Honeywell unit which I will go into in the next paragraph. This Holmes unit has the best placement of the power cord which is in the lower left corner… the location is high enough as not to interfere with the bottom of the window frame. This unit has two speeds, high and low. The controls are easy to operate. In fact, there is only one button and two switches. The button cycles through the high and low manual speed settings and then though the automatic temperature presets which are at 60, 65, 70, 75 & 80 degrees fahrenheit. If you set it at one of the temperature presets, the unit will turn off once the sensor reaches that temperature. It seemed to work although I did not have the opportunity to see how accurate that function is. The two switches set the direction of the fans to either intake or exhaust which can be done on each fan independently, so you could have one fan on intake and the other on exhaust for quickly exchanging room air with fresh air. This unit has 8.5 inch fans and they are relatively quiet at both speeds - naturally high is louder than low, but don’t expect silence. I own a Kill-A-Watt P3 energy meter and this unit used 46 watts on low and 63 watts on high. I would have been happy with this unit except that two days into using it, the right fan started working intermittently. Of course, that is unacceptable. Returning. I give this fan 3 out of 5 stars because I feel that if you get a good one you’ll be happy with it, but don’t expect anything great. FYI: Holmes is a division of Sunbeam.Honeywell HW-628 Enviracaire Twin Window Fan: my rating 2 of 5 starsSo with the right fan not working correctly on the Homes, I ordered the Honeywell HW-628. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I was not going to be happy with it. For one thing, the unit has 7 inch fans compared with 8.5 inch on the Holmes. So in order to move as much air, the fans would have to run much faster and the unit will be much louder. Time to install… I previously mentioned that the extenders on the Holmes were poorly designed, but the extenders on this Honeywell were MUCH worse. First of all, this unit has two shorter extenders on both the right and left sides instead of one longer extender like the Holmes has. Second, the four extender locks are, get this, located on the BACK of the unit, the side facing out the window! How are you supposed to set those? It was impossible for me. I ended up jamming the extenders into the window frame in order to keep them extended. Okay, so I finally get the unit in the window and turned it on. I found out immediately that my thoughts about the smaller fans, higher fan speed and noise were true. This thing is LOUD. Super loud. And buzzy. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it is downright unruly. There is no chance you would use this in a bedroom even on low speed. The controls were easy to use although not completely intuitive. There are three speeds available on each fan - low, high and super high. You have to set each fan separately, which I think is stupid. I cannot imagine a scenario where I would want one fan on high and another fan on low, etc. The temperature setting dial is also extremely stupid. There are no temperature markings. According to the manual, you are supposed to keep the unit on until the room reaches a temperature that you like and then turn the dial back until the unit cycles off. Seriously? Each fan has its own direction switch for either intake or exhaust. The power cord is located on the bottom center of the front of the unit and its mounted too low so that it interferes with the bottom of my window frame. Who is designing these things? The one feature it had that I liked was that the grilles were directional and could be rotated to direct air in a 360 degree arc. On the power consumption front, this unit used twice the power as the Holmes! - 97 watts on low, 109 watts on high and 120 watts on super high. My unit was defective in that the switches for the right fan are wired incorrectly such that low is high and high is low, but super high is still super high… odd. Returning. Due to the noise level, I would not recommend this unit. I cannot understand how it has 4 of 5 stars and as of today, 262 reviews. Incomprehensible.Bionaire BW2300 Twin Window Fan with Remote Control: my rating 4 of 5 starsSo after the poor experience with the Honeywell (They put their name on that piece of junk? They are a defense contractor!), I purchased the Bionaire BW2300 hoping for better luck. The first thing I noticed was the similarity between this unit and the Holmes. That is because they are both made by the same company. Bionaire, like Holmes, is Sunbeam. It has the same right side extender locks as the Holmes, but after the experience with the unusable rear locks on the Honeywell, I was happy to see them! One unwelcome difference is that the power cord is located on the bottom center of the front like it is on the Honeywell, which itself is not a problem but its also too low like it is on the Honeywell. I mounted the unit in window fairly quickly and turned it on. Its got three speeds, low, medium and high. It uses 8.5 inch fans like the Holmes and it is relatively quiet, although I think it may be ever so slightly louder than the Holmes on high. The controls are all electronic and it has an electronic temperature readout and thermostat. It is very easy to use. Simply choose a fan speed and put the unit into intake, exhaust or one fan on intake and the other on exhaust (air exchange mode). You can use it either in manual mode where there is no temperature control or you can set a temperature for the unit to reach and then turn off (automatic mode). This is easy to do using the simple up and down buttons to the right of the large temperature readout or you can use the remote control. Once you set it, it will remember your settings if you turn it off as long as you don’t unplug it. The remote control works well and it allows you to control all of the fan’s features and functions remotely: on/off, fan speed, air direction, temperature and to toggle between automatic and manual mode. Finally, there is a button to change the brightness of the temperature readout, although you cannot completely turn it off. The power usage was similar to the Holmes. The Kill-A-Watt read 43 watts on low, 49 watts on medium and 64 watts on high. Unlike the most popular review for this unit, my temperature probe was located in its proper track and it seems to work well. I’ve been using it for three weeks now without issue and so this is the keeper. 4 of 5 stars for this. Its not perfect, but in my opinion, its the best of the three.Just remember that with any window fan, one of the most important things is setting up a ventilation route.In order for a window fan to be most effective, you have to have a second open window for either:drawing in fresh air if you put the fan in exhaust mode.orexhausting room air if you put the fan in intake mode.If you don’t have a second open window for either mode, you’ll either create a vacuum or pressure balloon, respectively - and either way, you’ll not be moving much air which is what a fan is all about - in addition, you’ll possibly be overheating and likely killing the fan’s motors. The second open window can be in another room or on another floor or it could be a screen door, but you need an unobstructed, open source of fresh air with the fan on exhaust or an equally open window for air to exhaust through if you put the fan on intake mode.Of course, you could use the fan on exchange mode where one fan pushes air in and the other exhausts, but this is not ideal as my observation is that this mode is not nearly as efficient the other two.Also remember that the outside temperature rules everything. In my experience, in order for a fan to cool a room, the outside temperature needs to be at least ten degrees cooler than the inside temperature, and preferably falling, like it typically does at night. If the outside temperature is about the same as inside or warmer, then you’ll not be cooled off by a fan. Humidity counts, too. High humidity = bad.The window fan works well for me in the evenings/nights where the outside air temperature drops 10 or 15 degrees into the low 60s or 50s, but the inside air temperature would stay high, even with all the windows wide open as often happens without any significant wind or breeze. With the fan on and with the windows and doors set up correctly, the upstairs bedrooms stay within five or six degrees of the outside temp for me without having to turn the air conditioning on in the spring and fall. I find intake mode most effective for me. And again, remember that the effectiveness of any window fan will depend a lot on the outside temperature and humidity level.As far as these fans are concerned, I would say either get the Holmes HAWF2043 or the Bionaire BW2300, but stay far away from the Honeywell HW-628. Good luck!UPDATE - June 24th, 2014:I’ve had the Bionaire BW2300 for just over five years now. It’s holding up quite well. I use it all the time and it works as well today after five years of use as it did when it was brand new out of the box - no problems at all. The remote control and the full temperature controls are nice! I’m very happy with it. Its one of the best things I’ve ever purchased.UPDATE - April 19, 2015:Houston, we have a problem. The flux capacitor has failed! Well, not that but after almost six years of use, I noticed that one of the two fans kept shutting itself down because it was overheating. Overheating? Huh? It was becoming too hot and tripping a protection circuit which was shutting it down until it cooled again. Sooo, what to do, what to do… Take it apart and try to fix it! (Not for the mechanically deficient)…So the fan case comes apart with seven screws. Easy, right? But those extender locks make a repeat appearance as the design makes it virtually impossible to fully take the case apart without breaking at least one of the extender locks. Which I did. And I don’t care since I don’t use them. I didn’t even bother reinstalling them when I was finished. But I’m getting ahead of myself… Anyway, I then removed the fan blades (single bolt) and then the motors themselves - which turn out to be made by General Electric. I first vacuumed out any dust from both sides of the motors. Then I applied a generous amount of a full synthetic 5w50 motor oil (yes, motor oil) to both sides of the motor shaft and the ball bearings. I worked it in by turning and sliding the play in the shafts and by using gravity to allow the oil to work in on both sides. I then reassembled the unit. Make sure that when you reinstall the fan blades that you key them correctly on the shaft and you may want to hand balance them a little. Also, the extender is a bit tricky to reinstall - make sure you get the end into the three grooves correctly, then extend the extender before you put the other side of the case shell on. You will need to put some support under the extended extender while doing this to keep it flat. And again, I didn’t even bother reinstalling the extender locks on mine since I don’t use them. So after the operation, the fan works like new again. No overheating. No shutdowns. In fact, the motor is staying very cool now. It just needed a little lube to keep the moving parts moving. You may be able to achieve a similar result without taking the whole fan apart by using a spray lube like WD40. But I find that WD40 is too light and it’s effects are not long lasting unlike it’s strong odor. The full synthetic 5w50 motor oil will work for years and there is no odor.For me, this issue did not bother me one bit. After six years of heavy use, one should expect this sort of thing. In no way should this discourage you from buying the Bionaire BW2300. It’s still one of the best purchases I ever made.UPDATE - April 20, 2015:After browsing some of the more recent reviews for the Bionaire BW2300, it seems that there may be a problem with the newer units. From what I understand, they added an inline fuse to the power cord and they may have also changed the electronics, but I’m not certain as I do not have one of the newer units. As of this date my fan is almost six years old, purchased in June, 2009, and it does not have an inline fuse on the power cord. My review reflects my experience with my fan and I do not know exactly what changes they may have made to the design since or how those changes may affect the newer units. That said, it is also possible that the spate of issues people are having recently may be due to user error. For instance, some of the people having issues may not be setting up an adequate ventilation route to an open window which would overheat the motors and cause shutdowns. But since I do not have one of the newer units, I cannot know what the situation is, one way or the other.

Great Dual Fan Unit

I was looking for a dual fan as it was just too hot in my home one day. While in San Francisco, and we are moderate weather, any resident knows, come Sept-Oct we get our Indian Summer and it does get in the 90s in the City and on a good year, like El Nino, we can hit 100°. So inside info, if you want to visit SF at its best, come in September. Regular summer here is cold and fog come 3 pm. No need for air conditioning here, but my place stays 86° for days, even after we drop back to the 60s. I read how some had a fuse issue: no fuse issues with my fan, and I truly tested it. It will blow out (3-speeds), blow in (3 speeds) and alternate, one fan in, one fan out (3 speeds). I pulled it out the box, unwrapped it, stuck it in the window, secured it, plugged it in and powered it up. I put battery in the remote and tested all settings. I have two of these and both have performed flawlessly.

The best reviews are ones when the product is a few years old.

A really good review of a product, especially one that involves moving parts for example, should be done months, even a couple of years after the product has been used, abused and hopefully loved and cared for as well. I bought this product 3 years ago. It works great. It runs everyday of the year, many days all 24 hours. I take it apart completely every 6 to 8 months and clean and lube it. It comes apart quit easily. I would recommend this fan to anyone. Next month I’m buying another one.I think everyone who buys products here should write their reviews months after having tried the product and put a product through it’s paces. It only makes sense to get a complete review of a product by having used the product.

Perfect for Removing Bad Smell - Full year of use so far

It has been working perfectly for an entire year on the highest setting ²⁴⁄₇.This fan was a life saver for me. I bought it because I needed a way to keep a room where my dogs stay from smelling bad. I use potty pads within the dog pin so they have somewhere to potty, but even when cleaning and changing the pads frequently, the smell started to get really bad in the room, and the smell even started to extend into other rooms also.There is a window right above the dog pin, so after reading reviews from several different types of window fans, I finally decided to order this one. One thing I really like about this fan is the option to have one of the fans blowing into the room while the other is blowing out. So, for people who only have one window in the room, especially if they are using it to get rid of bad odor, this option is perfect for blowing out the bad smell and sucking in the fresh air at the same time. Since I have two windows side by side in this room, I decided to have both fans blowing out the window at full power while keeping the other window slightly cracked, which causes fresh air to get sucked into the room. I wanted to get as much of the bad smell out as fast as possible.Only 30 minutes after installing the fan, I walked back into the room and could not smell any bad smell at all. My girlfriend who has a much more sensitive sense of smell than I do also could not smell anything bad anymore. There was potty on the potty pad when we walked in also, but no more bad smell.The main problem, if using it for getting rid of bad smell while sucking in fresh air is that during cold times of the year, it causes cold air to be sucked into the room. I solved that problem by having a little electric heater in the room to compensate for the cold air coming in. It is a small bedroom, so this worked just fine for keeping the dogs comfortable.I’ve had this fan turned on high non-stop ever since I received it on March 25, 2016, and it is currently March 7, 2017. So, that is a year of running perfectly ²⁴⁄₇ on the high setting. It’s still working perfect. The setup was extremely easy. I especially love the side piece that extends out like an accordion to fit the window. It also has a couple additional piece that can be attached for extra wide windows. I was able to make it fit within my window by adding those attachments on the left side and also pulling out the extendable accordion part on the right side. I did not have to extend it out the full length. Hope this review is helpful. Just leave a comment if you have any questions for me.

No remote

My package did not come with a remote…I checked thoroughly. Disappointing, I guess I’ll be returning.

Clicking

The fan does an excellent job of pulling air through the window, as it’s supposed to do. However, one of the fans seems to be unbalanced or something of that nature that is…

Great!

Good quality, good color.Fresh air, I love it.Also, I ordered another for my friend.GreatThank you again!

Unfortunately Thermostat doesn’t work:(

I wish it had the function to just run and not use the thermostat…b/c that doesn’t seem to be accurate.

Good Buy for the Money

I live in an older town home (circa 1965), so the HVAC ductwork is too small (and too expensive to upgrade) to handle the air flow of current HVAC systems.