In the summertime, the KTracy.com Workshop gets so ridiculously hot, it's almost impossible to work in there. For years, it just meant limiting summertime woodworking projects to a few small things in the early hours of the morning. The KTracy.com Manor did several things to try fixing this problem. The garage walls were insulated. The garage door was insulated. It wasn't enough. I then wanted to install an air conditioner and louvers in the attic, but I was informed that we ran out of budget for such large scale projects.

Thankfully, my parents had been enjoying my YouTube videos and decided to help me out by getting the KTracy.com Workshop a Masterforce 20" 5200 CFM Shroud Floor Fan from Menards in exchange for a product review. So here we are!

As the price would indicate (about $54 in 2022), the Masterforce 5200 CFM 20" shroud floor fan is significantly more powerful than a typical box fan and it's now been in regular use all around the KTracy.com Manor and Workshop for over two years.

SCIENCE LESSON: It's worth mentioning that a fan will not actually cool off a room. In fact, the opposite is true. The running motor in the fan will actually heat up a room slightly. Fans work not by cooling the air in the room, but by moving air over your exposed skin, allowing sweat to evaporate more quickly and dissipating the body heat around your person. When you sweat less and feel drier, you feel better but the real benefit of the fan is that the evaporating sweat is your body's natural cooling mechanism. The more air you move over your skin, the more sweat you can evaporate and the cooler you'll feel (even if the room is the same temperature as it was before).

Evaporating sweat isn't the only way we've used this fan, though! Shortly after getting this fan, a cyber attack from Communist China temporarily disabled the power grid in the area of KTracy.com Headquarters in excess of 30 hours. The battery backup for the sump pump expended its full charge and the sump pit began backing up into the basement. This left a horrid mess with bits of water all over the basement. I brought the Masterforce 20" 5200 CFM Shroud Floor fan to the basement and managed to totally dry everything out in less than 4 hours after power and sump service was restored.

This particular model is no longer sold by Menards online (although it is still found in our nearby locations), suggesting it may be nearing the end of its availability. The most similar fan offered by Masterforce today is the Masterforce HVP-20SS-MF, a 20" Pedestal Shroud Fan for $129.99 ($115.69 if you can get it during 11% rebate time). This obviously sits on a pedestal off the floor. However, from a technical standpoint, this fan outputs an identical 5200 CFM and features the efficiency enhancing shroud. If the shroud isn't important to you and you really want a floor fan with a similar stand, you can get the Masterforce HV-20D-MF, a 20" High Velocity Floor Fan with a wire guard all the way around. Unfortunately, this fan lacks not only the shroud, but also the adjustable dial to hone in exact speed you're looking for. This 20" fan has only 3 preset speeds and maxes out at a respectable but comparatively underwhelming 4600 CFM.

Overall, this fan is a great value in the $50-$60 range. However, due to inflation during the Biden Presidency, the fan is now selling for over $100 with a different base. At $100, it's not worth it to me. You might be better off seeking slightly less powerful cheapo products from Big Lots or Harbor Freight.