Air King 9166 20" Whole-House Window Fan
Review by C. Park : a powerful and high-quality fan

It seems that you can't find high-quality window fans in the stores anymore (i.e., built the way they "used to be"). But this one is built very well, like the window fans I grew up with.

The housing is very sturdy and there are no rattles or annoying vibrations when it's running (which is a fatal flaw in many flimsy fans/fan housings).

Installation was a breeze in my fairly-standard double hung windows. There is a template included for screw placement. And you can close the bottom sash behind the fan, while the fan is still in place -- a must-have feature if you are a frequent user of the fan.

It is a bit loud -- but the noise is all "fan" noise, not other rattles/vibrations, as mentioned above. So it's not particularly annoying. But if you are sleeping with it in your room, you will not hear much else going on around the house. Of course, that's a bonus when the garbage truck shows up at 6AM and all your windows are open... :-).

One nit is that the switch just doesn't have a substantial feel to me. It's hard to explain, but it just "feels" a little cheap. But "feel" aside, it'll probably last forever.

All-in-all it's just what it should be, with construction quality that is hard to find these days.

Air King 9166 20" Whole-House Window Fan
Review by J. Brown "jobrow68" : worth the money

Great fan, pretty simple installation, instructions and big sticker on fan tell you to reverse side panels that one person had a problem with...go figure. Moves a LOT of air, keeps my three story house nice and cool. A little loud on high, but I guess that is to be expected when the fan is moving over 3000 CFM @ 1600 RPMs. I recommend!

Air King 9166 20" Whole-House Window Fan
Review by P. Kalina : No A/C? Then get this fan

We have a steam and radiant-heated home, thus no vents for central A/C. Plus, here in Michigan we don't need it too often. My wife and I prefer fresh air in the home anyway and only use our bedroom A/C unit when absolutely necessary. Now we have this Air King fan which we bought from [...] (great price and delivery). Installation was a breeze (yuk-yuk), but make sure you have a window large enough to accept it. The height specification (26 1/4") is ideal, but the fan needs about 24" of open space to be effective. The 27" minimum width is required, however. Follow the simple instructions, and you should have no problems. Just make sure the window has a screen on it. I installed the fan in my wife's study on the upper floor. Since hot air rises, I prefer this location to a main floor one. By adjusting which windows and doors are open, you can control the amount of air pulled thru the home. Actually the amount is constant for a given speed, but the effect can be enhanced by closing off windows or doors to create a greater venting effect throughout the home. Today, it hit a balmy 90 degrees, and we really felt how well this fan keeps the air 'fresh' and not stagnant. Noise is the biggest negative, however. At the highest speed, my wife can't stand being in the same room with the fan. The low setting is still powerful, but the noise is tolerable. By noise, I mean air 'white' noise and not motor noise. We usually keep the fan on most of the day at the low or mid setting. On hot days, the high setting is best for our 2200 sq ft home. The fan is well-made and I expect it to last for years. This is well worth the comparably high cost vs the cheap box fans.