Air movers use more electricity than a typical household fan but much less than an air conditioner or heater, so their usage is moderate. A small compact air mover with 1/4 horsepower uses about 150 to 300 watts, which costs about 2 to 4 cents per hour to run at average US electricity rates. A standard professional 1/2 horsepower centrifugal air mover uses about 300 to 600 watts, costing 4 to 9 cents per hour. A large 1 horsepower high-velocity air mover can use 700 to 1000 watts, costing 10 to 15 cents per hour, similar to a small space heater on low. For comparison, a typical box fan uses 50 to 100 watts, a window air conditioner uses 500 to 1500 watts, and central AC uses 3000 to 5000 watts. Running one medium air mover 24 hours a day for 3 days for water damage drying would cost about 5 to 15 dollars in electricity, which is minor compared to the cost of mold remediation if you do not dry quickly. If you run multiple air movers on the same circuit, you can trip breakers because each draws 2 to 10 amps. For cooling purposes, air movers are more expensive to run than ceiling fans but much cheaper than AC. They are designed to be energy efficient for their airflow, moving 3000 to 6000 CFM per unit, so cost per CFM is actually quite low compared to regular fans.
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