Paranoid about safety of tower fan

[GeorginaA]

Hoping someone can reassure me.

Have put a tower fan in ds1's room (he's 4) (ds2 has a little air cooler in his room, but of course he can't reach it as he's in a cot). Have stressed that he shouldn't put his fingers near or inside the grill or any other object as it's really dangerous. He asked why, and I ended up telling him his fingers would break off (yes, I know... great parenting form just before bedtime... have probably overdone it now, but really wanted to stress that he wasn't to touch it).

Thing is, I've come downstairs and I'm now really paranoid. Do these things have safety cutouts if something did go in there? He's a fairly good kid - if you tell him not to do something then he won't, but I don't want to rely on that, if you know what I mean.

I'm being overly paranoid, aren't I? AREN'T I?!!!

My tower fans are from B & Q and the slots are very narrow and even if a child could get their finger in, the blades inside appear to be quite a long way back from the front grille cos it's curved IYSWIM.
My ds has one in his room (he is 5) and sometimes we leave it on all night or alternatively it has a 2 hour timer on it.

My fans are from Argos, the chepast range and like feelingold says about hers, slots seemed very narrow and even if dd got her finger in, the blades inside appear to be quite a long way back.

I am not worried. I would return the fans you have and get more appropriate ones. dd likes turning them on an off and change speed though. I do tell her off sometims but if i ignore it, she gets bored very quickly

Georgina, we have one like this in ds2's room. It's clipped to the top of his wardrobe, which is next to his bed, angled down at him - he can't reach it, and the cable is hidden behind the wardrobe. This may not work for you, depends on the layout of your ds's room but I thought I'd mention it.

Oh and I ought to mention I don't know anything about that company I've linked to - ours came from either Currys or Dixons but they don't seem to have them this year.

Thought I'd give you an update. I've had a good look at the fan and tried to get my little finger in (while it's switched off of course!) and the spinning bit is a good way back, even allowing for the extra slimness of children's fingers.

HOWEVER, I've just caught ds1 with his fingers against the grill (not inside, just against), despite strict instructions not to touch the grill part of the fan, so I no longer trust him. After research I've ordered one of these which is a tower fan that specifies a child safety grill and moved the old one into our room. I just feel with the extended amount of non-supervised time that he'll be in contact with the tower fan, I just wanted that extra bit of reassurance. Unfortunately, the new one is going to take 5 days to arrive

Thanks for all your messages - it really helped me to think it through

Message withdrawn

Georgina, I saw that fan in the Lakeland catalogue and wondered about it, as DD and DS seem magically attracted to ours. But I wasn't sure whether it was necessarily any better because in theory, all fans have safety grills, don't they? Plus I wondered if DD would just tip it over (she's 8mths). Will be keen to see what you think! I need more excuses to order stuff from Lakeland anyway....

lol ... I never need excuses to buy stuff from Lakeland .

You're probably right re: the grill thing. It was the only one that specifically mentioned it though... oh well, we needed another for our bedroom anyway, so even if it's not significantly better, we were going to spend the money anyway. Will let you know what the size of the grill is when it arrives.

A friend suggested that I stick a piece of carrot in the fan and see what happens to the carrot (it being less likely to splinter than a pen or pencil and more finger like!). If it slices off then panic, if it stops the fan and just gets a bit beaten and bruised then worry less...

... am feeling a bit of a coward though! Think if it sliced off the carrot then I'd faint or something equally pathetic!

Okay, Bionaire one arrived today - seems marginally better - about a 0.6/0.7cm gap in the grills. With it unplugged and switched off we asked ds1 if he could touch the black bit inside and he couldn't get his smallest finger in very far. To be on the safe side, we've reiterated that he shouldn't try when it's switched on and that he shouldn't put anything else through the grill.

How was your one, Twiglett?