Today, over 500 firms in the United States manufacture fans and blowers, and the industry provides employment to over 30,000 people. Fans are commercially used in the form of huge blowers to bubble air through industrial waste and sewage water. They are also used as street cleaners and leaf blowers and in glass blowing and sand reclamation.



They are used in the attic in homes to exchange stale air for fresh. They are a part of heating and air-condition systems used in homes and commercial establishments. They are used to provide oxygen rich air to fossil fuel combustion systems and as exhaust fans to remove the products of this combustion. In homes, exhaust fans are used in bathrooms and the kitchen to remove stale air and grease and heat from kitchen appliances, respectively.

Fans are an important component of the air pollution control industry. This is because of their ability to move large volumes of air. They have been used to remove dust, carbon monoxide, metal particles, and sulfuric acid from various equipments.

The commonest types of fans and blowers are axial and centrifugal. The former are used in applications that do not offer much resistance to airflow. In axial fans the air is moved in the same direction as the fans rotation. In centrifugal fans the air moves perpendicular to the fans' rotation axis. Many of the fans used in homes have curved or angled blades for the centrifugal effect. Contrary to axial fans, centrifugal fans and blowers are used in applications that offer high resistance to airflow. Centrifugal units are much quieter than axial ones.

In the United States, fans and blowers are manufactured to meet international standards. While this enables fan manufacturers to compete globally, it also leads them to face foreign competition especially because of the price of products.

With air pollution on the rise globally, the air pollution control industry is taking steps to tackle this serious environmental issue. Experiments are being conducted to develop or upgrade air pollution control devices, and in this context the use of fans and blowers is likely to increase in the future.