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In this guide
A box fan is the appliance nobody researches. You buy one because a room is hot, and the Lasko Power Plus 20-inch model, B20801, is the version Lasko sells direct for $39.99. It is a steel-bodied 20-inch fan with three speeds on a rotary knob, a carry handle on top, plastic feet that snap into the housing, and the fused Blue Plug the brand fits to most of its fans. Lasko lists it at 10.1 lb and 21.25 by 22.5 by 4.75 inches.
The B20200 that older guides name is no longer on Lasko's US site, so this review covers the Power Plus as the closest fan in stock. The notable part is not the fan, which is a box fan, but the way Lasko describes it: a Weather-Shield motor pitched for a window, a claim of 20% more air velocity from a Wind Ring, and a manual that says something else. This article sets out what the brand actually commits to and how it compares with the two Vornado circulators reviewed here.
Our verdict
A sensible $39.99 for a 20-inch box fan with a steel body and a fused plug, as long as you accept that Lasko gives you wattage but no airflow number and that its documentation contradicts itself.
- A good fit for
- A bedroom or living room window in summer, a garage, or a spare room where cost matters more than sound or looks.
- We would skip it if
- You need a fan you can point at yourself across a room, you care about the sound on high, or you need the maker to state how much air it moves.
Reasons to consider it
- Steel housing, 10.1 lb, and a fused polarized plug at a price most tower fans cannot touch
- Published electrical figures: 73 to 102 W and 0.6 to 0.9 A across the three speeds
- Two-year cover per the overview and the manual, plus one-month returns on direct orders
The compromises
- No CFM, velocity or dBA figures on the page, so the 20% more velocity claim has no baseline
- The manual the page links to is a 2013 generic box-fan sheet that forbids window use the page advertises
- One feature bullet says one year of warranty while the rest of the page and the manual say two
What we have not verified: The fan was not plugged in for this piece; the sound on each speed, the actual airflow, vibration of the steel body on a window sill, and how the Weather-Shield motor copes with rain were not assessed. Lasko publishes no airflow or noise figures for this model.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
Power Plus 20" Box Fan, B20801
Three speeds, a steel body, a fused polarized plug and a motor Lasko rates for light rain in a window, sold direct for $39.99 with two-year cover in the overview and the manual.
Before you buy: Lasko publishes no airflow or noise figures, the linked manual is generic and warns against window use, and the page prints the warranty term two ways.
Price checked September 11, 2026. Retailer prices can change.Watts and amps, but no airflow
Lasko's specification block for the B20801 is short: 0.6 to 0.9 A, 73 to 102 W, 120 V, ETL listed, 10.1 lb, and a body 21.25 inches high, 22.5 inches long and 4.75 inches wide. Those three current and wattage points map to the three speeds. What the block does not contain is any measure of output. There is no CFM, no velocity in feet per minute, and no sound level, so the headline claim that the Wind Ring and motor together raise air velocity by 20% has nothing to be 20% of. Lasko does not say what the comparison fan is.
The feature bullets are more descriptive than technical. The Weather-Shield motor is described as letting you run the fan in a window during minor rain, the fan can sit on the floor, a table or a sill, and Lasko suggests pairing it with an air conditioner to push cold air around. The controls are a single rotary knob and there is no timer, remote, oscillation or thermostat, which the page spells out in its long feature table. Assembly is two plastic feet that snap into the bottom of the steel housing.
Window use on the page, a window warning in the manual
The instruction sheet linked from the Specifications tab is a one-page PDF marked Rev. P 10/13. It does not name the B20801 or the Weather-Shield motor; it is a general Lasko box-fan sheet. Caution 6 on that sheet reads, in capitals, that you should not use the fan outdoors, in or near a window, or near water. The page above it sells the same fan on the strength of indoor window use in light rain. Both cannot be the operating instruction for this motor, and the newer marketing copy is the one without a document behind it.
The warranty term has the same problem. The overview paragraph ends with cover lasting two years, the feature table repeats two years in two rows, and the manual's warranty block gives two years to whoever bought it. One bullet in the middle of the feature bullets says one year. The manual also limits any implied warranty to one year, which may be where that bullet came from. For a $39.99 fan the gap is minor, but a buyer should not have to guess, and Lasko's own support page only tells you how to file a claim, not how long you have.
How it sits next to the Vornado 630 and 460
Two Vornado circulators already have entries here, and the contrast is instructive because Vornado publishes what Lasko does not. The 630, at $79.99, lists 34, 38 and 50 W across its speeds with 823, 938 and 1,122 CFM and 47 to 54 dBA. The 460, at $54.99, lists 28 to 66 W and 493 to 848 CFM. The Lasko draws 73 W on low and 102 W on high, so it uses roughly twice the power of the 630 on top speed, and nothing on Lasko's page reveals whether it moves more or less air for it. A 20-inch blade almost certainly shifts a large volume, but volume at the grille is not the same as reach across a room.
The designs also do different jobs. A Vornado is a small, deep, pivoting circulator meant to be aimed; the Lasko is a flat 20-inch panel that fills a window or sits on the floor pushing a wide, slow column of air. If the task is drawing evening air through a bedroom window, the box fan is the right tool and costs half as much. If the task is feeling air on your skin from across a room, the circulators are built for it and the Lasko is not. Weight favors the Vornados for carrying, 5.84 lb for the 630 against 10.1 lb here, though the Lasko's carry handle is part of the case.
Returns, the claim process and cleaning
Direct orders from lasko.com qualify for return for a month from receipt, but only in new condition, in the original box with all packing material intact, and at the buyer's shipping cost; Lasko refunds the item price and keeps the original shipping charge. Warranty claims start with a support form, and the manual requires the fan to be returned to Lasko at the customer's expense with an RA number, after which Lasko repairs, replaces parts or swaps the whole unit and pays the shipping back. Registration is offered and stated to be optional.
Maintenance in the manual is minimal: wipe with a soft cloth and mild soap, never immerse the electrical parts, and store dry. The bearings are permanently lubricated. The plug contains a non-replaceable fuse, and Lasko says a fan that has stopped may have blown it; the fix is a phone call, not a part. The manual also states the fan is for residential use only and must not run on a solid-state speed controller, which rules out plugging it into a dimmer-style fan control.
Skip it when you want numbers or quiet
If the volume of air a fan moves matters to you, Lasko is not going to tell you for this model, and the two Vornado circulators reviewed here will. Anyone sensitive to fan noise at night should also be wary: a 20-inch steel box fan running at 102 W is not a quiet device by the standards of a small DC circulator, and Lasko publishes no decibel figure to argue otherwise. The Power Plus is a fan you buy for volume and price, not for refinement.
Walk away too if the window use is the whole point for you and you want the documentation to back it. The marketing copy promises light-rain tolerance in a window and the linked manual forbids window use, and until Lasko posts a manual written for this motor, the only thing standing behind the claim is a paragraph on a sales page. For a covered porch or a floor next to an open window it is an easy $39.99; for a sill in the rain, read the sheet first.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- Lasko: Power Plus 20" Box Fan, B20801 (opens in a new tab)
- Lasko: box fan instruction sheet linked from the B20801 page (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
- Lasko: Refund policy (opens in a new tab)
- Lasko: Warranty information (opens in a new tab)
- Vornado: 630 Medium Air Circulator (opens in a new tab)
- Vornado: 460 Small Air Circulator (opens in a new tab)
