iLIVING 12" Wall Mounted Shutter Exhaust Fan, Automatic Shutter, Temperature and Humidity Controls with Variable Speed, 960 CFM at 1600 RPM DC Motor

Why it's worth it

The iLIVING is a 12-inch wall-mounted exhaust fan with automatic shutters, a DC motor rated at 960 CFM, and a digital controller that responds to both temperature and humidity. It's for spaces a portable fan can't handle.

This is the fan for the room your window fan can't fix. A garage in July, a workshop, a shed, an attic that bakes. It mounts into the wall and exhausts hot air out, and the aluminum shutters open when it runs and close when it stops. That closure is the point. No backdraft, no bugs, no rain coming through a fan-shaped hole in your wall.

The controller does more than a thermostat. You set a temperature anywhere from 50 to 99 degrees, and it also responds to humidity, which is useful in a basement or a greenhouse where the problem is damp as much as heat. Variable speed means you're not stuck choosing between off and full blast.

From our review of 8 window fans

What we like

• +This is the fan for the room your window fan can't fix
• +The controller does more than a thermostat
• +Better Homes & Gardens notes that shutter-style wall fans tend to run quieter than portable twin fans, because the fixed mount…
• +At 960 CFM it's rated to exchange air in spaces up to 1,400 square feet, well past what a twin window fan manages

What to know

• –This is a permanent installation
• –The controller supports a wire extension over a USB Type-A cable, but that cable isn't included