This TikTok Cleaning Method Might Have Broken My Fan

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

As the spring gets closer and closer, I was excited to see a new trend on TikTok that claims you can easily clean fans—a pretty tedious chore—just by spritzing the machine and covering it with a plastic bag. I tried it out on two different fans today and the results weren't great. Here's what happened and what you can (and should) do instead.

My attempt at the TikTok fan-cleaning hack

First of all, here's how it's supposed to look and work when you use a cleaning solution and garbage or plastic bag to "clean" your fan:

There are tons of videos like this on TikTok and they all look pretty effective, so I gave it a real try. Different creators recommend different cleaning solutions, like rubbing alcohol or dish soap, but I decided to fill my spray bottle with diluted Fabuloso, the same thing I'd clean the fan with if I were doing it manually.

First, I saturated my tower fan with some heavy-handed spray, then put the bag over it. Nothing happened. No dust or dirt came out into the bag whatsoever. I decided to take this as a personal win, honestly, and chalk it up to my fan simply not being disgusting and dirty enough. The goal here is ostensibly to dampen the dust within the fan to the point that it becomes heavy and dense enough to actually be blown out of the vents. I simply didn't have enough dirt!

My small table fan, however, definitely did; it was gross to even look at. I sprayed that one down, put the bag over it for a full 10 minutes, and... nothing. All the dirt was still visible when I removed the bag. None—and I mean none—came off. But worse, my fan got too wet and malfunctioned. It wouldn't turn off. That, I think is the primary problem with this supposed hack: You can't unplug the device like you normally would when cleaning something with electrical components, since you need it to be able to blow air in order to complete the trick. Unfortunately for me, my fan charges while it's plugged in, so even unplugging it did nothing. It had to run for an hour with water inside before it regained the ability to be turned off. I unquestionably damaged and/or broke it by doing this.

In short, not only does this hack not clean the fan vents or blades, but it has the potential to damage your fan. I don't care how many videos you see of people appearing to pull this off successfully. It's not worth attempting.

How to clean a fan instead

In this case, it's best to do things the old-school way. Unplug your fan. On larger box fans, you should be able to unscrew and detach the front plate, giving you access to the interior parts while you plop the front plate into soapy water (your tub works great for this). From there, wipe down the blades with soapy water. If you can't do that or don't want to, just use a vacuum with a brush attachment to suck dirt and grime out through the vents and slats. Use soapy water to wipe down the exterior, including the cord, but don't get any moisture near where the cord connects or any of the buttons. They can be wiped with a plain microfiber cloth. Here's a more comprehensive breakdown.

While I am sad that the nifty trick didn't work, I'm glad for two reasons: I can dissuade you from trying it, first of all, and my apartment smells great now that two of my fans have dispersed Fabuloso water through the air. It's the little things.