photo from reddit Appliances
McGraw-Edison Eskimo Box Fan
by McGraw-Edison
85
7 endorsements on r/BuyItForLife first recommended in Feb 2025
A vintage all-metal box fan sold under McGraw-Edison's Eskimo line, built with a metal housing and blades rather than modern plastic construction.
Added Jul 5, 2026, Updated Jul 5, 2026
Why it's buy-it-for-life
Reddit owners report units running 50-60+ years later, still moving air reliably with only occasional oiling. The all-metal construction outlasts modern plastic box fans, and old wiring can be safely rewired to keep it going another few decades.
What redditors say
Recommended on reddit as recently as February 2025
Show 2 more mentions
- 1r/BuyItForLife comment
Got my grandmas. It's awesome.
- 1r/BuyItForLife comment
All metal baby
Tags
box-fan vintage all-metal decades-old rewireable
Last summer, I bought this beast of a fan, it is a McGRAW-EDISON ESKIMO Box Fan.
We have the same one! 50-plus years and still going strong.
Woah, my folks had that same one when I was a kid.
we have one too! works great. we oil it every once in a while and it stays very quiet
Easily 60 years old I'd say. Great fans!! ... These will last a lifetime
there has been multiple times where I shocked myself due to forgetting to unplug that fan while I was tinkering with the wiring.