Comment by daenz

>Especially considering the box fan uses a ton of power, costing money.

  box fan: $40
  ikea: $70

  box fan electricity: 73W x 24 x 365 x $0.11kWh = $70/year
  ikea electricity: 14W x 24 x 365 x $0.11kWh = $13/year

Assuming 24/7 usage, in the first year you'd save $27, and in subsequent years, $57.

But this isn't counting filters. You can get a much higher range of standard filters for a box fan, meaning you can run it much less and filter more. And when IKEA discontinues the product, you're SOL finding filters, so you have to buy something new, whereas you'll never have that problem with a box fan. All things considered, I think box fan would win on cost.