No matter where your industrial facility is located, you’ll have to deal with the local climate. The temperature and humidity will vary based on your geographical location, just as it will with the seasons. Depending on where you live, the summers can be brutally hot and the winters can be bone-chillingly cold.
As such, your industrial heating and cooling system will be working all year long. Often referred to as an HVAC system (which stands for heating, ventilation and air conditioning), your heating and cooling efforts will always factor into your operating costs. Without a proper setup, the cost to heat and cool your industrial building can be quite expensive. If you own an industrial facility of any kind, an industrial ceiling fan is an essential machine to have.
Not only can a proper fan help maintain an even coolness in the summertime without costing you an arm and a leg in air conditioning costs, the right kind of industrial ceiling fan can also maintain an even level of warmth in the winters, and also provide the same cost savings by limiting the amount of heat needed in the winter.
According to industry experts, in many cases the best type of answer lies with an HVLS fan, which stands for high-volume, low speed.
What Is an HVLS Fan?
An HVLS fan is a type of large industrial ceiling fan with propellers of seven feet or more. HVLS fans are predominantly used in the commercial, industrial, and agricultural industries since they often have large, high-ceilinged open-concept buildings. HVLS fans provide an array of benefits through high-volume, low-speed air circulation.
With its long propellers, an HVLS fan produces enormous columns of air, pushing and circulating large volumes of air that are orders of magnitude higher than that of small household fans or high-speed generators using the same amount of electricity to run.
The reason why HVLS fans are so much more efficient has to do with science, and with fluid dynamics in particular. It turns out that higher velocity air, the type you might find moved by small household fans, is harder to produce, and requires more energy to do so.
A household fan is the opposite of an HVLS fan, in that its blades turn extremely quickly. This generates much more friction and air resistance, which is created when a column of fast-moving air comes into contact with stationary air on its peripheries. Because HVLS fans generate a low-velocity air column, there is much less friction and air resistance, which means the fan costs much less energy to run.
In terms of cost and energy use, doubling the speed of fan blades costs four times as much energy, and tripling the speed of fan blades costs eight times as much energy. The relationship of fan speed to cost is not linear. In fact, quadrupling fan speed costs 16 times as much energy!
That’s why the slowly-moving blades of an HVLS are such an important cost-savings decision. Large industrial ceiling fans create the necessary air movement and associated air circulation that can be such a benefit to indoor industrial environments and buildings, but at a much lower cost.
Here are some examples of great indoor locations in which to use an industrial fan:
- Warehouses
- Manufacturing Plants
- Barns
- Distribution Centers
- Auto industry
- Shopping Malls
- Airports
- Sports Centers
- Greenhouses
- Cannabis Production Facilities
- Dairy Farms
And while an HVLS industrial ceiling fan circulates a large amount of air at a lower cost, it also provides a number of other benefits to industrial, commercial, and agricultural businesses.
How You Will Benefit from an Industrial Ceiling Fan
If you own and operate a building in the commercial, industrial, or agricultural sectors, you probably have several pain points that an industrial fan can solve.
Large open-concept buildings are susceptible to moisture and airborne contaminants, which can include volatile organic compounds, pollen, and chemical fumes. Without proper air circulation, this can lead to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS).
Staff, visitors, and even farm animals can experience negative health effects, which can range from headaches to nausea and dizziness to respiratory diseases. An industrial HVLS fan promotes better air circulation, so your staff, visitors, and animals can breathe easier while inside the building.
Installing industrial fans in your facility will help work productivity to remain high, since the fans will regulate the temperature. Large facilities often have trapped air pockets and uneven temperatures. This can cause your HVAC system to work overtime, an expensive proposition in the hottest summer temperatures or the coldest winter months. Industrial fans are cost-effective solutions in this respect, and they keep the hot and cold air circulating so your facility will be at an ideal temperature for everyone.
Having an HVLS fan can also reduce the dangers that sometimes can exist in large industrial facilities. For example, Sweating Slab Syndrome is a lesser known, but still dangerous phenomenon that can lead to a number of potential injuries. Moisture accumulates on surfaces when the air is distributed unevenly. It’s a common occurrence on concrete, which is often the material used to build a warehouse and many other large facilities.
The moisture buildup is an accident waiting to happen, and an industrial fan can go a long way to preventing dangerous moisture buildup. In this sense, an HVLS fan can contribute to a lower amount of worker and visitor injuries.
Maintain Your Facility’s Productivity
Not all solutions need to be complicated or expensive. A simple, expertly designed industrial fan solves many problems facilities face today, and can actually save you money!
Whether you own a dairy farm in Canada, a distribution center in the U.S. or anything in between, Refresh Fans can help you to ensure that your industrial facility runs smoothly, and at a lower cost.
For optimal heating, cooling, and ventilation, healthier and more productive employees, and longer-lasting stored products or equipment, an HVLS fan is often the best answer.
Questions?
If you have questions about how an HVLS ceiling fan can be of use in your facility, it’s always best to ask a group of experts, ones with plenty of experience in the field.
They’ll help you determine the best way to meet your facility’s needs after making an on-site visit to your facility and recommend products ideal for the job. They’ll even help you install the HVLS fan so that it works as efficiently as possible!
Refresh Fans has some of the best Italian-engineered industrial ceiling HVLS fans on the market, but they’re also a great resource for information in case you’re starting out your research.
Find out how an HVLS industrial ceiling fan can work for you by visiting their website, or by giving them a call toll-free at 1-866-450-2388.
