What exactly is an HVLS fan? The abbreviation stands for High Volume, Low Speed. Fans of this type are equipped with extra-large blades which rotate at a quiet, gentle rate. You might think that the rotation should be faster to be effective, but nothing could be further from the truth. In combination with the special shape and profile of the blades, a slow speed enables the largest displacement of air over the largest area, at the lowest cost.
Enough about the concept. Here are the five key benefits for your business:
1. Comfortable employees are more productive
When it gets warmer, workers become less comfortable. The risk of errors, accidents and associated costs increases. With air velocities up to 3.5 miles per hour, wind chill from the HVLS fans can reduce the effective temperature by several degrees. Employees stay cool, comfortable, clear-headed – and productive.
2. Less discomfort and stress means better health
Prolonged exposure of workers to an excessively hot environment can adversely affect their health and wellbeing. The results may include fatigue, exhaustion and heat stress. By lowering the effective air temperature, HVLS fans can help create healthy workplace conditions.
3. Your air conditioning could use some help
Using an air conditioning system in a large building can be quite expensive. Factors such as the dimensions, occupancy, loading bays and large doors and windows make constant regulation of the temperature very difficult. An HVLS fan can blow cooled air throughout the whole building and thereby maintain a more even temperature. In practice, this means that the air conditioning system needs to be used much less intensively to achieve the same desired indoor climate.
4. Your heating system needs support too
In winter, different temperature layers are formed in your warehouse. Unfortunately, the coolest air stays near the floor while the warmest air is just below the ceiling. To keep the ground level warm, you almost need to overheat the upper air levels – and that takes a lot of energy. An HVLS fan, however, directs warm air from the ceiling to the floor, while the cooler air is drawn upwards from below. This allows you to turn the heating system down by a few settings, and in that way reduce your energy consumption by up to 30%.
5. Air in motion is healthier air
For a healthy working atmosphere, air must be able to circulate efficiently throughout the building – removing pollution and maintaining good air quality. HVLS fans provide the necessary airflows for this – ultimately improving air quality, increasing worker comfort and helping to reduce illness and absence costs.
These are just five of the advantages, but we could make the list longer. For instance, with HVLS fans the floors remain drier and therefore safer; there are fewer problems with rust; and growth of mould and mildew is less likely.
The financial aspect should not be forgotten either. After all, the many savings (such as cutting energy costs by up to 30%) ensure a quick payback– typically within a year! Rite-Hite will be happy to calculate the probable ROI for your company.
Find out more at www.ritehite.com.
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