Why HVLS Fans Are Your Best Bet For Cooling Large Spaces

Any facility manager can tell you: Regulating the temperature in warehouses, lecture halls, and other large rooms or open buildings can be ultra-challenging. A big part of that challenge has to do with air flow. An HVAC system tends to dump cool or hot air into a space, without distributing it. This can lead to problems in large spaces.

Air in sizeable spaces will often stagnate or collect in ways that create uncomfortable or even dangerous situations. It can:

  • Stratify into layers. This often occurs in winter, when hot air collects under the roof, leaving workers shivering below.
  • Form pockets of overly warm or cool air that create an uncomfortable environment for people and/or animals, and can leave machinery in danger of overheating.
  • Stagnate and collect fumes and odors.
  • Become overly humid, and contribute to sweating slab syndrome and other moisture issues in the building.

 

The obvious solution to these issues is to install fans to move the air and ventilate the space. But conventional high-speed fans create problems of their own. These fans are not big enough for one fan to service a large area. Multiple small, high-speed fans can monopolize available electrical outlets and create trip hazards with the cords. They create a lot of noise and excessive breezes, without providing uniform ventilation. And they can be expensive to run.

HVLS Fans: A Better Solution

High-volume, low-speed (HVLS) fans were designed specifically to assist with cooling, heating and ventilating industrial, commercial, or agricultural facilities and other large spaces. An HVLS fan moves a very large column of air slowly and steadily through the entire large space far more effectively and efficiently than multiple high-speed fans could ever do.

No more navigating around fans or tripping over cords. No more shouting over fan noise. No need to battle distracting breezes. And, best of all for many facility managers, no more high energy bills.

One HVLS fan can take the place of many small fans. It installs neatly overhead and/or in your aisles (depending on your choice of fan model). Quietly and efficiently, it distributes the air throughout the space, eliminating pockets of stagnant air, maintaining a constant temperature throughout the space for much greater comfort and improved air quality. They do it so energy efficiently that most HVLS fans will pay for themselves in five years or less.

In summer, HVLS fans provide an evaporative cooling effect to make the space feel up to 7 degrees colder. In winter, they can help keep your space warm by forcing warm air down from the rafters to where it’s needed at floor level. Both of these functions not only save energy, they also help reduce CO2 emissions, which can help your company meet its sustainability goals or even qualify for LEED certification. Plus, you can save even more energy by integrating your HVLS fans into your smart building system.

Solving Your Large Space HVAC Challenges

With all these combined benefits, HVLS fans are a compelling solution to HVAC challenges in many industries. If you are tired of fighting high energy bills and/or cumbersome solutions to heating, cooling or ventilating your warehouse, factory, fitness facility or other large commercial, industrial or agricultural space, contact us today to find the best HVLS solutions for your facility.