HVAC Fan Failure Monitoring

A method of detecting fan failure within fan coil units in heating and ventilation. The undetected failure of fan coil units is a long standing problem in heating and ventilation. Fan coil units like the types found in H&V applications tend to be unmonitored and system fan failure can often go unnoticed to the point where a refit or refurbishment is required or where air simply ceases to flow from the ductwork. The oldest format for monitoring the FCU is to use differential pressure switches. Within the fan coil unit, the installe...


The Importance of Shipping Warehouse Ventilation

According to energy advisors, warehouses spend on average 15% of their budget on energy bills every year. Mechanical ventilation can contribute to a high percentage of this spend. In this article, we explore the importance of effective warehouse ventilation. Like many hazards, poor ventilation poses a risk to employee health, machines and equipment as well as goods and products. To avoid negative impacts on businesses ventilation hazards must be eliminated. These include a reduction in productivity, a decreased yield, machines or equipment m...


Corrosion Resistant Extraction Fans for Salt Spray Chambers

    Salt spray has a very potent effect on corrosion and not knowing how products react long term to a corrosive environment or chemical, can have devastating effects for the end user and the original manufacturer. Salt spray testing is a laboratory simulation of a corrosive saline environment that tests the performance of items on their surfaces after corrosive protection treatments including coating, galvanising, painting and anodising. Test chambers are designed so that this can be done in a controlled environment to ensure t...


Understanding ATEX Definitions for Ex Fans – Ex ec, Ex Na, Ex eb, Ex tb & Ex tc

An explosive atmosphere can be created with the presence of gases, vapours, mists or dusts, which have the potential to ignite under certain operating conditions. Potentially explosive atmospheres are found in many areas of industry, from mines, battery rooms releasing the IIC Gas hydrogen, chemical, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals industries, processing plants handling cereal, animal feed, paper, wood, coal, sugar, flour or other petro-chemical fumes and more. All these have the potential to produce gas, dust or fumes which can be ignited by even...


Wastewater Treatment Ventilation: Polypropylene vs. Stainless Steel and GRP

Corrosive Gases in Water Treatment Environmental wastewater treatment plants face a number of challenges in terms of ensuring safe and effective ventilation due to the release of corrosive and toxic gases that occur across the various treatment processes. During the treatment process, the ventilation system must control hazardous substances, chemicals and gases such as methane, ammonia, phosphorous, pesticides and carbon dioxide. Consequently, wastewater treatment plants are, by their nature, one of the harshest engineering environments. To...


Extraction Fans for Indoor Swimming Pools & Chlorine Ventilation

We all know that chlorine is widely used to treat water for swimming pools in leisure centres and domestic pools. Through the process of pool water evaporation, an indoor swimming pool will continuously produce huge volumes of chlorine or salt-water vapour. The temperature humidity in the air and these chemicals added to the water make the environment very aggressive. So aggressive that the materials used must be corrosion protected. Ordinary comfort ventilation is not enough when installed into the environment of an indoor swimming pool. Th...


Industrial Fans for the Food Processing Industry

Industrial fans are widely used within the food processing industry for a range of applications including fume and dust extraction, drying, heating, cooling, material handling, packaging, general ventilation, supply air and air filtration. Operation teams are often targeted on increasing the commercial yield whilst being faced with new processes, packaging issues, and growing competition in the industry. Implementing the most efficient and cost-effective methods is key for manufacturing across all stages of production line. A wide range of p...


ATEX Fans for Marine & Offshore Hazardous Areas

Given the corrosive and potentially hazardous nature of the marine and offshore environment, a number of variables need to be considered when selecting ATEX fans, equipment and components for marine and offshore applications. Fans within ventilation systems can be found in various areas of an offshore platform as many applications require extensive cooling to ensure their optimal performance and to prevent the premature failure of equipment. For example: compressors roadside lighting systems nuclear power plants combined heat ...


Air Measurement Tools for SprayBooth & Refinishing

Spray booths require regular maintenance checks to ensure optimal efficiency and adherence to industry specific safety standards. The supply air in a spray booth needs to be tested with an airflow measuring device to determine accurate volume airflow, air velocity and ambient temperature and to calculate the average speed of the air flow. The capture velocity of the spray booth determines the measurement of air movement that is effective in containing the emissions at the exposure area. It is crucial that the airflow is sufficient in provid...


Positive & Negative Pressure Airflow in Spray Booths

  Spray booths must ensure an equal volume of air is coming into and out of the booth to achieve a balanced airflow. This is achieved with the use of an intake fan and an exhaust fan. The exhaust fan draws substantial quantities of air out of the booth to ensure the air change rate remains consistent with the quality of the finish required, while air make up is the opposite, this is the mechanical replacement of air that has been exhausted out.   Negative Pressure Environment in Spray Booths Negative pressure spray booths are...


ATEX Fume Extraction for Landfill Organic Waste

Landfill gas is a natural by-product produced by the microbial degradation of biodegradable organic material present within the landfill. The degradation process takes place in five stages as described later. The transition from one stage to the next being dependent upon many characteristics and therefore the time for which each stage is present is difficult to pre-determine. It is however, possible to have different stages of the degradation process taking place at any one time within a landfill site. The gas is composed of roughly 50% methane...


Low Pressure Fans Make it Snow for Christmas Adverts

Christmas adverts, retail window displays and seasonal films are always complemented by a layer of white, freshly laid snow. As many of you will know, this snow isn’t real, and artificial snow and effects are big business. As the saying goes….there’s no business like show business…. Or in this case Snow Business. Christmas adverts have become as much of a festive fixture as turkey, tinsel and turtle doves and the nations leading retailers now annually compete to produce the most tear jerking and heartfelt campaigns, all in the hope o...


The Importance of Fume Extraction Fans During Embalming Processes

Fume extraction fans are a crucial part of the ventilation equipment used in industries undertaking embalming processes. The process of embalming involves removing all the fluids from the body and replacing it with a chemical embalming solution. The body starts to decompose quickly so this process is used to provide a fuller and firmer appearance to the body so it can be displayed and is more comforting for family and friends to view. Depending on the strength of the chemicals and the methods used, embalming for funeral purposes can last from o...


Positive & Negative Air Pressure Rooms

Maintaining positive or negative air pressure is an important metric in cleanrooms located in hospitals, labs and other manufacturing facilities, ensuring a clean, non contaminated air supply. In multipurpose rooms, a well designed ventilation system can switch the flow from positive to negative, and vice versa, depending on the nature of the work being performed. Usually in multipurpose rooms indication lights on a control panel or display can show the airflow direction status; whether positive or negative.   What is Positive Air Pres...


Energy Efficient EC Plug Fans for Fan Filter Units (FFU’s)

  Optimising the performance of an FFU based system within cleanroom and containment applications offers significant energy saving opportunities. High efficiency EC technology lies at the centre of reducing energy consumption in fan filter units, even when systems vary due to airflow path and operating conditions. FFU manufacturers have risen to the challenge of reducing costs with the development of improved control and EC motor technology. A cleanroom can be up to 50 times more energy intensive than an office building because of th...