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Todays high tech TV and sound systems have a lot of computing power and lots of amps to portray the sounds the Director wanted you to hear. A byproduct of all those components can be tremendous heat build up, which potentially could damage your equipment.

The best way to alleviate heat build up is of course to evacuate the air from the enclosure or room the equipment is in. Typically installers will install a thermostat in the room, then put a remote fan above or below connected with duct to pull air out.

S&P inline fans:
http://www.hvacquick.com/products/residential/AirFlow-Boosting/Inline-Air-Booster-Fans/SP-TD-Series-Inline-Fans

Of course we need cooler air to come in and replace what we have taken, so a popular solution is to install a grille down low in the access door. This allows air to come from the house and absorb the heat being produced. Sometimes we even add a filter to this door grille to keep the dust from building up on the components.

This will also work with servers, and other heat generating electronic equipment. Some benefits of proper heat dispersal is better performance and longer life of the pieces.

A concern shown by many clients is quiet operation of whichever fan unit they are purchasing. Remote fans clearly will assist with this as the fan is not located directly above you. There are other factors that can help with a quiet installation.

For bath fans, try to get at least 5-8 feet of flexible insulated duct between the fan and grille. We have found this ducting does a great job at minimizing noise and vibration transmission.

Kitchens are bit tougher since any fan moving the volume of air that they do will be louder. Typically a Fantech Silencer will assist in this matter quite well. Distance will also be your friend on these as the fans can typically be mounted anywhere in the duct run. Also, try to get a couple bends in the pipe between the fan and the kitchen. This will help bounce the sound waves back to the discharge side, and help keep things quiet.

For those of you doing general ventilation, boosting your HVAC airflow and other tasks, you can use a combination of the above and use a couple of the following:

If you are trying to boost airflow at a particular register, try to keep the fan back from the register by a few feet if possible.

Those with rigid duct would do well to replace a section around the fan with flex duct to help absorb some noise.

The use of a speed controller can help quiet a fan as well. You can purchase a fan with a little more power than you need and dial it back to suit your need.

One of my favorite activation methods for remote duct booster fans is a pressure sensing switch. The pressure switch has a distinct advantage over hard wiring, since you do not have to pull new wires from the main fan unit to the remote mounted fan.  This saves you time and money on installation.

The pressure switch works by sensing the pressure increase in the duct from the central fan activating. The switch diaphragm is able to sense extremely small pressure increases (approximately 0.05″ – 0.07″) which then activates a single pole, single throw snap switch that starts the duct booster fan.

The pressure switch is connected by means of a pressure tap that is either a section of flexible tubing, such as used by the Fantech DB10, or a short direct barbed tap, as used by the Tjernlund PS1503, that can be inserted into the duct or plenum. In the case of very long duct runs, the tap should be placed “upstream” of an elbow in order to take advantage of the temporary pressure build up before the elbow due to the resistance of the bend. The switch can be conveniently installed near the booster fan localizing and limiting the amount of area disturbed by the upgrade.

Tjernlund Pressure Switch

All in all, the pressure switch is an easy and quick option when installing you duct booster fan.

Why do we love solar attic fans?  How about easy install, long life, and no energy costs!  Its a great do-it-youself upgrade project or a quick easy job for the pro.

We recently added the AirScape solar attic fans to our lineup.  They are robust, look great and are well priced.  Significantly better than the el-cheapo big box store units… in our humble opinion…

A couple of different sizes and models are available:
http://www.hvacquick.com/products/residential/attic-fans/attic-fans-solar-electric/AirScape-Solar-Attic-Fans

And some good news:  the cost of your solar attic fan and installation qualifies for a 30% tax credit under the U.S. Emergency Stabilization Act of 2009. Save your receipt, along with the handy residential certification form.

The AirScape hydroponics fans are here!

Link to the site:
http://www.hvacquick.com/products/residential/Fans/Hydroponics-Fans

Remember, good ventilation helps to keep the temperature down and prevents any heat related stress on your plants.

Blog. Finally.

This is the start of our blog. We intend to write about topics from technical support, how to solve ventilation problems, and what we think is exciting in our world.