For homeowners, builders, and HVAC professionals, Broan has long been a leading name in home ventilation. As a company dedicated to improving indoor air quality, Broan’s product line includes comprehensive systems such as HRVs, ERVs, and dehumidifiers. These technologies are crucial in today’s tightly sealed, energy-efficient homes.

The Problem with Stale Air

Modern construction methods, while great for energy efficiency, can trap pollutants and moisture inside the home. Everyday activities like cooking, showering, and even breathing contribute to indoor air that can be up to 100 times more polluted than the air outside. Stale, moist air can lead to health issues, mold growth, and musty odors. Broan addresses this problem with its Fresh Air Systems.

Whole-Home Dehumidifiers

High humidity is a key culprit in poor indoor air quality. Broan’s whole-home dehumidifiers are designed to manage humidity levels automatically and efficiently. Unlike portable units that only serve a single room, Broan’s dehumidifiers are installed as part of the home’s central HVAC system. By pulling moist air from the entire house, they condense excess water and drain it away, then return the dry, comfortable air to the living spaces. These units also feature advanced filtration, often with a MERV 13 filter, to capture airborne particles and allergens.

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Virtuo Air Technology

Broan’s Virtuo Air Technology is the intelligent system that powers the AI series. It’s a major innovation designed to simplify the installation process for contractors and ensure optimal, consistent performance for homeowners. The core of Virtuo is a sophisticated decision-making algorithm combined with real-time sensors and advanced ECM fan motors. Unlike traditional systems that require manual balancing wit specialized tools, Virtuo automates this complex process. By using internal sensors, the system continuously monitors the static pressure and airflow, automatically adjusting the fan speeds to maintain a perfect balance between the fresh air supply and the stale air exhaust. This ensures the unit operates at peak efficiency from the moment it’s installed. The integrated LCD screen also provides real-time feedback on airflow, power consumption, and diagnostic codes, simplifying both initial setup and future troubleshooting.

The Broan Advantage

Broan’s comprehensive approach to indoor air quality is what sets it apart. The company offers a complete line of products that work together to create a healthy, comfortable, and energy-efficient home. Their commitment to innovation, from the Virtuo Air Technology in their AI Series ventilators to their durable whole-home dehumidifiers, demonstrates a deep understanding of modern home building challenges. For anyone looking to breathe easier and live better, Broan’s integrated solutions for ventilation and humidity control are a perfect choice.

Wildfires are a growing threat, and one of the most common ways homes ignite is not from the main fire front, but from wind-blown embers. These tiny, fiery particles can travel for miles, finding their way into vulnerable areas of a home, especially through open vents in attics and foundations. BrandGuard Vents was founded by a firefighter who saw this problem firsthand and developed a solution to protect homes in wildfire-prone areas.

The BrandGuard Triple Protection System

BrandGuard Vents are not your standard ventilation product. They are engineered with a patented “triple protection” system designed to be a home’s first line of defense against embers and flames.

1. Overlapping Baffle Design: The unique baffle design features overlapping layers that allow air to flow freely for ventilation but trap embers in the event of a wildfire. The innovative approach ensures that even during the most extreme conditions, your home remains protected from ember entry.
2. Intumescent Strips: BrandGuard’s proprietary intumescent material is designed to expand in response to extreme heat and flames. When the temperature rises to dangerous levels, these strips expand to seal the vent openings, effectively blocking embers and preventing flames from entering your home. This flame and heat feature provides an added layer of protection, ensuring your vents respond proactively to wildfire conditions.
3. 1/16″ Fine Mesh: The Ember Resistant Vents include a fine mesh that has 1/16″ openings and placed on the back side of the vent openings. This non-combustible metal mesh is designed to resist heat and flames, further blocking ember entry while still allowing for proper ventilation.

BrandGuard’s Intumescent Material

Being part of the Tenmat Passive Fire Protection Group, BrandGuard manufactures their own intumescent material in-house, making their fire and ember defense system unique to their products. Their custom intumescent formula features:

• Intercalated Graphite: the active element that expands when exposed to heat, providing effective sealing against ember entry.
• Rock Mineral Fibers: These fibers act as a scaffolding or matrix to support the intumescent material, ensuring durability and performance under extreme conditions.
• High-Temperature Organic Binders: The strips are bound with high-temp, organic materials to provide reliable protection that won’t degrade under fire conditions.

Their formula is award winning and industry leading, making BrandGuard unmatched in fire protection.

A Full Line of Fire-Resistant Vents

BrandGuard offers a comprehensive range of products to “harden” your entire home against wildfires, ensuring all potential entry points are protected. Each product is compliant with rigorous building codes for Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas.

Eave Vents (Fireplugs) – These small, round vents are a highly specific solution for protecting the existing ventilation holes in your home’s undereave blocks, often called “bird holes”. They use BrandGuard’s patented baffle design to block embers and fire, while their “plug” form allows for easy retrofitting without any re-drilling. This provides a simple and effective way to secure a common point of wildfire entry.

Gable Vents – These vents provide essential attic ventilation, ensuring your home is protected and compliant with fire-safety codes while also serving as a prominent architectural feature.

Foundation Vents – These vents are specifically engineered to prevent embers, flames, and pests from entering your crawl space, ensuring the safety and integrity of your home’s foundation.

Dormer Vents – Serving as both a decorative and functional architectural element, these vents provide essential ventilation for attics through a dormer.

Sub-Flashing Roof Vents – A perfect solution for retrofitting existing homes, these vents install under your current roof flashing from the inside the attic. This unique design allows you to easily convert a standard roof vent into a fire-resistant one, providing a critical safety upgrade that meets modern building codes without the need for major reconstruction.

Balcony Inspection Vents – These unique vents provide a solution for both fire safety and inspection compliance. Designed to meet the requirements of California’s SB-721 and SB-326, they feature a hinged design for non-destructive access to inspect balcony framing. They are also 1-hour fire-rated and WUI compliant, offering a two-in-one solution that protects against flames and embers while avoiding costly inspection-related repairs.

Soffit Vents – Providing essential cool air intake for attic ventilation, these vents are a foundational component of a fire-resilient home.

Why BrandGuard is a Smart Choice

Choosing BrandGuard Vents is an investment in the safety and longevity of your home. They have been rigorously tested and listed to meet strict fire safety standards, providing a robust solution that is both effective and durable. For homeowners in areas threatened by wildfires, upgrading to BrandGuard Vents is a critical step in building a fire-resilient home and gaining peace of mind.

Every comfortable indoor space depends on well-designed air distribution, and that’s precisely where American Louver shines. They’ve spent decades mastering the creation of high-quality grilles, registers, and diffusers, providing the essential link between powerful HVAC systems and the aesthetically pleasing environments we all expect.

A Rich History Rooted in American Manufacturing

Founded in 1954 in Skokie, Illinois, American Louver Company was established as a dedicated manufacturer of high-quality louvers and diffusers. From its humble beginnings, the company quickly earned a reputation for its commitment to American craftsmanship and innovative solutions in air distribution. For decades, it thrived as a family-owned business, steadily expanding its product lines and market reach. Through the years, American Louver has moved its base of operations to Des Plaines, Illinois and has expanded and evolved into the larger company Plasticade, while still keeping their superior HVAC products as the American Louver brand.

All New, All American, All Aluminum

For architectural designs that have exposed ductwork, the brand new Aluminum Spiral Duct Grille is an absolute game changer. This all-aluminum air outlet is specifically engineered to seamlessly integrate with spiral duct systems, offering both superior functionality and a sleek, contemporary look.

What makes it Stand Out?

• Designed for exposed ductwork: Unlike traditional grilles that require complex transitions, these grilles mount directly onto round spiral ducts. This not only simplifies installation, but also creates a clean, integrated aesthetic that complements the industrial-chic appeal of exposed systems.

• All-aluminum construction: Crafted entirely from aluminum, these grilles are built for durability and longevity. They are lightweight, resistant to corrosion, and often come with a mill finish that provides a sophisticated, unadorned appearance.

• Precision airflow control: The spiral duct grille features an adjustable air scoop. This crucial element allows for precise control over the direction and throw of the airflow. The 3/4″ spaced blades work with the adjusted scoop to ensure smooth, controlled, and efficient air distribution throughout the space.

• Quiet and efficient performance: The design incorporates foam gasketing. This creates a tight seal against the duct, minimizing air leaks and preventing rattling, which contributes to a quieter and more efficient HVAC system.

• Versatility in sizing: The spiral duct grilles are available in a wide range of sizes to fit different duct dimensions, ensuring a suitable option for any project.

• Attention to detail: From tight manufacturing tolerances that ensure a precise fit to the inclusion of countersunk screw holes for a flush installation, every detail is considered to provide a high-quality product.

Offering both precise air distribution and a modern aesthetic, American Louver’s aluminum spiral duct grille is thoughtfully engineered for exposed duct systems. It provides architects, engineers, and contractors with a reliable, attractive, and high-performing option for these applications.

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With decades of experience and a forward-thinking approach, American Louver continues to be a trusted name in air distribution. Their ongoing commitment to product innovation, rigorous manufacturing standards, and unwavering customer service ensures they remain at the forefront of providing solutions that enhance indoor air quality and thermal comfort in a wide array of environments.