“Fan-ectomy” Helps ClosetMaid Clean Up On Efficiency
On the back lot of the ClosetMaid facility in Ocala, FL sits a tractor-trailer filled with high-velocity air circulation fans—just about 200 of them. These fans were excised from the hundreds of work stations located in the storage area of the wire shelving product manufacturer’s 400,000-sq-ft facility, in a radical move that measurably improved working conditions.
The improvement in the facility’s thermal environment was actually achieved by transplanting other fans within the space once occupied by the 200 high-velocity fans. However, the replacement fans were 20-ft-diameter, high-volume, low-speed fans made by HVLS Fan Company (Lexington, KY), and the exchange rate was on the order of one to 15. In other words, just 14 of the HVLS fans were able to provide the air circulation and comfort conditions for which the 200 high-velocity fans had previously been used.