Fans come in hundreds, even thousands of shapes and sizes and are used in many different ways. A fan is an appliance or device with blades that rotate fast enough to generate air currents that serve to ventilate an area or cool an area. Fans keep the air moving, which can be essential to the environment around it.
Industrial fans play an important role in ventilating workplaces where machinery or chemicals could fill the air with gases or particles that are unhealthy to breathe. For instance, a centrifugal fan is used for the movement of gases. It has impellers that rotate and increase an air stream’s volume and speed. Another type of industrial fan is a utility fan which is used in laundry rooms, to eliminate humidity, and is used to remove smoke from tobacco in enclosed places. Utility fans are also installed in kitchens to contain cooking fumes, and in workshops for the removal of fumes from production machines. A utility fan is typically installed on the roof of a home or building with the inlet placed at about 90 degrees from the outlet. This type of fan is used in situations where there is high pressure static loss.
Commercial roof exhaust fans are used in restaurant kitchens, where there is constant heat from stoves and ovens. In addition, steam from the hot water used to clean dishes and appliances also causes heat to fill the space. The exhaust system in a restaurant should be cleaned at least every three months.
However, systems may vary which would necessitate cleaning to be done more often. For instance, restaurant stoves that either burn charcoal or wood should be cleaned every month. The same applies to char-broilers, 24-hour restaurants, and some places that regularly cook hamburgers. Other hamburger restaurants and fast food places will only require cleaning of their exhaust fans and systems every two months. Hospital and hotel exhaust systems are typically cleaned about every three months. Smaller snack bars, concession stands, pizza places, and oven hoods will need to be cleaned on average every six months or so.
Restaurant fans and duct work must be cleaned and maintained on a regular basis, according to the rules and regulations set down for that purpose. This plays an important role in fire prevention, and it is the responsibility of owners and managers to know those rules and to carry them out.
Bathroom fans all have one purpose and that is the removal of odors and moisture from the room. However, in order to accomplish that purpose, there are a variety of different fans available according to where an individual chooses to install it, as well as the mount type desired. In order to figure out what size fan a bathroom will need, it is recommended that the volume of the room be divided by five. In this way, homeowners and those looking to ventilate commercial spaces will have a clear direction in which to go when choosing the proper fan for the space.
Some of the most preferred fans for a bathroom environment are ceiling mounted exhaust fans. As their name indicates, these fans are installed in the ceiling of the bathroom and expel air upwards from the room through the roof. These can also connect to ducts that send the air outside through vents.
Wall mounted fans in a bathroom are, obviously, installed right into the wall and lead the air directly from the room to the outside. This is a direct passage and, therefore, needs no duct work installed within the home.
Inline duct fans are usually used in a bathroom, or any room, where there is no available space for a fan that is mounted to the ceiling. Because an inline duct fan is installed within the ducting, it is usually very quiet.
A combination unit is a system using any of these types of fans, combining it with other components, such as a fan with a light or a fan with a light as well as heat. Many people have been turned off by their bathroom fans in recent years because of the loud noise they make. However, nowadays, there are many bathroom fans that are very quiet without losing any of their functionality.