If you live in an area where it gets very cold or very hot depending on the season, you’re already used to stepping through a curtain of air as you enter and exit the store. Air curtains, which also are known as air doors, blow a concentrated stream of air across an opening to create an air seal.
Let’s face it, even an extremely well manufactured door is going to endure quick wear and tear when it’s opened thousands of times each day. It’s why businesses instead choose to install air curtains at their entrances. It allows for a smooth and uninterrupted flow of traffic. Best yet, that traffic can be the human kind that comes through the doors – but it also might be forklifts loading or unloading products.
More Than Just a Way to Control Temperature
An air curtain does prevent warm or cool air in your building from escaping. Conversely, it also prevents mother nature from making an unwelcome entrance. Temperature control is obvious and makes sense, but air curtains also do an extremely efficient job of keeping out dust, bugs, and outside pollution.
Here’s how it works:
- Once it’s installed – usually above, the air curtain unit begins to pull air through its intake.
- The airspeed is accelerated by the unit’s powerful fan.
- This fast-moving air goes into a plenum, which captures the air so it can then be evenly distributed along the length of the discharge nozzle.
- This nozzle is equipped with airfoils that create a stream or “curtain” of air. The stream is pointed towards the floor.
- The curtain has a slight tilt to it, so that about 80 percent of the stream deflects off the floor and stays inside the building.
Check out this video for an example of how an air curtain can effectively help save on energy costs.
Why Install Air Curtains?
If you’re considering putting up a DIY prefabricated building to use for a business – especially if you’ll need large entrances – you should consider the benefits of air curtains. It’s estimated that the usage of air curtains in buildings offers energy savings of over 30 percent.
It’s not always practical to mind what your mother taught you and close the door behind you. Air curtains allow unrestricted traffic flow in and out of your building. This can be important if you also handle material through loading and unloading areas.
Our designs feature side headers and transfer beams for large sidewall openings. Go ahead and put in that stack-style hangar door. Learn more about our building options and capabilities.
