Sometimes, when business owners hear about air curtains, they are attracted to the benefits—the creature comforts, the pest prevention capabilities, etc.—but aren’t sure about the energy efficiency. Surely a device that generates a consistent flow of air when a door is opened will utilize a considerable amount of energy. Is this energy usage worth it to reap the benefits that an air curtain can provide?
In truth, air curtains are massively energy efficient and can improve the efficiency of your building as a whole. There are two primary reasons for this efficiency. The first (and smaller) reason is that air curtain manufacturers have figured out ways to design devices that deliver a powerful stream of air, on demand, without using a lot of energy. The second much bigger reason is that air curtains are designed in large part to cut down on other inefficiencies in a building.
Indeed, one of the biggest benefits that air curtains provide is temperature control. Usually, when a door is opened to the outside world, heat transfer occurs. Heat transfer is the process of hotter air moving toward a cooler space. If there is no barrier between the inside of a building and the outside world, the warmer temperature will move from one setting to the next, depending on which is cooler. In the summer, when many buildings have the air conditioning running at full blast, warm air from outside surges into the building any time an exterior door opens. In the winter, the opposite happens: the warmth from a heated indoor space will escape outside any time the door opens.
It’s easy to see how heat transfer can affect the overall energy efficiency of a building. Hot air or cold air finding its way into the building disrupts the equilibrium and forces the HVAC system to start up again and work harder to retain a consistent temperature. This extra strain on the system costs energy, which in turn costs money.
Building owners concerned about the cost of operating an air curtain shouldn’t worry. When an exterior door opens, the air curtain’s job is to send a stream of air cascading over the opening. This stream of air is enough to keep the outdoor and indoor spaces separate, which helps prevent heat transfer. The ultimate result is that the HVAC system doesn’t have to work as hard or use as much energy. In other words, while it does take a small amount of energy to power the air curtain device, that usage is ultimately dwarfed by how much energy is saved by stopping heat transfer in its tracks. In fact, most business owners find that air curtains eventually pay for themselves.
Are you interested in boosting your business’s energy efficiency and cutting your monthly energy bills down by a substantial margin? At Air Door Distributors, we offer an easy way to find and buy the latest (and most efficient) air curtain products on the market. Contact us today to get started.