Learn about the Air Curtain Buyer’s Guide

First of all, you need to know what is an air curtain?

Air curtains, or air doors, are machines that use a strong stream of air engineered to create an invisible, barrier-free protection over commercial building openings. What is an air curtain benefit in your commercial building operation?

1.Reducing your utility spend by keeping your inside air separated from outside air

2.Stopping dust, dirt, fumes and flying insects from coming inside

3.Reducing the work of your HVAC system (so you spend less on maintenance and equipment replacement)

4.Increasing comfort for workers and guests.

Take a restaurant, for example. The AC inside is working great, but every time a new customer opens the door, the conditioned cool air leaves the restaurant. Hot air, flies, mosquitoes, dust, and smoke enter the restaurant.

The purpose of installing the air curtain over the door is to create an invisible but effective barrier to keep the inside air cold and clean. In short, it protects the work already done by the air conditioner:

How Much Do Air Curtains Cost?

The cost of an air curtain will depend upon the size of the unit and the needs of the application. Air curtains are precision engineered to solve specific operational challenges in commercial buildings. Your air curtain will be selected for the application, environmental conditions and desired solution. Air curtain selection tools enable buyers to input the height and width of the entryway, and note other considerations that are needed for an appropriate unit to be recommended. In select regions, rebates are available from utility providers. Applications include:

1.Pass-thru windows

2.Man-doors

3.Dock doors

4.Cold storage entryways

5.Receiving doors

6.Clean rooms and space separators in addition to other less common applications

Other considerations that may affect the cost of your air curtain is whether a ceiling-recessed unit is desired, if enhanced sanitation is needed with UVC or True HEPA filters or if an architecturally-enhanced unit is needed.

Factors To Check Before Buying Air Doors

All residential air curtains will do the job of keeping the conditioned air inside the house quite well. Nonetheless, some will be brilliant at doing that, look great, and spend less energy than others.

The 4 key specs to check when looking at any air curtain are:

1.Airflow (the most important spec by far). Higher airflow is preferred to ensure not even the most powerfully-winged flies enter the area. These are also the most efficient at the high-temperature difference between indoors and outdoors. Anything above 800 CFM (cubic meters of air per hour) is considered an excellent airflow rate.

2.Noise levels. Obviously, we want the air door to be completely noticeable. The quiet (below 55 dB) units are preferred.

3.Power. Be sure to check what the wattage is. The more powerful (above 300W) air curtains will do a better job, but the electricity bill will be higher as well.

4.Available width. If you have 48” wide doors and the offered air curtain is 36” wide, you have yourself a problem (about 12” wide, in fact). Always check if you can get a wide-enough model.

With these things in mind, we can check out KCvents residential air curtains