HVLS fans
Blame it on the heat or blame it on marketing, but I want a high-volume, low-speed (HVLS) fan — even tho I don’t really know what they are. Big Ass Fans is the company that has been advertising lately, but anyone who has been in a cow barn or an island airport knows that those…
Blame it on the heat or blame it on marketing, but I want a high-volume, low-speed (HVLS) fan — even tho I don’t really know what they are. Big Ass Fans is the company that has been advertising lately, but anyone who has been in a cow barn or an island airport knows that those giant fans move air. Plus, they’re quiet.
Real HVLS fans cost thousands more than I want to pay. And the smallest I can find is 8 feet when I think I want something 6-7 feet altho I could go up to 8.
Home Depot sells a 72″ fan for under 200 bucks. Would that be so bad? At some point isn’t any big fan a high-volume fan? Or would be a giant mistake to get a cheap fan and put it way up high where it will be a giant hassle to replace when it breaks? I need to install it way up high and I’m NOT changing paddles seasonally so that’s another thing.
Any ideas?
If you have any questions regarding MacroAir, I can answer them for you. We manufacture HVLS fans with 6 blades rather than 10. We sell to companies such as Coca-Cola and Walmart. If you would like any more information regarding HVLS fans, email me at CHRISTOPHER@MACRO-AIR.COM and I would be more than happy to inform you on our products.
A $3,000 price tag for a fan that puts off very little air flow is not a good investment. I have personally been under an Isis fan and I could not even tell the fan was above me in operation.
Be careful when making the decision on spending that amount of money on a fan. I would reccomend contacing the Kelley Company or Serco Company before making a decision because they will provide custome engineering to fit the best product in your application.
Best of luck on the project.
Ah. Wow. That’s, uh, quite a range of prices.
I’m gut renovating a small house and since I’m putting in forced hot air, a/c is only 3k more. I know, right? I once had a quote to retrofit a brownstone and it was $150k!
Central air cost $3,000? I thought it was tens of thousands.
The room is 20×30 and I’m sure a big ass fan would move a lot of air, but it’s very big.
The ceilings run all the way down to 8 feet so an 8 foot fan would really take over the room. And it’s very expensive. The cost of the Big Ass Fan is the same — literally — as installing central a/c in the entire house. I know – bill will be higher and it doesn’t help my heating bills. Then again, a fan won’t cool my loft or my rear bedrooms.
Christian, I hear what you’re saying but the math doesn’t really work for me. I can get a 72″ fan that moves 10,000 cfm for $250 or one that moves 5 times that for $3000? I dont’ know. I guess I’m wondering if 10,000 cfm isn’t a lot.
That said, I wish you guys made a cheaper/smaller one. They are cool!
Small ceiling fans can work fine in small spaces, however if you have a large space (especially one with a high ceiling) a 72†ceiling fan isn’t going to create a cooling a breeze that covers the majority of the space. Big Ass Fans’ Isis provides a cool breeze over an area that is 9-10 times larger than a small ceiling fan can cover. As far as any large fan being a high volume fan, the best 72†ceiling fans move roughly 10,000 cfm while the smallest Big Ass Fans move 5-10 times more air. So if you have a large space and want a cooling breeze that covers the room, then I would suggest 1 direct drive Isis fan over the 10 smaller fans or any HVLS fan with a gear box. The purchase price is about the same for either option, but the installed cost and operating cost will be much lower with the Big Ass Fan.
Christian Taber
Applications Engineer, MSME, HBDP, LEED AP
Big Ass Fans
I’ve actually done a lot of research on HVLS fans, and they work differently than the regular fans you buy at Home Depot. They’re designed to actually move more air (the fan blade design) than normal fans, and work better when they’re run slower. The thing you’re going to need to take into consideration is how big your room is. You want one that’s going to give you the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to air moved over the space.
Big Ass Fans is the best-known brand, but here are some other websites that could help you:
http://www.kelleycompany.com
http://www.sercocompany.com
http://www.macro-air.com
Overall, it’s a good investment, and can cut down on your energy consumption big-time. Plus, they’re really cool.
Yeah, I was worried about cheap = noisy.
I’ll check out the artemis. I have a 16 foot ceiling, but since it’s peaked there’s only a spot for one big fan. But I like the “totally silent” part.