Monday, March 4, 2024

Can I Use a Duct Reducer With My Exhaust Fan?


You decide it is finally time to replace your old exhaust fan in your bathroom. You go out and buy the new model and are excited to get it installed. One issue. When you take out the old one you notice that the duct size is different – now what? This is a common issue when replacing exhaust fans. Codes have changed over the years and where 3” duct might have been common, it is now 4” duct. Many codes and builders across the USA are even going up to 6” duct as standard. So what do you do if you have smaller size ducting in your home than the duct coming from your exhaust fan?

A common solution is to use a duct reducer. This attaches to the duct collar coming off the exhaust fan and reduces the duct size down. For instance, if your fan has a 6” duct collar but your ducting is 4”, you can use a 6” to 4” reducer. Seems simple and easy – right. Well, unfortunately it is not that simple. Many fans are not designed to be used with a duct reducer. By reducing the ducting you are creating more resistance and not allowing the air to flow as freely as it was designed to do. This will cause the amount of air you can move to be reduce and in many cases will increase the sound level of the fan. It will also make the fan work harder and possibly reduce the lifespan. This falls into the category of if it is your only option other than replacing all of the ducting and the wall or roof cap, then you might consider it.
A better option is to try and get ahead of the game so to speak. When researching a replacement for your fan, try to determine what size ducting you already have in place. There are a few ways you can do this.
1. Find the model number of the fan you are replacing and do a search online to find out the duct size. This is generally accurate but you do need to keep in mind that the person who installed it could have also used a duct reducer. 
2. When you remove the old fan you can see what size duct was used and if a reducer is in place. The issue with this is we know most people like to have the new fan on hand before taking the old one out.
3. If you have access to the fan from above (attic) you can measure the size of the existing ducting.

What about if the ducting in my home is bigger than the ducting from the exhaust fan? In almost all situations going form smaller to larger ducting will not create any issues. You will need to have an adapter installed to properly connect the smaller ducting to the larger but you shouldn’t see any increase in sound or decrease in airflow.

To learn more about exhaust fans and ventilation visit airkinglimited.com or consult a professional in your area.

Monday, February 5, 2024

Anatomy of Kitchen Range Hoods


Kitchen Range Hoods are a critical component in maintaining the indoor air quality of our homes. The kitchen is one of the leading sources of contaminates in our homes and utilizing a range hood decreases these contaminates and makes our homes healthier to live in. So how do kitchen range hoods work?

Having an understanding of how range hoods work and what they are providing is an important component to making sure they are utilized correctly. Range hoods have a two-function purpose. The first is to provide protection to the cabinets above the cooking area. Almost all cabinets are made out of wood so to protect them if there is a flare up on the cooktop is important. Over the years range hoods have greatly advanced to more than just basic protection. They have become part of an indoor air quality solution. The basic principle of kitchen range hood is to take the “bad” air being generated during the cooking process and move it (exhaust it) out or filter it.

There are two types of methods a range hood uses to better the indoor air quality. The first is to utilize an odor filter and recirculate the air back into the room. This type of range hood does not require ducting. While this will provide some improvement to the indoor air quality of the kitchen, they really are not very effective as the filters used only catch a small percentage of the contaminates you really want to remove from the living space. This type falls into the “better than nothing” category. A much better way is to have the air exhaust to the outside. These hoods still have some type of grease filter that prevents grease from building up on the hood’s motor/blower as well as in the ducting. The big benefit is all of the contaminates the hood captures will be exhausted to the outdoors and away from the living area. 

Most kitchen range hoods also have some type of lighting feature to them. These might be LED, incandescent or even halogen. When looking for a range hood, take note of the light both from an efficiency standpoint as well as the location. Generally a hood with the light at the front will provide better overall coverage of the cooking surface.

The next part of the range hoods is the duct collar for hoods that are being exhausted to the outdoors. Hoods that are recirculating the air back into the kitchen typically have an exhaust vent build into the hood itself. Hoods that are exhausting to the outdoors will have some type of duct collar either built into the hood or one that attaches to the hood. Common sizes for these collars are 3.25” x 10” or round. Round duct collars range from 5” to 10” and larger. Many of the duct collars are going to also incorporate a backdraft damper that prevents or at least lessens the amount of air coming back into the home through the ducting. A quick note – if you feel drafts coming from your range hood, you might want to upgrade your backdraft damper. Air travels through the ducting from the range hood to either a wall cap or a roof cap. While these components are not necessarily part of the fan, they are integral components that are required. Wall and roof caps vary in function, features and costs. Two common features are bird screens that prevent birds from building nests in the ducting (yes, it does happen and it is more common than you think) and backdraft dampers. Backdraft dampers on the wall or roof cap provide an extra layer in addition to the one on the range hood to prevent backdrafts.

These are the main components of kitchen range hoods. In addition some fans will have extra features like continuous operation, thermostats that turn the unit on or off and more. For more information of the range hoods available through Air King visit airkinglimited.com

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Anatomy of Exhaust Fans


Exhaust fans play a pivotal roll in maintaining the indoor air quality of our homes. Utilizing them decreases contaminates, reduces moisture and makes our homes healthier to live in. So how do exhaust fans work?

Having an understanding of how exhaust fans or as they are sometimes called – bath fans work is an important component to making sure they are utilized correctly. The basic principle of an exhaust fan is to take the “bad” air inside your living space and move it (exhaust it) out. That air is then replaced with fresh air. It is a fairly simple concept.

The exhaust fan’s main component is a blower of some type. Lower end units will utilize a fan blade that looks similar to a typical portable fan. Higher end units will utilize a blower wheel or as some people refer to it, a squirrel cage. Blower wheels generally are able to produce more ventilation at a quieter sound level. In either case the wheel or blades turn and generate airflow that is directed through the fan’s duct collar.

The next part of the exhaust fan is the duct collar. Exhaust fans must be ducted to the outdoors and run through ducting in the home to either a wall cap or a roof cap. While these components are not necessarily part of the fan, they are integral components that are required. The duct collar of the fan is connected to the ducting from the home. Ducting can range from 3 inches to 6 inches in typical residential homes. More and more new construction is moving to 6 inch ducting as it provides better airflow with less resistance. It is important to match the ducting size to the size of the exhaust fan. For instance if you have 4 inch ducting but have a 6 inch ducted exhaust fan you will need to reduce the ducting down to fit. This will make the fan work harder, reduce the airflow and increase the sound level.

A second part of the duct collar is the backdraft damper. This is a flap that closes to prevent drafts from coming back into the home. Backdraft dampers are usually either gravity closing or spring loaded. The way they work is when the fan is operating and blowing air out of the collar the force of the air opens the damper. Once the unit is shut off the damper will either “fall” down on gravity type dampers or close with spring-loaded dampers, sealing off the ducting.

The next component of an exhaust fan is the housing. The housing holds everything together and is what is installed into the ceiling. Housings come in many different sizes and are installed in different ways. Common installations include hanger bars that slide into a channel on the housing and then extend out to connect to the ceiling joists. A second mounting type is mounting tabs. These are tabs on the housing that install directly to the ceiling joist. Other mounting types are ones such as with the Air King BFQ series that have a snap-in bracket.

So far all the components we discussed are ones you won’t see once the fan is installed. The one that you will see is the grill. Like housings, grills come in all different sizes and shapes. The grill has a few functions. First is to cover up and protect all the inter workings of the fan. Second is to be aesthetically pleasing - no one wants an ugly hole in their ceiling. Lastly the grill provides a balance of décor and function as it needs to be able to allow enough air to come into the fan without restricting that air.

These are the main components of an exhaust fan. In addition some fans will have extra features like a light, heater function, humidity sensor, motion sensor and more. For more information about the exhaust fans available through Air King visit airkinglimited.com.

Friday, December 1, 2023

5 Ways to Improve Your Holiday Indoor Air Quality


With the holiday season upon us, family and friends will be gathering to celebrate in homes across the country. Just at the mention of the holidays might evoke smells of cookies, pine trees, the roast cooking and so many others. These are all wonderful things that make our homes welcoming to our guests. The question however is what are we doing to ensure the holiday indoor air quality of our homes? Here are 5 common things we do around the holidays that affect the indoor air quality of our homes and what we can do to improve them.

Cooking and Baking

Nothing says the holidays more than the smells coming form the kitchen. Whether it is Christmas cookies baking, a big pot roast, or other holiday favorites. You might be getting hungry just reading about it. The challenge to IAQ is when these items are cooking they are also releasing contaminates into the air in the form of smoke, moisture, carcinogens and more. Yes, we know – way to ruin the holidays by talking about this. Before we panic and serve carrot sticks instead of cookies, there is a solution – ventilation. Making sure the kitchen range hood is operating and venting to the outdoors while cooking will alleviate most of these contaminates. If your range hood does not currently vent to the outdoors, consider replacing it with one that does. If venting to the outdoors is not an option consider utilizing an air purifier.

Lighting Candles

Candles have become a holiday tradition across the country. The smell of pumpkin spice, apple spice, holiday spice and the other endless scents waffling through the air turn our homes into a delight for the senses. We even use candles for holiday traditions and ceremonies. The issue is that when we light a candle we basically have an open fire inside our home and no place for the smoke to go so we end up breathing it in. Air King has a whole blog post dedicated to candles and IAQ that you can read here. The solution is to have a ventilation strategy when using candles. That could be utilizing the exhaust fan in the bathroom, having general ventilation in other areas of the home and so forth.

Hosting Parties

Tis the season for homes full of friends and family. It warms the heart just thinking about it. However, we already have the food cooking in the kitchen causing contaminates. We have lit candles around the home to fill it with the smells of the holidays but creating smoke and now we have a home full of people who are breathing which fills the room with CO2 as well as any other contaminates they are breathing out (we really do know how to ruin the fun of the holidays). As with cooking and candles, the solution is ventilation and fresh air. As the home fills up and the room temperature rises, many of us will open a window or door to cool off. This is a fantastic idea as it allows fresh air in and pushes the stale, contaminated air out. The issue is we typically need a little more. Having a centralized exhaust fan operating or the range hood operating even if nothing is cooking can dramatically increase the indoor air quality. An HVAC expert can help you identify how you can more effectively ventilate your home and ensure you have the right balance of fresh air coming in while ventilating out the bad.

Crafts

You can’t have the holidays without decorations. For a lot of people that means breaking out the craft kits gluing, painting and so forth. What a lot of us miss is that if you look at most of the craft kits, paint and glue – it says right on the bottles “use in a well ventilated area”. Unfortunately in most homes, the living room, dinning room or craft room is not a well-ventilated area. Something simple like doing the craft on the kitchen table or counter with the range hood running can have a positive impact. Another thing to remember is that many paints continue to produce air contaminates as they dry so once the project is done, moving them outside the home to a garage or storage space is very helpful. 

Cleaning

A holiday tradition that no one likes is the cleaning. You have a full guest list coming but the house is a mess (from all the cooking) so it needs to be cleaned. If you have read this far, you know something bad is coming. Here it is. Using cleaners can have a real negative effect on IAQ. Cleaners can be really nasty – bleach, ammonium, and so forth produce a ton of contaminates that fill the air we breathe. They are very effective in killing the bacteria and germs but it is at the expense of the IAQ of the home. That is why it is crucial that exhaust fans are utilized when the cleaning is happening. When the bathroom and powder room is being cleaned, make absolutely sure the exhaust fan is turned on and stays on until the smell of the cleaners is gone. When cleaning the kitchen, turn the range hood on. If you are able to open windows, do so.

With a little thought and some simple steps including a plan for ventilation and fresh air, you can drastically improve the holiday indoor air quality of your home, truly making it an inviting place to gather.

For more information about Air King’s exhaust fans, fresh air solutions, and range hoods utilize the links at the top of this page. Also make sure to visit Lasko’s page for a full line of air purifiers.

Monday, November 6, 2023

A Tight Home Versus Proper Ventilation


When you think of age-old rivalries or battles your mind might go to sports teams or one state versus another but it probably doesn’t go to tight home versus proper ventilation one. That’s understandable, but in the building world it is one that is gaining traction. Let's first look at each side of the battle and get a working knowledge of them.

A Tight Home

A tight home refers to how well the exterior envelope of the home is resistant to air penetration. The tighter the home, the less air it lets in or out. Most people refer to air penetration as “drafts”. In some homes you can feel the cold air in the wintertime seeping into the home. That would not be a tight house. Building technology has come a long way and with the advent of spray foam, house wraps and so forth homes are a lot tighter than they used to be. The reason a tight house is beneficial is that it will hold the warm air inside during the winter and the cool air inside during the summer. This has a direct impact by reducing the heating and cooling costs. Seems like a simple solution and we can end the article here. Well there are some downsides to a tight home. We’ll get to them a little later.

Proper Ventilation

Proper ventilation contributes to the overall indoor air quality of your home. In simple terms it is taking the bad air and contaminates out of the home and replacing it with fresh and/or filtered air. This is accomplished using items like exhaust fans, kitchen range hoods and a fresh air supply unit. So what’s the problem and how is this a battle with a tight home?

The Battle

The battle comes in that homes are being built to do everything they can to not allow air to enter or leave the home. Exhaust fans and fresh air intake are meant to do exactly that. On the tight home side of things, the argument is that you are taking conditioned air and exhausting it out. The same with bringing air into the home, causing extra stress on the HVAC system. This is a valid point, however we need to examine it a bit closer. 

Studies have found that the air inside a home can be up to 5 times more polluted than outside air. How does it get so polluted? Our normal living produces a lot of contaminants. Just think of your typical day. You wake up and take a shower. The shower produces moisture that if left unresolved can turn into mildew or mold. Then you go to the kitchen for breakfast and your morning coffee. Guess what cooking and making coffee does – yep, produces contaminates. Oh and by the way, unless you are holding your breath during all this, breathing produces CO2 that can build up in your home. We are barely alive and haven’t even gotten out of our pajamas (might be a slight exaggeration). Add in pets, cleaners, candles and a hundred more things and you can see how the air can become so polluted.

The solution

So we don’t want to exhaust conditioned air out or bring unconditioned air in, but we also need to get all the bad things out of the house. So what do we do? Here is where we try to make sense of everything. The energy efficiency side is always going to argue for less and the indoor air quality side is always going to argue for more. What we need to strive for is a balance. For most homes, as little as 30 to 50 CFM of exhaust during normal activity is all that is needed. When a shower or the cooktop is in use – a bit more is needed. The key to all of this is that when you utilize mechanical solutions (exhaust fans and air intake units) you are in control. You determine how much, when and where the air comes in or leaves. So instead of annoying drafts, you can direct the air how you want it.

Another way to counteract the energy usage is to utilize energy efficient exhaust fans and air intake units. There are a plenty of models currently on the market that will meet the air movement needed and fit within the budget.

Hopefully this gives you a better understanding of the balance between good indoor air quality and energy efficiency. So the next time you are tempted to not utilize your exhaust fans because you’re worried about “wasting” energy, remember that your indoor air quality is also very important.

For more information about indoor air quality please read through the many blog post Air King has created over the years. For more information about exhaust fans, range hoods or fresh air intake, visit airkiinglimiited.com


Monday, October 2, 2023

How Does ENERGY STAR® Certified Ventilation Help?


For the most part almost everyone in the United States has at least seen the ENERGY STAR® logo and many understand what it signifies. Many people however only think that certification is for things like TVs, computers and appliances. While they are some of the more “big ticket” items, there are many categories of products that can earn certification including ENERGY STAR® certified ventilation.

So what sets certified ventilation apart from typical products? Here are a few of the main items. ENERGY STAR® certified ventilation must perform at a higher efficiency than standard ventilation solutions. Efficiency is measured by taking the amount of air the unit moves (measured in CFM – cubic feet per minute) and dividing that by the amount of energy (Watts) needed to operate the unit. To put this in perspective a standard low end or entry-level exhaust fan operates at about 1 watt per CFM or worse. In contrast a certified unit has to operate at a minimum of 2.8 CFM per watt with some units exceeding that and operating as high as 19 CFM per watt.

A second way ENERGY STAR® certified ventilation products stand out is they are required to offer a longer warranty. While this might not sound like a big deal, it actually is. With a longer warranty, there is more peace of mind that that product is going to last a lot longer and is constructed of high quality parts. In the case of ventilation products that typically means a better motor.

For units that have a light feature, which include some exhaust fans as well as most range hoods, the light bulb must be included or integrated with the unit and it must be a certified LED bulb. The lighting in these units can sometimes be the biggest energy draw of the unit. For instance changing from a 60-watt incandescent light bulb to an equivalent 8 watt LED is saving approximately 52 watts.

Lastly, and this one might seem a little out of the ordinary is that there are sound restrictions on the units. For most units, they must operate at or below 2 sones. Sones are the unit of measurement for sound in ventilation products. We have explained sones in some of our previous posts but basically 1 sone is the sound your refrigerator makes and 4 sones is about the sound of a typical conversation.

When you put all this together, it is hopefully clear that ENERGY STAR® certified ventilation is going to be a much better product than a standard one. For more information regarding ENERGY STAR® certified ventilation solutions from Air King including exhaust fans, range hoods and fresh air intake, please visit airkinglimited.com. For more information about ENERGY STAR®, please visit energystar.gov.

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Fighting VOCs


If you are reading this post, you probably either have a little bit of an understanding of what VOCs are or at least are interested in finding out why we need to be fighting VOCs. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds. Volatile is not a word generally used in the everyday language and it sounds a little scary. Let's first understand what a VOC is.

Volatile Organic Compounds are all around us in many of the products we use. The most common use is in paint products as well as cleaners. VOCs dilute or dissolve other ingredients in those products to make them more effective. Paint is probably one of the most recognized ones but VOC are also used in items like mattresses and building materials as flame-retardants. A common alternative name for VOCs is off-gas. This happens because VOCs have a high vapor pressure that allows them to evaporate easily. For instance when paint is put on a surface it immediately start to off-gas as part of the drying and curing process, that is what you are smelling. With paint, this off-gas is a byproduct but with items like perfumes and fragrances, the off-gas is part of the design. It is what allows them to “smell” nice for longer periods of time.

Why do we need to be fighting VOCs as the title of this article suggest? Part of the off-gas process means that the “bad” stuff is entering into the air that we are breathing. This can cause minor symptoms like coughing or eye irritation but can also escalate to things like headaches, decreased lung function or a metal fog and in extreme case even more serious health issues.

Now that we have most of the bad news out of the way we can turn our attention to fighting VOCs. The first step is to try and reduce your exposure to VOCs by looking a little closer at the products you are using. Here are a few tips on what you can do:

  1. Look for paint that is VOC free or at least low VOC. While these are still going to have some VOCs (even the VOC free ones – sorry), they will be greatly reduced from the standard paints.
  2. Look for fragrant-free cleaners and especially laundry detergent. Have you ever gone into your laundry room and been “hit” with the smell of flowers or fragrance – that is your cleaners and/or detergents off-gassing their VOCs into the air. This is usually intensified in a laundry room due to the fact that it is a smaller and typically enclosed room.
  3. Avoid items that come in the form of an aerosol. VOCs are detrimental due to them being able to easily enter the airflow. Aerosols by nature put product into the airflow. Aerosols also typically have some type of product like formaldehyde or some of the other nasty chemicals in them.

A second step in fighting VOCs it to look to the ventilation of your home. Having a well ventilated home is essential to having a better living environment. VOCs as well as other contaminates are going to build up in you home. That is part of living. Having a plan in place like a ventilation system and a way to bring fresh air into the home will great reduce your risks and exposure. Even opening a window while cleaning if you can is a great way to help your indoor air quality. Many home are already equipped with exhaust fans in their bathrooms and kitchen. This is great and they should be utilized. More and more homes are now also utilizing a continuous running exhaust fan in a central location of the home. It is actually part of the building code. The goal is to exhaust as much as possible out and then bring fresh air in to dilute anything that remains. Most would agree that these methods make sense and many practice them, here is where a lot of homeowners lose a little sight. For many homes the largest source of VOC’s is typically located in the laundry room. As we mentioned above these rooms are usually small and enclosed so the amount of VOCs that build-up is significant. Adding a small exhaust fan that vents to the outdoors in these rooms can have a tremendous effect on lowering the amount of VOCs in the room.

While we would like to suggest avoiding VOCs all together, that is almost impossible to do in our currently living environment. VOCs in some form or fashion are all around us. Doing what you can to limit your exposure to them is step one, improving your indoor air quality with ventilation and fresh air is step two.

For more information about the indoor air quality of your home and how you can improve it, please read through the many articles we have written over the years. Visit airkinglimited.com for information regarding Air King exhaust fan and fresh air intake solutions.