Have What It Takes to Be Most Efficient

As we come into the holiday season and homes are putting up decorations and lights (you are using energy efficient lights – right) it can be a time of holiday bliss. Then it can turn into holiday regret when the electric bills start rolling in (see, told you, should have used energy efficient lights). The holidays shouldn’t be the only time to be looking at energy efficiency however.

Almost everyone in the United States is familiar with ENERGY STAR®. We see it everywhere. What many people are not aware of is that ENERGY STAR has a special category that recognizes the most efficient products within a product category for that year. Each year ENERGY STAR provides product performance criteria in order to be recognized. In the ventilation fan category, specifically bathroom and utility room fans they must operate at an 85% higher efficiency level than a standard model. This is measure in CFM/Watt (cubic feet per minute of air the fan moves divided by how many watts of energy needed to run the fan). ENERGY STAR has set the criteria at greater than or equal to 10 CFM/Watt. That means that a 100 CFM fan cannot use more than 10 watts of energy to operate.

Great, but what does this mean in real world numbers? Lets first look at the efficiency number of two 100 CFM fans. A standard – builder grade fan operates at about 1.4 CFM per watt. The Air King model D4S, an ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2017, operates at 15.6 CFM per watt when set to 100 CFM. Now lets take a look at what that means from an electric standpoint. For our purposes, we are going to say the exhaust fan runs for a total of 4 hours a day. The builder grade fan operating at 72 watts for 4 hours needs 288 watts per day. Times that by 365 and you get 105-kilowatt hours per year. Using that same equation the D4S only uses 9.3-kilowatt hours per year.

When needing to replace a fan, energy efficiency is a great starting place. Other factors to consider are sound levels, duct size, fan size and of course price is always going to play a part.

To learn more about the ENERGY STAR Most Efficient Fans visit www.energystar.gov/most-efficient/me-certified-ventilating-fans or the Air King site at www.airkinglimited.com

5 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Home’s Energy Usage

When you take a look around your home, there are probably some easy changes you can make to reduce your monthly energy usage, which will in turn reduce your monthly bills. Who doesn’t want to save some money each month? Here are our top 5 tips:

Tip 1 – Use LED Lamps. Yes they do cost a little more than traditional bulbs, but the savings add up very quickly. The light output (measured in Lumens) of a 9 watt LED bulb is equivalent to a 60 watt incandescent lamp. That is 51 watts less in energy usage. Now lets assume you replace a main light in your home – one that might be on for 5 hours per day. That is a savings of 255 watts per day for just one light. Times that by 365 days and you get 93 kilowatt-hours. At an average of $.12 per kilowatt-hour that is a savings of $11.16 per year for one light bulb. ENERGY STAR^® Certified LED light bulbs also last 5 to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

Tip 2 – Adjust Your Thermostat. Turning your thermostat down 2 degrees in the winter or up two degrees in the summer can make a large impact. While this is a little harder to calculate than changing a light bulb to an LED, the savings can be significant and add up over the course of the year.

Tip 3 – Use a Programmable Thermostat.  Very similar to adjusting your thermostat is to install a programmable thermostat. The benefit of a programmable thermostat is that it will reduce your energy usage when you are not home. Even the most basic programmable thermostat will help you save by adjusting the temperature of your home up or down depending on if the home is occupied or not.

Tip 4 – Buy ENERGY STAR Certified Products. Look for the ENERGY STAR logo when you buy products such as TV’s, Appliances, Heating and cooling systems and of course Bathroom Fans and Range Hoods. Now we are not saying you need to throw out all your household items and immediately buy new ones, but as the time comes to replace that old fridge, TV, etc. look at the benefits of ENERGY STAR certified products and compare the cost savings.

Tip 5 – Eliminate Vampire Power. Most people don’t realize that many of the appliances and electronics in your home use standby power. The biggest users are devices like TVs, printers, microwave ovens and computers. Although the energy usage is small, when you add it up it can be significant. Using a power strip that can easily turn the power on or off to these devises is one way to avoid unwanted power usage.

To learn more about how you can save energy visit www.airkinglimited.com/page/climate-change.html or www.energystar.gov/campaign/home?s=mega to asses your home’s energy usage.

3 Reasons Its Time to Replace Your Exhaust Fan

Unfortunately in this world things do not last forever. Homeowners know this all too well. Sometimes it feels like things are breaking every time you turn around. The exhaust fans in your home can sometimes take a back seat on the repair list but here are three reasons you might want to consider replacing your exhaust fan sooner rather than later.

Reason 1 – It no longer works. Okay, this is a fairly obvious reason, but you would be surprised at the number of homes across the country that have exhaust fans installed that no longer are operational. The challenge is that it falls into the category of “when I get around to it”. Unfortunately this is a big mistake. As we have outlined in previous posts, indoor air quality can really affect the home and the people inside it.

Reason 2 – The sound level is now almost unbearable. There are a multitude of reasons why the exhaust fan’s sound level has increased. The main reasons are typically that a weld on the fan housing has released, the fan blade if out of balance, or the fan was just loud to start with.

NOTE: Sometime an increase in sound level can be due to a build up of dirt or debris on the fan blade or in the ducting, a damper that is not opening properly or other maintenance issues. Before replacing the fan, make sure to check these items.

This is a slightly more difficult decision than if the fan is not working at all. Since the fan is still providing ventilation, there is not an immediate need to replace. What typically happens however is that because of the elevated sound level, the fan is not utilized which at that point, it is the same as if the fan was not working at all.

Reason 3 – The fan is not providing the proper amount of ventilation. This is one where you want to troubleshoot the symptom first. It could be that there is a clog in your ductwork, a buildup of dust or dirt on the fan blade or a build up of dust or dirt inside of the fan housing. These can all contribute to decreased performance and if they are the case, some maintenance to the fan should clear up the issue. If that is not the case, many times it is because the wrong size fan was originally installed. Most experts agree that you should look for a fan that provides 1 CFM (cubic feet per minute of ventilation) per 1 square foot. So if your bathroom is 10 by 10, you need 100CFM. The trouble with that math is there are other factors involved. Items such as length and type of ductwork, type of usage of the bathroom, geographic location, and many more can have a direct impact. In some cases you might need to increase the amount of airflow of your fan considerably to meet the needs of your bathroom.

A word to the wise on this point. You should have a realistic expectation of what you want the exhaust fan to do. If you are taking steam showers in a sub zero climate, the amount of condensation that will build up will require a small jet engine to keep up with it. If issues like condensation, the mirror fogging up, etc. are happening, a larger fan will help, but you might also want to consider the amount of time the fan is running. In higher humidity situations, the fan might need to run from 20 minutes to hours after the bathroom has been used. Fans with humidity sensors or timers can be very effective in making sure the proper amount of ventilation occurs. The last thing we want is for you to have the same issues after taking the time and energy to replace your existing one. If you are not sure, consult a professional.

Visit www.airkinglimited.com for more information and to see Air King’s full line of exhaust fan products.

Vent it Local - Explaining Local Ventilation

If you have a fireplace in your home and have ever started a fire and forgot to open the chimney damper, you know how quickly things can go bad as the room fills up with smoke. While maybe not as dramatic and visible the same thing is happening in our homes if we are not using the ventilation systems properly.

Local ventilation is a very important component to your overall indoor air quality. Maybe a better term for it is localized ventilation as it is locating a fan where it is most needed. As with our fireplace analogy, the chimney is located right over where the fire is burning. I think we can all agree that it doesn’t make much sense to put the chimney in another room. Local ventilation is placing exhaust fans in area such as bathrooms, kitchens, powder rooms and other places that are producing contaminates. The purpose of local ventilation is to remove harmful moister, particulates, odors and more as they are occurring. In a bathroom for instance local ventilation removes steam and moisture from the room that happens during a shower. In a kitchen it is utilizing a range hood when the cook top is being used. 

ASHRAE 62.2 requires that there is an exhaust fan/range hood installed in any area that produces contaminates (bathrooms, kitchens, in some cases laundry rooms, etc.). ASHRAE also requires the fans to operate at or below 3.0 sones (which is a measurement of sound).  Many people ask what the sound level of a fan has to do with exhausting contaminates. As we have discussed in earlier posts, the sound level of the fan is important to the usage of the fan. It comes down to the fact that if the fan is too loud, homeowners will not turn it on which defeats the entire purpose of having the fan.

In a previous blog post we discussed continuous operation fans (see post). While the continuous ventilation continuously dilutes contaminated air within the home, the local ventilation provides ventilation for times when there is a rapid build up of contaminates such as what happens when the bathroom or kitchen is in use.

The good news is there are many options on the market. Air King has one of the largest selections of exhaust fans and range hoods to solve for local ventilation including energy efficient models, virtually silent models, single and dual speed models and options ranging from entry level cost effective to super deluxe with all the bells and whistles you want. Visit www.airkinglimited.com for more information.