Big Ass Fans ceiling fans installed at McQuay International’s warehouse

Newly-installed ceiling fans by Big Ass Fans at McQuay International helped provide a low cost summer cooling solution coupled with the ability to reduce the building’s footprint in cooler months.

Regulating warehouse comfort is no easy task. High ceilings, vast floor space, lack of insulation, and bay doors opening and closing throughout the day make it difficult to maintain a consistent temperature. McQuay International, the world’s second largest heating, ventilation and air conditioning company, experienced this exact dilemma, for which it needed an immediate solution. After installing numerous Big Ass Fans, McQuay was able to get back to the business of cooling.

Employees at McQuay International’s Applied Air Systems division felt they had enough air, but that it was insufficiently distributed, creating a crowded, noisy and messy work environment in which many employees remained uncomfortable. “We had numerous large floor fans around the plant, but that did not help because there was no set pattern,” said Jim Douda, facility engineer. Subsequently, the scattered box fans and ‘personal’ fans used by employees posed a safety hazard which led McQuay to seek alternatives.

A more realistic approach was to abandon the disruptive floor fans taking up valuable floor space and concentrate on large ceiling fans to increase air movement and streamline temperatures. Big Ass Fans’ large ceiling fans were the ideal solution to McQuay’s air circulation problem, with their ability to slowly move great volumes of air over large areas, reaching every worker on the warehouse floor. With the purchase of twelve 7.3m diameter Big Ass Fans for McQuay’s approximatly 36,600m2 facility, floor fans were tossed out with the stagnant air.

Ranging in size from 1.8m to 7.3m diameter, the key to their effectiveness of Big Ass Fans is their ability to move massive volumes of air slowly using very small one to two horsepower motors and patented airfoils with winglets, providing quiet, gentle, non-disruptive air movement year-round for warehouses of any size.

Big Ass Fans was built on a foundation of providing a low cost cooling solution in the summer coupled with the ability to help reduce a building’s carbon footprint in cooler months.

During summer months, the fan’s gentle breezes simply dehumidify the air and maintain a comfortable, cool feeling benefitting all employees. Fans don't cool the air, but rather they make skin feel cooler as the breezes help evaporate moisture off the skin. The energy reduction is achieved during the cooler months by moving warm air gathered at the ceiling level back down and circulating it throughout.

Thus, facilities like McQuay are able to warm a building’s interior in a fraction of the time, even with bay doors constantly in motion, and significantly reduce the thermostat setting needed to maintain comfort and uniform temperatures.

Along with the comfort and cost saving benefits of a Big Ass Fan, McQuay was attracted to the diversity of products available to meet their specific needs. When considering his purchase Douda had

concerns regarding his warehouse design. “Our building has a pitched roof and approximately a 36,600m2 (120,000ft2) area. We were afraid we would have installation problems due to the construction of our facility. But, installing proved to be simple,” he said, referring to the odd angles resulting from the ceiling design.

In addition to Powerfoil, Big Ass Fans also offers Pivot, a compact 1.8m diameter directional fan allowing for directional airflow in 73 unique positions. The size and versatility of Pivot allows users to direct air around obstructions or down long tight aisles, commonly found in many warehouses. The Big Ass Fan Company’s commitment to innovation and engineering employs existing technology to fit the specifications of all its customers.

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