Your sweat quotient helps validate your workout, so where is the fun in starting a workout sweaty? On the flip side, it’s no fun working out so hard in a cold room that you never warm up. Fitness centers are notorious for fluctuating temperatures given the irregular number of members working out at any given time, the facility’s size and outdoor air temperatures. You can’t control some variables, but thanks to large, low-velocity fans, high humidity factors, equipment safety and patron comfort can be controlled.
Gold’s Gym is in the business of getting people to exercise on a regular basis. “They have to feel like they want to be here,” says Gold’s Gym owner Blair McHaney of his patrons. After numerous heating and cooling issues in existing facilities, they incorporated high-volume/low speed (HLVS) fans in the building process of a newer 10,000 square-foot facility in Wenatchee, Wash. The introduction of two HVLS fans replaced the need for 14 (or more) smaller, less productive fans.
Comfort and air circulation might not be on the minds of prospective members when they first visit your facility, but they’ll certainly be able to feel the difference once inside. Heating and cooling large, frequently occupied spaces can be difficult and costly, but HVLS fans are both cost-effective and energy efficient. Steve Smith, owner of Planet Fitness in Kingston, Penn. says, “Our members are very impressed, and we keep these fans on all the time. The airflow creates a comfortable club, and the size of the fans draw people to them.”
HVLS fans range in size from six to 24 feet in diameter and effectively circulate air, removing the stagnant, stale air that often lingers in workout facilities. In addition, constant, steady air movement eliminates condensation and humidity problems, which helps ensure a safer, healthier environment.
HVLS fans are massive, energy efficient air movers. Unlike small, high-velocity fans which create small turbulent air streams that dissipate quickly, HVLS fans entrain significant amounts of air. The air current from a large-volume fan approaches floor level in a cylindrical column of a size equivalent to the fan’s diameter (Fig 1), and then turns into a horizontal jet that radiates out in all directions. At standard speed, a 20-foot diameter fan creates a floor jet about nine feet deep. The horizontal air jet continues until it reaches walls or airflow from another fan, at which time the airflow is turned upward and back in toward the fan (Fig 2). This creates convection-like air currents that gather inertia as the fan continues to spin and moves the air down and out.
“The fans we use help us cut down on our air conditioning load and our utility bill. We cut 15 percent off our bill at a time when everybody else is seeing a 20 percent increase,” says Dave Leon, owner of multiple Planet Fitness locations in the Northeast, ranging from 15,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet.
HVLS fans provide air movement to each corner of a room, and the gentle breezes makes gym members feel eight to 14 degrees Fahrenheit cooler. The fans are perfect for group exercise rooms, weight rooms and various other locations throughout a club as well. Gold’s Gyms’ McHaney says, “Our fans are tropical-breeze-blowing, conversation-starting, marketing machines that save us money on our heating and air conditioning.”
The physics of air movement from a HVLS fan is simple. Instead of reducing the room temperature, the fans create a feeling of coolness by evaporating moisture on the skin. The more you perspire, the cooler you feel. Speeding up the evaporation process makes people feel more comfortable.
Another advantage of moving large quantities of air within a fitness club is the humidity factor. High moisture content in the air prevents perspiration from evaporating from the skin. HVLS fans keep the air moving and distribute the moisture throughout the club’s environment, resulting in lower humidity. This is not only great for the cooling effect on members, but it is also great for the fitness equipment. Good air circulation and low humidity add to the lifespan of sensitive fitness equipment, preventing rust and mildew.
HVLS fans have always been, and continue to be, the best solution to air-circulation and comfort issues in fitness clubs. If you need to reduce energy consumption while increasing member comfort, air circulation and equipment lifespan, then don’t sweat it; big fans are your solution!
Katie Cecil is a Marketing Communications Specialist for Big Ass Fans. She can be reached at 877.BIG.FANS, or by email at kcecil@bigassfans.com, or visit www.bigassfans.com
