2021 - Volume #45, Issue #5, Page #17
[ Sample Stories From This Issue | List of All Stories In This Issue | Print this story
| Read this issue]
Giant “Auto” Fans Help Keep Barns Cool
“We build the fan heavier than normal,” says Kevin Hoover, sales and account manager for the Pennsylvania company. The aluminum extrusion blades are thicker and the fan weighs 450 lbs., well over industry standards.
The best feature however is the weather station controller that Hoover designed to automatically turn the fan on and off according to temperature as well as humidity and windspeed.
“The long and slender blades can break off when it’s windy,” he explains, and it can be difficult for producers to get to them in time to manually turn them off.
AmeriWind offers wired and wireless automatic controllers starting at $600 as well as manual controllers to go with their fans (T-series, starting at $2,000).
Self-taught in electronics, Hoover’s experience goes back to creating an automatic ventilation controller for opening and closing barn curtains based on humidity and temperature.
After successfully creating the weather station to work with other company’s fans, he decided his business could make better fans in 2018.
“We sell all over the U.S.,” Hoover says, mostly to dairy and beef producers. “Beef farmers like them because it reduces respiratory problems, and they need less bedding. There’s lots of airflow on the bedded pack so it dries it out.”
General guidelines suggest that a 24-ft. fan works well in a 60-ft. wide area, while a 30-ft. fan is needed for spaces up to 80-ft. wide.
Lumber producers also use the fans to help dry lumber. And AmeriWind offers lighter weight E-Series fans that are used indoors at warehouses and other large buildings.
Hoover works with customers to find the best fan to suit their needs.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, AmeriWind, 11 Speltz Lane, Oley, Penn. 19547 (ph 610 987-0488;contact@ameriwind.net; www.ameriwind.net).
Click here to download page story appeared in.
Click here to read entire issue
To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.