– Jason Hartschuh, OSU Extension AgNR Educator, Crawford County
Spring is one of the most challenging seasons on the farm to keep barns properly ventilated. We often see temperatures in the teens and less than a week later see highs in the 70’s. Our ventilation system recently roared to life as temperatures in the barn crossed 65° F reminding me that we still had not gotten around to winter fan maintenance as belts squealed and louvers hung half shut.
Fan vent in need of cleaning
Fan maintenance is critical to keeping your cows cool and saving energy. Ventilation systems often consume between 20-25% of the total energy used on the farm. Lack of cleaning can reduce a fans efficiency by as much as 40%. Meaning that your electric bill stays the same, but less air is moving through the barn. Monthly maintenance through the summer is critical to keep fans clean. Even a thin layer of dirt on the fan blades, shutters, and protective shrouds decreases air movement and increase the power requirements from the fan. Heavy cleaners and a pressure washer work well to remove dirt from the fans.
Be sure to disconnect the power supply before washing the fan and be extra cautious of water entering unsealed motors. After washing, allow fans to dry and grease bearings before turning the power back on. During washing inspect the fans closely using the following maintenance checklist
- Do all shafts turn smooth, are bearings showing wear
- Inspect impeller for cracks
- Are belts worn
- Are pulleys still aligned
- Bolts and set-screws tight
Disconnect power supply before washing the fan, and be cautious of water entering unsealed motors.
While monitoring fan performance and wear can be challenging, there are a few tools that can help you. Fans should be monitored on a routine basis such as every month in the summer or on the manufacturers recommended grease internal.
Logbook– If you assign a number to each fan on the farm, it will help track the maintenance cost of each individual fan. The logbook allows you to monitor when a fan is having increased belt wear or motors that are not lasting as long as they should, which is a sign of greater problems occurring. Recording air velocity also helps to notice wear issues before they become major problems
Digital Anemometer-Used to measure the air velocity to determine if fans are operating properly. Be sure to record these values in your logbook so that you can find changes in fan performance. Lower air velocity is often caused by either dirt build up or improper belt tension allowing for slippage. Ideal wind speed through the barn is 5 mph.
Digital Tachometer-Used to help determine why your fan may not be producing enough air velocity. This can be used to help determine the RPM of both your fan and the motor. When the motor is running at the correct RPM, but the blades are not it maybe due to poor belt tension, damaged or worn pulleys, or poor belt alignment.
Source: Dayton Motor
Groove Gage– Used to identify pulleys that are worn and need replaced. Worn pulleys increase belt wear and slippage and decrease fan RPM’s. Belts should ride at the top of a pulley and not sunken into the pulley. The gauge should fit tightly, if more than 1/32 inches of wear can be seen, poor belt life can be expected. If the gauge hits the bottom of the pulley, it is worn out.
Belt Tension Tester-Used to measure the force required to move a belt 1/64 inch per inch of span. Helps trouble shoot fans that are turning slower than they should. If tension is correct but fans are turning to slow pulleys or belts maybe worn out. If belts with spring tensioners cannot be tensioned correctly it may be a sign that the spring tensioner is weak or that belts are stretched or improperly sized.
Multi-Meter-Allows you to check the amp draw of the fan motor, high amp draw waste electric and can lead to premature motor failure. This can be caused by too high of belt tension, dirt build up on blades and housing, or bearing that are binding and need replaced.
When adding new or replacing ventilation fans, it important to look at more than the price. Many motors have electric efficiency ratings, the higher efficiency motors have more copper windings increasing their cost. High efficiency motors usually pay for themselves with decreased electric consumption within one to three years. When adding or replacing fans it is important to not buy the cheapest but also consider the fans efficiency rating for life time electrical use.
When inspecting ventilation systems and placing new fans, it is important to check air speed throughout the barn. The minimum cooling airspeed at cow resting height is 2.25 mph which can be measured with anemometer with little additional cooling effect found from air speeds over 4.5 mph. When measuring air speed throughout the barn be sure to check for dead zones caused by fans having less air throw than expected. For example, depending on fan velocity 36-inch fans may have to be placed every 24 feet instead of 30-32 feet. While large or more efficient fans can push air further every cow acts as a baffle that disrupts air flow.
Through proper fan maintenance we can keep ventilation system working at maximum efficiency, keeping cows cool and comfortable. The ideal ventilation system will provided between 40 and 60 air changes per hour.
EDITOR’s NOTE: For more on maintaining proper ventilation, see Hartschuh’s recent presentation embedded below from the 2021 Ohio Cattle Feeding School on providing proper ventilation to manage both heat and cold stress in cattle.