HVAC Supplies Blog

Smoke and fire dampers have the function of preserving the integrity of physical barriers in the event of an emergency. HVAC dampers prevent fire and smoke from moving around the premises in urgent situations.

This HVAC fire damper serves the purpose of allowing the occupants to flee a building in crisis while allowing firefighters to access the building with ease. Fire dampers are restricted to stringent temperatures while smoke dampers are not. It is important to note that a smoke and fire damper is recommended for commercial and residential use.

How Do HVAC Fire Dampers Work?

The main purpose of fire dampers is to prevent flames from escaping a fire barrier. In an HVAC system, a fire damper has much the same purpose. Fire dampers respond to heat, and when the temperatures rise to a specific point, the dampers react.

The fire damper works as follows:

• The temperature rises to a set point.
• The dampers detect the temperature change.
• The sensors attached to the dampers respond which, in turn, activates the actuators.
• The fire and smoke damper actuators move to their safety position.
• The fusible link, which is connected to the damper, melts, causing the damper doors to close.

The typical setpoint for a smoke and fire damper is usually 165 degrees Fahrenheit. However, damper fuses with a higher melting point of up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit are available on the market.

In fire emergencies, the largest cause of death is smoke inhalation and the inhalation of toxic gases. So, ensuring that the smoke and fire damper works properly can save lives. These HVAC fire dampers are practical because they can be used to safeguard lives via the fire dampers in the ductwork that runs through the entire building.

Types of Fire Dampers in HVAC

Static Fire Dampers in HVAC Systems

Static fire dampers are situated in the vertical barriers of an HVAC unit. This type of fire damper has a loaded design because of its location in the vertical barriers. In this design, the doors of the fan and the damper meet a spring-like action when they are forced shut in the event of an emergency.

Dynamic Fire Dampers

Dynamic fire dampers, on the other hand, are in the barriers of the HVAC unit where the fan will shut off when forced to do so. These dampers are installed in horizontal barriers, and when the HVAC system fan shuts off, the pressure dissipates and the door of the damper will shut as a result.

HVAC Fire vs Smoke Dampers: What's the Difference?

Fire dampers are put in place to stop the passage of fire by preserving the integrity of smoke barriers such as floors and walls. A fire damper reacts to heat and rising temperature, so once the temperature exceeds a set point, it springs into action. Primarily, you will find fire dampers in ductwork and air conditioning systems.

Smoke dampers are situated in places where smoke could represent a significant challenge. Smoke dampers react to the presence of smoke; they block smoke and toxic gases from escaping to prevent injuries and possibly death. These smoke dampers are typically activated by smoke detectors that are situated within the ductwork.

Apart from the fact that fire dampers and smoke dampers have similar features, what greatly separates them is obvious. The former responds to heat whilst the latter responds to smoke or toxic gases. In addition, another key element that separates the two is that smoke dampers are not restricted by temperature while fire dampers are. 

Industrial Applications of Fire Dampers

Industrial dampers are built for heavy-duty industrial settings and crop up in many different types of industries that require PFP (passive fire protection) to function properly such as industries like gas or oil drilling sites, turbines, power generation, and many more. PFP works in tandem with active fire protection (AFP) to protect an industrial facility.

• Waste-water treatment facilities

• Paper Mills

• Textile industry

• Marine exploration and drilling

• Mining

• Transit industry

• Water-power generation such as Hydroelectric plants

• Nuclear power generation.

Most industries will use industrial fire dampers and view them as an indispensable component of industrial air and ventilation systems.

NFPA Codes Applied to Industrial Dampers

The NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) has put in place a wide range of codes to ensure fire protection in industrial settings. This includes codes such as NFPA803, which is a code of standard for fire protection for light-water nuclear power plants. Their codes and requirements for fire safety range from HVAC systems to building codes to protect every type of facility.

For example, they require fire-resistant doors and fire dampers which will protect the openings of the ducts to prevent fire from spreading through the entirety of the building. The NFPA also recognizes that not abiding by the codes and regulations, such as placing smoke and fire dampers in the appropriate locations, could have dire consequences.

Other examples of codes by the NFPA are outlined below. 

These codes are put into place to protect and safeguard lives.

Conclusion

It is important to note that smoke and fire dampers are a vital addition to any HVAC unit. Their applications are widespread, and their life-saving features cannot be overlooked. Now that Blackhawk Supply have examined smoke dampers vs fire dampers, we can come to only one conclusion: shop HVAC dampers now and make sure that you and your business have a fighting chance in the event of a fire emergency. Smoke and fire dampers are versatile and are suitable for a wide range of industries. Don't hesitate to contact us for additional information!

UV lights purify the circulating air within a house by killing bacteria and pollutants such as mold, mildew, fungi, and viruses. These UV lights are not a cure-all, but they significantly improve air quality in your home and can reduce allergens which can be critical for people suffering from respiratory illnesses like asthma, for example.

Most Americans, especially since COVID-19, have been spending more and more time at home. Ultravation UV lamps are a leading factor that can contribute to improved health and wellness for all members of a household. UV lights will funnel clean air through the ductwork of your HVAC UV-C system purifying the air that you breathe.

What Is Ultraviolet Radiation?

Electromagnetic radiation naturally comes from the sun, but technology has enabled us to recreate a form of UVR (ultraviolet radiation) that is popularly used in welding, tanning beds, and UV lights. UVRs are invisible to the naked eye.

Within the light spectrum, UV lights are separated according to levels measured by their range from 0nm (nanometres-billionths of a meter) to 400 nm: UV-A, UV-B, UV-C, and UV-D. It is the UV-C section of the spectrum ranging from 280 to 200 nm which is highly effective in killing harmful bacteria and is currently found in many HVAC UV-C systems because of its germicidal properties.

How Do UV Lamps Work?

UV lamps create artificial UV light that then can be used in a variety of ways, such as sterilizing or purifying areas. They are different from regular lamps because they are often made of quartz and contain gas mixed with mercury; this means that when the lamp is plugged in or turned on, the electricity reacts to the mercury within the lamp.

It is noteworthy that only UV-C lights are calibrated to a germ-killing wavelength (280 to 200 nm). Ultravation UV lamps for HVAC units have a unique germ-fighting capability.

How UV Lamps Are Used in HVAC Systems

Blackhawk Supply have already outlined thus far, contamination in an HVAC system is quite widespread. However, the usage of UV lights inside residential HVAC units is not as common. It is important to think about getting or retrofitting an HVAC system with UV-C because of the health risks associated with contaminated systems such as viral and bacterial infections, allergic reactions, and issues for people suffering from asthma or other respiratory illnesses.

Air sterilizations are also known as in-duct UVC systems. This method allows UV-C lights within an HVAC unit to disinfect the air as it cycles through the ducts. UV lamps are often installed inside an air handler situated near the filter rack and the cooling coil of an HVAC unit. The purpose of the placement of the UV lamp is to ensure that the drain pan and the coil remain clean to prevent contaminated air from being released out of the HVAC system.

What Types of UV HVAC Systems Are There?

There are two types of HVAC systems that incorporate UV light installations: coil sterilization and air sterilization.

In a coil sterilization HVAC system, the UV-C lamps are installed near the cooling coils, filters, and condensation pans, areas within an HVAC that are prone to problems when it comes to contamination.

In an air sterilization system, the UV-C lights are installed inside the ductwork to filter and disinfect the circulating air to prevent contaminated air from being released from the ducts.

Coil sterilization systems are a smart and cost-effective way to use UV in your HVAC unit by keeping the coils clean whilst the air sterilization method helps eliminate pathogens in the air by using UV in your HVAC unit.

How Much Will a UV HVAC System Cost You?

The cost of adding air sanitizing UV-C lights to your HVAC unit will depend on two factors: the cost of the UV light and the cost of installation. In both airs sanitizing and coil sanitizing systems, an additional energy cost must be considered.

Before you make the decision, you must consider your needs and match them to the costs and weigh whether this type of HVAC system would be useful for your household. Maintenance and bulb replacements should also be considered, but the latter can be done during your yearly HVAC unit’s maintenance and added to that cost.

Conclusion

All in all, when deciding whether your household needs an HVAC unit equipped with UV-C light, Blackhawk Supply sure you must consider the costs, but you should also consider all the health benefits that are connected to it.

Clean air is not a luxury, but rather a necessity — especially if someone in your household suffers from respiratory issues or if you have children or elderly people in your home. Everyone benefits from clean air. Please don’t hesitate to contact us, we are a trusted HVAC supplies shop, and we are ready to help your household breathe a sigh of relief.

A hot water heating system will typically only heat water in the tank when turned on; this means that the hot water, once turned on, must travel through your home’s pipes to reach your faucets. A hot water recirculation system, on the other hand, will move your hot water through your pipes quickly and eliminate the wait for the hot water to reach your faucet.

Circulating water heaters will also eliminate low water pressure, which is common in many water lines; a recirculating hot water line will move water quickly to your faucets. Water pumps are crucial to a home’s infrastructure and installing a hot water recirculation system will help prevent your pipes from freezing during the winter months.

Why Is There Cold Water in Your Hot Water Tap?

Coldwater coming out of a hot water tap is not an uncommon problem. Many factors can contribute to this. One of the more serious factors is a leaking water tank or any other technical malfunction which must be addressed by a professional immediately.

A less serious key factor can be that the hot water tank for your household is not big enough to accommodate all the users. Another possibility can be the weather; cold weather can impact the hot water tank. A recirculating hot water system can solve all the above-mentioned problems.

Types of Hot Water Circulating Systems

Dedicated Loop Systems

A dedicated loop system creates a loop from the water heater to the faucets and back again; the circulation pump is mounted on a pipe that is connected to the tank. Shorter pipes will connect the fixtures to the main pipe in a loop to a hot water valve. Unused hot water will be recirculated through the pipes and any time a faucet is opened, hot water will come out in seconds since the water will never just sit in the pipes and cool down. This ensures that less water is wasted because you don’t have to wait for the hot water to come out of the faucet.

Integrated Loop Systems

An integrated loop hot water system uses the existing cold-water pipe to send unused water back to the water heater. This system is retrofitted, and it is typically added as an upgrade to the existing plumbing, but it can be installed in new constructions as well as a less expensive alternative to a dedicated circulation system.

An integrated loop hot water system uses a sensor that switches the pump on if the water temperature falls below 85°F. A popular type of integrated loop system is an under-sink water recirculation system.

Benefits of Having a Recirculating Hot Water Line

Hot Water Recirculating Saves Time:

A recirculating hot water line will allow you to always have access to hot water as desired because the water in the pipes doesn’t cool down— hot water is just recirculating within the pipes.

Recirculating Systems Preserve Water

Water preservation plays a key role in helping us take care of the environment. A circulating hot water system can save you up to 15,000 gallons of water per year. This is great for the environment, but it also can save you money on your water bill.

Less Municipal Energy Consumption

Many municipalities encourage hot water recirculating systems because they can positively impact energy consumption on a city-to-city basis.

There Are Rebates Available

Many municipalities around the country encourage new constructions, as well as people upgrading their water systems in existing constructions, to install hot water recirculating systems.

Many cities have also launched rebate programs where you can receive a rebate of $100 for the purchase of a new hot water recirculation system. These rebates are offered to ensure the preservation of water and energy.

How to Choose a Hot Water Recirculating System

There are several decisions to make before choosing the right hot water pump and recirculating system that will best suit your plumbing needs. When it comes to choosing a hot water circulating system, you must first decide whether you want a Dedicated Loop System or an Integrated Loop System.

Once you have chosen the type of hot water circulating system, you must choose whether you want one that is connected to a sensor or a timer. A sensor will monitor your water temperature within your pipes and will adjust it accordingly. However, most people prefer to get a programmable timer because it tends to be more energy-efficient and will cater to your household’s hot water needs.

Once the system is installed, it is also highly recommended to insulate your water pipes, this will save you money and energy because it will trap the heat around your hot water pipes.

Conclusion

Many benefits come from installing a hot water recirculating system such as instant hot water on demand for every sink within your home. But there are many other advantages such as water, money, and energy savings that are attributed to hot water recirculating pumps.

Whether you are building a new home or retrofitting the plumbing for an existing home, it is high time to come enjoy the future and leave behind the days when you had to wait for hot water. Check out the Blackhawk Supply catalog for any plumbing supplies you may need. Don't hesitate to contact us!

Created by the American Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers to be a standard in communication for Building Automation Systems, BACnet is now the leading technology in building automation. It has an open architecture and the ability to control and monitor any building automation process.

BACnet might sound confusing and intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be at all! In this handy guide, Blackhawk Supply will dive into everything you need to know regarding BACnet protocol, how BACnet works, and everything in between. Even if you’re not in the building automation industry, it’s important to know about BACnet technology.

What Is BACnet Protocol?

In the simplest terms, BACnet protocol is a “language” that defines the communications protocol and data model for building automation systems. Rather than having 5 different communication systems in your building for different types of automation, every system can be using the same data model and protocol throughout the entire network. Let’s break down the two elements of the BACnet protocol to explain a little further.

Data Model: The data model is a standard of communication from one machine to another. Effectively, it defines the semantics of the conversation by structuring rules for how the data is presented (what it looks like) and followed.

Communications Protocol: This protocol defines where the data (defined by the data model) goes. In other words, in what order does one machine communicate with another?

How Does BACnet Work?

So how does BACnet work? Let’s dive a little deeper. BACnet communication utilizes what’s called an “object-oriented approach” for better reusability, maintenance, and efficiency.

BACnet controls and monitors any building automation process - think lighting, heating, smoke detection, and even security/safety applications - in a fully integrated way so that equipment vendors, integrators, and ultimately users can have their needs met. That means that the BACnet protocol can use all of the following with equal efficiency - universal digital controllers, mobile and cloud-hosted devices, head-end computers, and application-specific or unitary controllers.

This unconnected and open protocol allows for any device to send service requests to any other device without any communication hiccups via a BACnet router. This is quite different from connected devices because communication in BACnet is unscheduled without any time-critical operations.

Where Can BACnet Be Used?

The BACnet network is most often used for cooling and heating processes with an HVAC system, but it can also be used for a wide variety of building processes (as mentioned above) such as lighting, building security, video surveillance, access control, and even water chilling.

Because BACnet standardizes the communication, any of these processes can be controlled with BACnet controllers. The beauty of BACnet is that you can build a fully-integrated system that allows for the addition of any of these building processes to be easily controlled through a central controller.

What Are the Benefits of Using BACnet?

Even if you don’t fully understand how BACnet works (and frankly it’s not important that you do), it’s important to understand just why using the BACnet protocol can be so helpful with building automation systems.

Standardization

The main reason BACnet communication is so useful is that it’s a standardized communication protocol, meaning the way technology communicates throughout the entire building will be the same.

When it comes to things like power meters and climate, having all of the processes and every aspect of meter rules under one cohesive united communication system is very helpful. Imagine having a fully-integrated building where all communications can work through one BACnet device. That’s what standardization enables for you.

Cost-effective

BACnet protocol can save a significant amount of money. Setting efficient automation for things like lighting, power usage, and climate control can help avoid unnecessary use of resources and create cost savings in a variety of departments.

For example, imagine installing an infrared body sensor that can be shared with the lighting, the climate, and the security system so that when nobody is detected in a building or area, automation can be set with every system to either shut off or turn on, depending on the situation.

This type of efficiency is another one of the main reasons why BACnet has become THE communication system to use.

Simple to set up

Maybe most importantly for you, you don’t need to be an expert in BACnet to figure out how to manage the automation of various devices. Once set up, these automatons are transparent and automatic, and even the setup of a BACnet network itself is relatively easy.

Conclusion

If you want a much more efficient, integrated, and advanced building automation system, setting up a BACnet network is the absolute way to go. It’s incredibly refreshing to have all your automated processes able to be housed under one cohesive protocol, to allow devices to share technology, and to be able to have the most efficiently-running building automation systems possible. And if you’re ready to buy networking supplies utilizing the BACnet protocol, Blackhawk Supply has a phenomenal selection for all your needs. Contact us for additional information.

Transducers and sensors are electronic components that are often confused with one another because the two words are sometimes used interchangeably. They are similar, in the way that both a sensor and transducer can sense a charge within the environment by using an object that is attached to them. 

The difference between a sensor and transducer lies in the fact that a sensor will release an output in the same format that it received the charge while a transducer will convert the measurement into an electrical signal. Johnson Control sensors and transducers are excellent choices for these two electronic components. 

What Is a Sensor?

Sensors are an important part of our modern lives and they are incorporated in many devices. From computers and computer equipment to smartphones and their touch screens, they can be found in every element of modern living. 

The classical definition of a sensor is a device that measures a physical input from the environment and converts it into readable data that can be understood by a human or a machine. An older version of a sensor is found in mercury thermometers; the sensor in a thermometer was able to measure the data and send the output via the colored reading within the tube to give us a readable measure. 

Most sensors today are electronic and they convert data into another form of electronic data rather than the simpler visual format from our traditional mercury thermometers. Remote digital sensors can be found in airplanes, cars, surface stations, weather satellites, and radars. 

What Is a Transducer?

Transducers are electronic devices that convert energy from one form to another. Transducers can be found all around us in our everyday life and there are many different examples of transducers, for example, the ones you’d find in microphones or speakers. 

There are many types of transducers, such as pressure transducers, magnetic transducers, current transducers, electromechanical transducers, and many more. The different types of transducers will function differently depending on how they are set up to convert one form of energy to another form of energy. 

For example, a pressure transducer will use a sensor that is capable of converting pressure into electrical signals. These electrical signals will go through controllers to be processed. These pressure transducers will then use strain gauges to identify the level of force that is used on them. A transducer is made of small parts, typically a sensor and an SCU (signal conditioning unit).

Sensor vs Transducer: The Summary

In summation, sensors and transducers have key differences that can’t be overlooked, as they are different devices. A sensor can never be a transducer and a transducer will always contain a sensor:

• A sensor is a device that senses a physical change whilst a transducer transforms energy from one source into a different form of energy.
• A sensor is a stand-alone device that has no other components while a transducer is made up of a sensor and a signal conditioning unit.
• A sensor will detect a form of energy while a transducer will convert a form of energy into a different form of energy.
• A sensor is a less complex device to a transducer since a transducer is designed to convert a physical quantity into another output signal such as voltage or current (generally an electric signal but not exclusively)
• A sensor can only measure a physical quantity and can’t give input on its own without being connected to another device such as a transducer. The transducer, with a sensor and signal conditioning unit, can process the input and send out an output.

Conclusion

Sensors and transducers are different devices, but they both measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, heat, and light. They should not be confused in any way; a transducer will have a sensor as one of its components but a sensor without a transducer cannot convert one form of energy to another form. Visit the Blackhawk Supply website to find out what control supplies you require. And don't hesitate to contact us!