Do I Need an Air Mover?
You’ve probably seen one before – resting on the floor of a warehouse or greeting you as you walk across a mopped floor at your local grocery store. It looks like a snail and is usually found blasting air at a very high speed. It’s called an “air mover” and despite its unusual appearance, it does an important job in warehouses, workshops, and even in your own home. It’s vital to know what an air mover is and what it does – because it might be just the thing you need for your next project.
What Does an Air Mover Do?
As you can probably guess, air movers move the air! They’re used for drying specific areas, dispersing fumes, circulating air in small spaces, cooling people working in hot temperatures, or cooling machinery or products with powerful gusts. They are also known as air “blowers” or “horns.”
How Is an Air Mover Different from a Fan?
If it sounds to you like an air mover is just a special kind of fan, you’re not far off. You can use them in a lot of the same ways. But it’s important to know their key differences, and why you would use one over the other.
Air movers typically provide more powerful direct airflow than a fan. If you were to twist a fan’s blades ninety degrees and put a case around them, you would essentially have an air mover. As an air mover’s blades spin, it sucks in the outside air – typically through its sides or a top opening – and shoots it out of the front at high speeds. This makes an air mover perfect for providing strong, precise airflow to a specific location.
Fans, on the other hand, are good at providing simple airflow over a large general area. They are best suited for cooling and ventilating big rooms with their less powerful, continuous air circulation. They’re also cheaper to run than air movers, so you don’t need to worry about keeping them on all day long.
If your main concern is cooling or ventilation, a fan might get the job done. But when you need a more powerful solution, then an air mover is the right tool for you.
Air movers typically provide more powerful direct airflow than a fan. If you were to twist a fan’s blades ninety degrees and put a case around them, you would essentially have an air mover. As an air mover’s blades spin, it sucks in the outside air – typically through its sides or a top opening – and shoots it out of the front at high speeds. This makes an air mover perfect for providing strong, precise airflow to a specific location.
Fans, on the other hand, are good at providing simple airflow over a large general area. They are best suited for cooling and ventilating big rooms with their less powerful, continuous air circulation. They’re also cheaper to run than air movers, so you don’t need to worry about keeping them on all day long.
If your main concern is cooling or ventilation, a fan might get the job done. But when you need a more powerful solution, then an air mover is the right tool for you.
When Would I Use an Air Mover?
If you find yourself needing to dry out a large or hard-to-reach area, then you want an air mover. Drying occurs when moisture is absorbed into air that’s moving over something wet. But air can only hold so much moisture, so if you want something to dry faster, you need to move as much air as possible. Thanks to its more powerful airflow, an air mover does exactly that.
So if your basement recently flooded and you just finished cleaning up the water with a pump vac, you could grab a regular old box fan. But if you want the best tool to completely dry out all that moisture – and you hope to decrease the chances of mold and mildew forming – an air mover is far more effective. For burst pipes in your walls or ceilings, or simply a large spill on your living room carpet, an air mover is the right call.
Don’t look past an air mover’s ventilation or cooling capabilities either. If an area is too small or the need is too dire, a fan won’t always be the best option. To vent areas or cool them off quickly, an air mover can easily be used in the place of a fan.
So if your basement recently flooded and you just finished cleaning up the water with a pump vac, you could grab a regular old box fan. But if you want the best tool to completely dry out all that moisture – and you hope to decrease the chances of mold and mildew forming – an air mover is far more effective. For burst pipes in your walls or ceilings, or simply a large spill on your living room carpet, an air mover is the right call.
Don’t look past an air mover’s ventilation or cooling capabilities either. If an area is too small or the need is too dire, a fan won’t always be the best option. To vent areas or cool them off quickly, an air mover can easily be used in the place of a fan.
How Do I Use an Air Mover?
To speed up drying time, circulate the air, or cool things off, it’s important to strategically place your air mover. Position it somewhere around the perimeter of the room, and if you’re drying something, point its opening directly at the wet area. To allow unrestricted airflow, situate it at least six inches away from the wall or anything that could interfere with intake. If the area or room is big enough, grab a second air mover and position it roughly ten feet away from the first one. If you’re trying to dry out a spot on your wall or ceiling, angle your movers so the high-speed air reaches it.
After they are positioned, don’t let them run unattended. Turn them on for about an hour or so, and then check the spots. You’ll be surprised at how fast they do the job. If things are still wet, keep repeating the process until everything is dry to the touch.
After they are positioned, don’t let them run unattended. Turn them on for about an hour or so, and then check the spots. You’ll be surprised at how fast they do the job. If things are still wet, keep repeating the process until everything is dry to the touch.
Which Air Mover Is Right for Me?
When it comes to the size of your air mover, it all depends on the job at hand! Drying and ventilation needs come in all shapes and sizes, so it’s important that you choose the right model. We rate each air mover by cubic feet per minute (CFM) – which is essentially a measure of how much air it moves every minute. The more air you need to move, the higher the CFM you need to get the job done. Shop-Vac offers three different models – a 200 CFM, a 500 CFM, and a 1000 CFM. Each model allows you to position the air mover in three different ways depending on if you’re targeting the floor, the walls, or the ceiling. Wherever your mess is – or how big it is – Shop-Vac has a model for you.
Even if you’ve never heard of (or seen) an air mover before, you’ve no doubt come across a time when it would have come in handy. Shop-Vac makes a wide range of clean-up tools, so it’s important to get the exact one you need for your next project. For all your drying and air moving needs, look no further than The One & Only Shop-Vac.
Even if you’ve never heard of (or seen) an air mover before, you’ve no doubt come across a time when it would have come in handy. Shop-Vac makes a wide range of clean-up tools, so it’s important to get the exact one you need for your next project. For all your drying and air moving needs, look no further than The One & Only Shop-Vac.
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