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The Importance of Properly Maintaining Roof Fans

If you are a property manager or landlord in New York City, regular care of building elements is essential. Routine checks and repairs help keep small problems from becoming larger, more expensive, and disruptive ones. And some tasks, like maintaining roof fans, also protect the health of your building’s occupants.

Here’s a look at why taking care of your roof exhaust fans is so important. We’ll also discuss signs that your ventilation system, which often terminates with a roof fan, needs attention.

Why Proper Ventilation Is Important

Improved Health

A sound ventilation system that pulls in clean, fresh air and expels dirty air through an exhaust fan has multiple health benefits:

• Reduced incidents of allergies and asthma
• Decreased risk of carbon monoxide and radon poisoning
• Less opportunity for mold and mildew to grow
• Fewer chances for colds, flu, and other illnesses to spread

Recent health concerns have emphasized the advantages of improved airflow. However, this is not a new concern. In fact, in 1974, a school ventilation issue resulted in a measles outbreak in upstate New York. Since then, recirculating air and poor exhaust have been blamed for other pockets of contagion. Poor airflow can even result in health citations and building code violations.

Fewer Odors

Better airflow and proper exhaust also result in fewer odors in multi-unit buildings. If you own or supervise a building with tenants, you don’t want to be constantly fielding complaints about cooking or pet smells invading occupants’ space.

Likewise, if you’re attempting to rent units, nothing sends potential tenants running faster than unpleasant smells in public spaces. You may have grown immune to some odors in your building, through a process known as olfactory fatigue. But people new to the building will notice them immediately.

Three Types of Ventilation

Natural Ventilation

Of the three types of ventilation, everyone is familiar with natural ventilation. Opening a window or door for fresh air is as old as history. However, it’s rarely the best solution.

Some buildings aren’t designed to have the windows open at all. And, in New York, it’s often too hot or too cold to make this practical. Furthermore, open windows let in noise, undesirable odors, and even dangerous particulate matter, like soot and smoke.

Mechanical Ventilation

Mechanical ventilation is the more modern process of bringing in preconditioned air from outside a building. The air is then circulated throughout various parts of the building before being exhausted outside, usually through a roof fan.

Hybrid Ventilation

Hybrid ventilation is what we see most often in the city. It is a combination of natural and mechanical ventilation. It still depends, though, on having proper roof ventilation of spent air.

Signs Your Ventilation System Isn’t Working Properly

It’s rare for an HVAC system to completely stop working out of the blue. Usually, there are warning signs that happen first. When you pay attention to these signs, you can often prevent larger HVAC problems later. 

• Unpleasant odors in the building’s public spaces
• Tenants complaining of undesirable odors
• Mold, mildew, or moisture on building surfaces, including interstitial spaces
• Tenants reporting allergy, asthma, and other respiratory problems
• Carbon monoxide detectors triggering
• Noisy or malfunctioning HVAC

Solutions to Poor Ventilation: Proper Maintenance

One of the easiest and least expensive solutions to poor ventilation is to stay on top of roof exhaust fan maintenance. A roof fan that functions poorly or has stopped working altogether could compromise your building’s air quality and HVAC efficiency. For example, if stale air isn’t being exhausted properly, tenants may open windows during weather extremes, thus wasting heat or air conditioning energy.

Every building in New York City is unique. And, many have had renovations to modernize them over the years. That’s why it’s important to work with a specialist who knows your system. At Antler Pumps, a division of Omnia Mechanical Group, we’re experts in building exhaust fans.

Sadly, during our first visit to a new building, we see at least 50 percent of the roof fans we check are not functioning properly. While at least 25 percent require replacement. This is usually because maintaining roof fans hasn’t been done in a year or more.

Don’t wait until you have a problem with your building’s air quality to reach out to us. Tending to your roof fans on a scheduled basis can help prevent major repairs or replacements. We can check your fans, provide all necessary repairs and then begin on a regular maintenance schedule. 

Give us a call at 212-534-2500 or use our easy online form to schedule service. We look forward to hearing from you soon.