Households are increasingly asking electricians for quiet fans so that they can enjoy a peaceful home environment. Silent fans are therefore a great opportunity for wholesalers to upsell and provide electricians with the quiet fans they need. However, with many low noise fans now on the market, how can wholesalers advise installers on how to select the right fan for the job and pick a fan that really is low noise? Lena Hebestreit, Marketing Manager at Vent-Axia, explains more.
Silence sells… In increasingly busy times households are looking for a peaceful home environment to relax in. As a result, demand for quieter products in the home is still on the rise. According to a recent National Noise Report from Quiet Mark, 82% of adults surveyed said it matters how loud an appliance is when buying a product, something for electrical wholesalers to consider. The Quiet Mark National Noise Report 2023 also revealed that 84% of respondents said it is important to have quiet time to recharge themselves and what better place to recharge than an oasis of calm in a peaceful bathroom.
It is true that eliminating the damaging and unhealthy effects of condensation and mould is an essential role of bathroom ventilation, but this alone is no longer enough. Households want to be able to take a relaxing bath or shower without the constant drone of a noisy fan. Quiet fans are therefore becoming an increasingly popular fan to stock for wholesalers.
Choosing a quiet fan
However, with a wide range of low noise fans now on the market the question is what features should wholesalers look out for when deciding which silent fans to stock on their shelves? There are many fans on the market that claim to be quiet but what actually is quiet when it comes to fan noise?
A good place to start when selecting which quiet fans to stock is to check the sound level in decibels [dB(A)]. An average extract fan operates at 35dB(A). This is loud in a confined space. Fortunately, there are now fans on the market that are only slightly louder than the sound of a pin dropping. For example, Vent-Axia uses its own sound laboratory to ensure the fans it designs are exceptionally quiet with its Silent Fan range offering ultra-low sounds levels of just 12dB(A), quieter than a whisper. Meanwhile the Vent-Axia Lo-Carbon Svara runs at only 17dB(A) on low trickle and the Vent-Axia PureAir Sense offers silent continuous operation at just 19dB(A).
The Silent Fan and the Svara have both been awarded a Quiet Mark, the independent global certification programme associated with the UK Noise Abatement Society charitable foundation, which recognises the quietest solutions to unwanted noise. Third-party accreditation like this is a useful selling tool for wholesalers. To check whether a quiet fan has a Quiet Mark award wholesalers can visit the online directory at www.quietmark.com.
Reducing sound levels
There are other ways of reducing sound levels too. When recommending fans to customers, ensure the fan fits the needs of the room, do not oversize a fan. The more powerful a fan, potentially the noisier it will be. Select fans with high efficiency motors since the ball bearing technology used in them offers smoother and therefore quieter performance. They will also last longer, meaning the fan won’t become noisier over time. Meanwhile, variable speed models make installation simple since electricians can easily adjust the speed depending on the individual needs of the project, ensuring the right fan every time. This is especially helpful with long duct runs since the fan can be altered to achieve the required airflow. Usually more airflow means more noise, but fans like the Silent Fan stay quiet even with longer duct runs and higher air flow.
Other great features to reduce noise include clever light sensors that recognise room occupancy through light movement and shadows; a delay-on feature that can be set to avoid the fan being triggered in the night during quick bathroom visits; and fans that don’t trigger at ambient humidity changes in the night. Visual silence is also in demand so for customers preferring a silent aesthetic, the Vent-Axia Silent Fan now has a discrete tile like version while the PureAir Sense offers minimal styling, clean lines and an optional cover that complements any modern bathroom.
Indoor Air Quality
Silence is not the only comfort issue in demand. Households are now more aware than ever of the air they breathe because of Covid. This means consumer demand for fans that make a real difference to indoor air quality (IAQ) are an essential. Whilst many fans effectively improve IAQ, there are smart fans that offer app controllability for easy commissioning and to allow households to control their ventilation as well as a host of other clever features. For example, an innovative app available with the Svara and PureAir Sense allows households to control their ventilation from the comfort of their sofa unlocking a whole range of different functions to control their home’s IAQ, such as a silent scheduling and automatic cycles, offering flexible ventilation to suit a household’s lifestyle. Furthermore, the PureAir Sense deploys Odour Sense Technology. Designed to improve IAQ, the fan increases airflow when the sensor detects when air in a home is poor, creating a comfortable living environment.
As our lives become more frenetic the desire for a calm healthy home environment is only going to grow. Wholesalers who stock fans which offer silent operation as well as additional features such as odour sense technology, app control, variable speed options and intelligent sensors can be sure that they have the right solution for their customers every time.
For more information, click here
