Are Your Air Handlers Energy Efficient?

VFD's On Air Handlers for Energy Efficiency

If your a business owner with a medium to large sized building chances are you have at least one air handler on your facility.  Air handlers provide your heating and cooling.

All air handlers have a motor, and most of these motors are not energy efficient.  By adding a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD), we can make your existing air handlers energy efficient. 

Let's look at the benefits of adding a variable frequency drive to one of these units and the energy savings that can be achieved.

An Example of 6 Air Handler Units...

I am going to use facts from an actual project that had 6 air handler units all being identical. The units all run 24/7 to maintain airflow throughout the building.

Each of the units contain a 60 hp motor that run across the line, meaning no control. The motors have an efficiency rating of 95%. The cost per Kwh is $.10 cents.....sounds pretty good right?

Well let's take a look and see.

Does the VFD Make the Air Handler Unit Energy Efficient?

The table below shows estimated energy savings before and after the installation of a variable frequency drive.

Remember that originally this unit ran full speed. The intended purpose of the vfd is to tune the airflow to the needs of the building making the air handler more energy efficient.

 

 

Added Benefits of More Energy Efficient Air Handler

• Able to reduce full airflow throughout the night while the building is unoccupied.
• Able to reduce flow in morning and evening when manpower is ramping up and ramping down for the day.

Energy Efficient Air Handler Reduces Carbon Dioxide Emissions by 50%

Just by adding the VFD, CO Emisions drop from over 145 tons per year to just under 75 tons per year dropping by nearly 50%.

Profiting with Energy Efficient Air Handler; Payback In Less Than 6 Months

The VFD will make the system more energy efficient. 

The existing system used 415,568KWH per year to operate, at .10 per KWH thats roughly $41,556 dollars per year!

Reducing 212,286 Kwh nets an annual energy savings of $20,000.  After installation costs, payback is less than 6 months. 

Even when the vfd for air handler cost $8,260, your investment will return $91,757 dollars over 5 years.  Very nice ROI!

Air Handler VFD Energy Savings at 50%

The drive controlled system uses 212,286 Kwh per year compared to the existing 412,468 Kwh.  The reduction equates to $21,228 per year. A savings of around $20,000 per year!!! In this scenario, your 6 air handler units would now be energy efficient.

Even with an $8,260.00 installation cost we still see a net gain of $11,743 dollars in our first year.

Can you show me an investment that you can easily implement into your business that gives a return like that? Making your air handlers energy efficient can be a great investment for your business with long term beneftis.

Want to Learn More About How to Make Your Air Handlers More Energy Efficient?

Download a FREE copy of our e-book, Business Owners Guide to Energy Efficiency.  We will show you the benefits of making your business more energy efficient and how to calculate energy savings in 7 simple steps.