Air Movement Fans

Air movement fans are helpful in your hydroponics setup and have a specific purpose, preventing hot spots from building up and replicating the activity of a natural outdoor breeze. They are not to be confused with large in-line duct extraction fans, which are used specifically for moving large volumes of air out of the growing room or grow tent as part of the venting process to get rid of unwanted odours.

Air movement fans, also referred to as circulatory fans can be floor-standing or wall-mounted. The smaller ones have handy clip-on attachments. The purpose of these fans is to move air around more naturally without taking up too much space or getting in the way of the other equipment or the plants themselves.

Many of these fans will be standalone units, while most will demonstrate a good deal of portability that serves their function. Hydroponic growers always appreciate the ability of these fans to function as they’re meant to without being a hindrance to anything else going on in their growing environment.

Many of these circulatory fans, and in particular the larger free-standing or pedestal fans, have an oscillator function which is ideal for use in hydroponic systems’ grow tents and grow rooms; this function serves to cool the area better, as the movements of the fan are more comprehensive rather than just bobbing from side to side. The up-and-down and rotational aspects help give an even better movement of air around the growing room.

These larger oscillating fans often have different speed settings and these can be manually set at any stage for better and more precise control of air circulation. Fans that are reliable, quiet and which cleverly replicate the circulating movements of natural outdoor airflow are among the factors that cause any given air movement fan to be popular or not.

The prevention of hot spots is one of a grower’s main concerns, and the best way to keep these to a minimum is to have a fan that can access the hard to reach places. Hot spots will only get worse if the problem is not addressed properly, so much so that you may get small or even tiny micro-climates developing in a corner of your grow tent or growing room which you just don’t want; the aim is to keep this interior climate as uniform as possible while allowing a gentle breeze which replicates nature.

Air that is constantly in circulation will not allow temperature extremes to take hold. It will make it much more difficult for humidity extremes within the growing area. Other equipment, such as the various humidifiers and dehumidifiers which are available, will look after the control of water vapour in the local air, but air which is constantly in circulation will do a better job at carrying the desired humidity to every corner of the growing room.

Air constantly circulating within any given confined space will also be a good defence against the various biological hazards that can develop over time. There are well-known diseases that affect plants. These can be kept at bay and under check better if you have a gentle breeze that does not permit local buildup of the kind of micro-organism and bacteria that cause these diseases in the first place or allow them to flourish.

To conclude, these air movement fans should not be considered something of a luxury or an extra after you’ve invested in the main equipment and all the venting kit, which tends to represent a large percentage of an average hydroponic system’s total outlay. Instead, it would be best if you thought of these smaller, circulatory fans as providing necessary backup to your entire growing environment.