How to Choose Air Curtain – 12 tips for selecting suitable air curtain (update for 2022)

For more and more companies, shops & stores, hospitals, schools, warehouses, and other public places.

People are paying more and more attention to providing a comfortable and clean environment, while also saving a lot of unnecessary bills. 

So, people began to consider installing and using air curtains at these entrances and exits doors.

But, how can you choose the right air curtains?

How to choose the model of the air curtain so that the air curtains can be used efficiently?

In this article, I will give you a most detailed selection guide, step by steps

You just need to read our article is enough.

The Checking List For Quickly Choose Air Curtains

If you want to choose an air curtain quickly, and don’t want to think too much or understand them

Please Follow My Checklists below to quickly choose your suitable air curtain: (Ask me for a pdf checklist)

1. Door Height (Air Outlet to Floor)
2. The Width of The Door
3. Installation Environment
   • Easy
   • Normal
   • General
   • Complicated
4. Installation Scene
   • Commercial
   • Decoration
   • Industry
5. Installation Climate
   • Local Temperature
   • Humidity
   • Windy Weather or Not
6. The Pressure Difference Inside and Outside the Building
7. Characteristics of Door
   • Always On
   • Automatic Door
   • Manual Door Opening/On
   • Revolving Door Etc.
8. Power Supply & Voltage
9. Hanged or Hidden Air Curtains in Ceiling
10. Need Heating Function?
11. Purpose of Using Air Curtain
    • Prevent Loss of Air Conditioning/Heating
    • Cold Storage
    • Prevent the Insects
12. Air Curtain Noise Level

According to the above checklist, it is enough to help you choose the correct air curtain.

If you don’t understand or want to know more about one of the points,

Please skip to that point’s detailed explanation in the article.

If you are still very interested in how to choose an air curtain, please follow me to read this article.

1. Door Height (Air Outlet to Floor)

We know that when the air curtain is working,

The high-speed rotating motor drives the fan wheel to accelerate the incoming air,

And then forms an air barrier at the door,

Make sure the air curtains can effectively isolate the environment and temperature inside and outside the door.

Let me explain to you: How the air speed is suitable? 

If the air speed is too small or the air speed is too high, what will be the effect of each?

According to the principle of air speed attenuation, as the air outlet distance increases, the air speed decreases.

Low air speed makes the worse effect of the air curtain.

Therefore, when the air reaches the ground, the air speed needs 2m/s-2.5m/s, which is the most suitable speed.

If the air speed is too low.

It will not be able to separate indoor and outdoor environments effectively.

Cannot isolate insects such as flies, and dust will enter the building.

Causing pollution of the indoor environment.

So, the air curtain does not work.

And you wasted the money buy the air curtains and the electricity bill for running the air curtain.

If the air speed is too high.

People will feel uncomfortable when passing under the air curtain.

If the wind speed is too high, the air will bounce back, disturb the air near the door.

And accelerate the exchange of internal and external environments.

The last is the high-power air curtain, which will inevitably result in more power consumption.

The excess electricity bills will make you feel that the air curtains do not save money.

This is why it is very important to measure the distance from air outlet to floor.

Even installation height is one of the core points.

2. The Width of The Door

Take a ruler and measure the distance from the left to the right of the door. This data is the width of the door, and record it to choose an appropriate length of the air curtain. If you do not buy the air curtain according to the door width, the air curtain will also lose function or waste your money.

If the air curtain is shorter than the door, then some areas cannot be covered by the windblown by the air curtain, and the air curtain will fail affected.

If the air curtain is too long, people will pay more to buy the air curtain and the electricity bills incurred in future use.

Generally, our air curtains have the following different lengths: 900mm, 1000mm, 1200mm, 1500mm, 1800mm, 2000mm. For wider doors, such as 3 meters door width, we recommend 3 pieces of 1-meter air curtains connect, or 1 piece of 2 meters with 1 piece 1-meter air curtains connect.

3. Installation Building Structure

We divide air curtains installation places into four different levels, they are 

1. Easy
2. Normal
3. Complicated

How do you distinguish the levels of air curtains you need to install?

After differentiating the levels, how to choose the air curtain rightly?

1. Easy Situation

Your installation area has only one entrance and only one door need to install air curtains.

Such as a small fast-food restaurant or a small retail store.

How to choose an air curtain:

In this case, it is usually easy to make a good choice.

You only need to measure the height and width of the door (please refer to steps 1 and 2).

It is good to choose an economical (cross-flow type) air curtain.

The PandaWind air curtains can suit in easy situation: 

A1: https://pandawind.com/product/a1-series-air-curtain 

A2: https://pandawind.com/product/a2-series-air-curtain/ 

A3: https://pandawind.com/product/a3-series-air-curtain/

A3P: https://pandawind.com/product/a3-p-series-air-curtain/ 

A4: https://pandawind.com/product/a4-series-air-curtain/ 

A5: https://pandawind.com/product/a5-series-air-curtain/ 

• Normal

There is only one entrance, but it is composed of two or more doors,

Such as the entrance of a supermarket, a luxury restaurant, etc.

How to choose an air curtain:

It often depend on the height of door.

Generally, the installation height of the door on this kind of an occasion is about 2.5-3 meters.

We choose the cross-flow model.

The PandaWind air curtains can suit in easy situation:

A5: https://pandawind.com/product/a5-series-air-curtain/ 

A6: https://pandawind.com/product/a6-s-series-air-curtain/ 

A7: https://pandawind.com/product/a7-series-air-curtain/

A7 with heating: https://pandawind.com/product/a7-heating-series-air-curtain/ 

A8: https://pandawind.com/product/a8-series-air-curtain/ 

A8 with heating: https://pandawind.com/product/a8-heating-series-air-curtain/ 

If the door height about 3-4m meters

We need choose powerful centrifugal-type air curtains.

The PandaWind air curtains can suit in easy situation:

X2: https://pandawind.com/product/x2-series-air-curtain/ 

X3: https://pandawind.com/product/x3-series-air-curtain/ 

X4: https://pandawind.com/product/x4-series-air-curtain/ 

• Complicated

This generally refers to high-speed rail stations, subway stations, or stadiums, large buildings, etc.

How to choose an air curtain:

If installation height between: 2.5-3meter, such as: rear doors, or side doors

A5: https://pandawind.com/product/a5-series-air-curtain/ 

A6: https://pandawind.com/product/a6-s-series-air-curtain/ 

A7: https://pandawind.com/product/a7-series-air-curtain/

A7 with heating: https://pandawind.com/product/a7-heating-series-air-curtain/ 

A8: https://pandawind.com/product/a8-series-air-curtain/ 

A8 with heating: https://pandawind.com/product/a8-heating-series-air-curtain/ 

If installation height between: 3-4meter

X2: https://pandawind.com/product/x2-series-air-curtain/ 

X3: https://pandawind.com/product/x3-series-air-curtain/ 

X4: https://pandawind.com/product/x4-series-air-curtain/ 

If installation height between: 4-6 meter. We recommend installing large industrial air curtains at the entrance.

Q1: https://pandawind.com/product/q1-series-air-curtain/ 

Q2: https://pandawind.com/product/q2-series-air-curtain/ 

4. Installation Scene

Air curtains have become more and more widely used.

People have also seen the ROI (return on investment) of air curtains

And are willing to pay for them.

The general purpose of the air curtains is the following three categories:

1. Commercial

No matter what type of business you are doing, almost all commercial buildings can benefit from installing air curtains.

From food, clothing, shops, small store, etc.

The benefits apply to every business owner: Saving money by reducing energy consumption, keeping indoor space more comfortable and clear, preventing insects such as flies from flying inside the room, etc.

• Decoration

Different commercial entities have different requirements for air curtains.

For a small store, people want more cost-effective air curtains,

But for those high-end shopping malls,

Such as LV shops, Nike shops, McDonald’s shops,

They need air curtains with decorative effects,

So that they can be matched with their brand benefits.

• Industry

For some refrigerated warehouses that need to be opened and closed-door frequently,

For some food storage warehouses, etc. Air curtains are needed.

In these places, more powerful air curtains are often a requirement,

And some places need air curtains to have 25-30m/s air speed,

The highest installation height can reach 6 meters.

5. Installation Climate

1. Local Temperature (Whole Year)

The greater the temperature difference, the faster the heat exchange.

And we often require more stronger air speed of the air curtain to protect.

In winter, when your local temperature is at a minimum of 20 degrees or more.

There is no need to choose a heated air curtain unit.

If you have cold winters in local, then you will need to use a heated air curtain. (add products)

Therefore, know the temperature throughout the whole year in advance.

Is conducive to choosing a more suitable air curtain.

• Humidity

If you are in a coastal area, then your environment is in a high humidity area.

And the moisture in the air is more corrosive than in other continental areas.

So, we have specially developed a special air curtain for humid areas or coastal areas.

• Windy Weather or Not

If there is frequent windy weather in your place.

Then a more powerful air curtain is often required.

Because the strong wind will affect the effect of the air curtain.

So this is also a very important factor.

6. The Pressure Difference Inside and Outside the Building

The function of the air curtain is to isolate the indoor and outdoor environment,

And the exchange between the environment and the temperature is not only the temperature difference, but also the pressure difference.

There must be a pressure difference between the indoor and the outside environment.

The gas will flow from a place with high pressure to a place with low pressure.

If the pressure difference is too large, it will accelerate the indoor and outdoor air circulation,

So you need to choose an air curtain with a higher air speed.

7. Characteristics of Door

1. Always On

Open the door to do business,

Hoping that more customers will not need to open and close the door frequently to come in and out. So, as to improve the convenience of customers.

Our air curtain can run continuously for 5000 hours without any failure.

Just choose the right air curtain according to the above steps.

• Automatic Door with Auto Running Air Curtains

Induction doors are usually equipped with air curtains that automatically turn on.

This requires our door sensor or travel switch.

When the door is opened, air curtains run automatically, and when it is closed, it stops.

If it is a heating air curtain, it will stop running after closing the door for 20 seconds,

The purpose is to protect the air curtains heating parts and machine.

• Vertical Installation Door

In some places, it is not convenient to install on the ceiling,

And there is no space to hang on the door.

All can only be installed vertically on both sides of the door.

We can put the air curtain on the left side, or the right side, or on both sides.

• Revolving Door Etc.

For Revolving Door, it is usually more complicated.

Please contact our professional business for more professional and detailed answers.

8. Power Supply Frequency & Voltages & Phases

Different countries have different voltages, frequency, and phases.

So must clearly distinguish them in your country or target market

9. Hanged or Hidden Air Curtains in Ceiling

Some shopping malls want the air curtain to be hidden in the ceiling or hide the air curtain in order to make the door more concise.

This is allowed, but the choice of the air curtain is very important, so you need to contact our professional sales teams and they will help you solve this problem.

Our ceiling model air curtains: https://pandawind.com/product/a11-ceiling-series-air-curtain/

10. Need Heating Function?

In the cold winter, if the air curtain blows out the cold wind.

It does not give the customers feel comfort.

It will make the customers feel that passing the door is a nightmare.

So, at this time, a heating-type air curtain is very necessary.

Our heating type air curtain is divided into PTC non-electric heating and water heating.

Below are our heating model air curtians:

A6 with heating: https://pandawind.com/product/a6-heating-series-air-curtain/ 

A7 with heating: https://pandawind.com/product/a7-heating-series-air-curtain/ 

A8 with heating: https://pandawind.com/product/a8-heating-series-air-curtain/ 

11. Purpose of Using Air Curtain

1. Prevent Loss of Air Conditioning/Heating

To prevent loss of air-conditioning cooling and heating air, you just need to choose according to our above steps.

• Cold Storage

For the air curtain used in cold storage.

We generally recommend that customers install the air curtain outside the door of the cold storage. If conditions do not permit or must be installed indoor of the cold storage.

Then we need to use our special cold storage dedicated air curtains.

• Prevent the Insects

Most of our air curtains can prevent the entry of flies, moths, and most insects, so just choose according to our above steps.

12. Air Curtain Noise Level

1. Prevent Loss of Air Conditioning/Heating

To prevent loss of air-conditioning cooling and heating air, you just need to choose according to our above steps.

• Cold Storage

For the air curtain used in cold storage.

We generally recommend that customers install the air curtain outside the door of the cold storage. If conditions do not permit or must be installed indoor of the cold storage.

Then we need to use our special cold storage dedicated air curtains.

• Prevent the Insects

Most of our air curtains can prevent the entry of flies, moths, and most insects, so just choose according to our above steps.

As a Conclusion

Some people are only concerned about the price of the air curtain and choose a poor or inappropriate air curtain for performance.

But, in reality, you choose air curtains, the most important thing is to choose different air curtains according to different places and different occasions.

And you should always compare the characteristics of the air curtains, a little and the quality of operation is stable, etc.

In the end, we will find that the wrong choice of equipment will be more expensive because the air curtain does not meet the air speed requirements

(at the ground position, air speeds of 2-2.5m/s are still required)

If we choose the wrong unit, the air jets will not reach the floor and the separation of the two adjacent areas will disappear.

All the heated/cooled air will then pass through the gaps in the floor and you will end up with complaints from your customers.

For some simple environments, choosing an air curtain only needs to refer to and follow our article guidance.

When your installation conditions are challenging. Or if you still don’t know how to choose an air curtain after reading the article.

Please contact our professional sales and technical team.

Choosing the right air curtains is only a start.

At the same time, we must choose excellent and suitable suppliers to cooperate with.

We have many years of experience in this field.

Not only can we help you solve your questions and doubts about air curtains,

But also help you design the correct solution for the environment and conditions of the building. Please contact us immediately, you will be happy with your choice.