Howden Fan Company Website FAQ: Fans, Screw Compressors, and Air Movement Questions, Answered

Before we get into the questions, here is where I am coming from. I'm a quality and compliance manager at Howden. I review every product submittal and inspection report that goes out to customers, which works out to roughly 300 documents a year, maybe 260 if I check the tracker. In Q1 2024, we rejected 9% of first deliveries because something didn't match the approved spec: a motor frame size, a fan curve, missing access doors. I say that not to scare you, but to explain why I answer fan questions like a detective: assume nothing is true until it's written down and verified.

This FAQ is the kind of page I wish existed whenever I had to compare equipment and explain the obvious to people who had never thought about fans. Some questions are industrial, some are more homeowner questions, but they all come down to the same thing: fans and blowers move air or gas, and the details matter.

1. I found the Howden fan company website—what does Howden actually make?

Short answer: Howden does not make bathroom fans, electric snow blowers, or dehumidifiers. Howden is a heavy-duty engineering company focused on industrial fans, blowers, screw compressors, refrigeration equipment, and heat exchangers. If you searched for the Howden fan company website because your bathroom fan is loud, jump to question 4. If you need a fan for a petrochemical plant, a power station, a mine, or a wastewater treatment system, you're in the right place.

Many customers wonder whether 'fan company' means they should call a residential HVAC contractor. No. Howden's focus is on custom engineered air and gas handling. If you need a replacement fan for your home, a contractor is usually the better route. If you're selecting a fan for a process system, you need application engineering: temperature, density, corrosion, vibration, and speed control. That is the gap I help close.

The reason this matters is total cost of ownership. A residential fan is maybe $50 to $200. An industrial fan can be a $50,000 package with engineering, testing, and startup included. The design life is measured in decades, not hours. When you choose an industrial fan, the wrong assumption can cost a whole production line its schedule. That's why I care about spec verification before purchase, not after installation.

2. What's the difference between a fan, a blower, an electric snow blower, and a compressor?

People mix these up all the time, and it's understandable. A fan moves air at low pressure for ventilation, circulation, or cooling. A blower moves air or gas against moderate pressure, usually with an impeller or rotor inside a housing. A compressor increases pressure a lot—enough to make refrigerant gas flow through a refrigeration cycle or to drive pneumatic tools.

An electric snow blower isn't a fan. It uses an impeller, sometimes called a rotor, to scoop snow and throw it, so it's closer to a blower than to an axial fan. A dehumidifier uses a small fan, often a forward-curved centrifugal, to pull humid air across a cold coil. A bathroom exhaust fan is a fan, usually axial or mixed-flow, designed to move air through a short duct against relatively low static pressure. Why does the distinction matter? Because pressure changes everything. I once saw a fan specified only by CFM; the actual system needed 3 inches w.g. static pressure, and the fan was only rated for 1.5 inches w.g. It moved air in the shop, but not in the real system. That's why a first-year engineer learns to ask 'what static pressure?' before accepting any airflow number.

3. Why does a dehumidifier keep freezing up?

Most homeowners assume low refrigerant or a bad compressor. More often, the problem is airflow. I checked a 30-pint dehumidifier where the coil was at 10°F and there was almost no air moving across it; ice formed within a day. The filter looked clean, but the fan blade was cracked and spinning slower than rated.

A dehumidifier needs consistent, rated airflow to keep the coil just above freezing while removing moisture. If the fan motor slows down, if the filter is clogged, or if the coil is dirty, the coil gets too cold and the machine cycles off. Before replacing the compressor, check the filter, clean the coil, and verify the fan is moving the amount of air stamped on the nameplate. The same principle applies to industrial refrigeration: air flow is a process variable, not an afterthought.

4. How to replace a bathroom exhaust fan without making a quality mistake

Here's a practical guide, because a surprising number of people land on fan-related websites for exactly this question. First, turn off the power at the breaker and confirm it with a non-contact voltage tester. Remove the grille and the fan/motor assembly from the housing, then measure the duct opening. Most bathroom fans use either 4-inch or 6-inch round duct. Buy a replacement unit with the same or larger duct size—not a smaller one that gets adapted.

Match the fan's airflow to the room. A good rule for bathrooms: about 1 CFM per square foot. If the bathroom is 80 square feet, a 50 CFM unit is marginal and noisy; a quiet 80 CFM fan is a better choice. After that, secure the housing to the joists, attach the duct, and seal the joint so it is airtight. Vent the duct to the outside, not into the attic. Finally, look for a certification mark such as UL or cUL. I know this isn't an industrial submittal review, but the logic is the same: the invisible details, like static pressure and duct sealing, determine whether it works.

5. What is the real cost difference between industrial fan vendors?

Let's talk about transparent pricing, because I've learned to ask 'what's NOT included?' before asking 'what's the price?' The vendor who lists every accessory upfront—isolation dampers, variable speed drives, vibration sensors, inspection doors, performance test reports—can look more expensive at first. Usually that vendor costs less in the end.

I remember a project where we saved $3,200 on a fan package by choosing a 'basic' model. Then we paid $5,100 to field-modify the housing to add an access door that we assumed was standard. The smaller number sat in the budget line; the bigger number came out as a change order. Now every purchase starts with a scope checklist. It includes dampers, silencers, flanges, gaskets, painting, and spare parts. If the quote says 'standard package,' I need a list of what standard means.

6. How do I know if a manufacturer's efficiency or performance claim is real?

Per FTC advertising guidance on ftc.gov, claims must be truthful, substantiated, and not misleading. That's the legal baseline. For fans and compressors, the engineering baseline is a certified performance curve and a test standard such as AMCA 210, ISO 5801, or ASME PTC 10. I ask the manufacturer to send the actual submittal data, not the marketing summary.

If a vendor says 'guaranteed trouble-free operation,' I treat that as a red flag. In industrial equipment, nothing is trouble-free; the goal is predictable maintenance. Also watch for environmental claims. The FTC Green Guides discuss terms like 'recyclable' and require substantiation for specific claims. I use those guidelines when I review spec sheets, because unverified 'green' marketing is still common. I also check the date on fan curves; a curve from five years ago may be stale if the impeller geometry has changed.

7. Why would I choose a Howden screw compressor for refrigeration?

A screw compressor uses two interlocking rotors to compress refrigerant vapor. It's a positive-displacement machine, which makes it well suited for large industrial refrigeration and ammonia systems. Howden screw compressors show up in cold storage, food processing, and chemical cooling because they handle high pressure ratios and can operate efficiently at partial loads.

What do I check before approving one? Oil management, rotor clearances, bearing temperatures, and how the control system reacts to load changes. On one project, we rejected a compressor package because the oil cooler was undersized for the condensing temperature. The vendor said their 'standard' selection would work; our design review showed it wouldn't. We upgraded the oil cooling circuit and avoided what would have been a summer shutdown. That's the kind of decision that never makes it into the marketing brochure, but it's the one that keeps the plant running.