29 Pork News & Views Pork News & Views Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Better Pork | December 2024 Figure 1: Common Inclined Tube Manometer Ensure exhaust hoods and inlets are free of debris and dirt to ensure efficient operation. A routine maintenance program will identify and correct issues before they become big problems. Some issues are safety issues and need to be addressed immediately. Others affect the function of the facility and can affect profitability. Regular facility maintenance is easy – and profitable! Adopt a program for your operation and start reaping the benefits. Steve Beadle, P. Eng. Engineer, Farm Buildings Engineer, Sheep and Swine Housing 519-350-0181 steve.beadle@ontario.ca Getting the Barn Ready for Winter As you read this article, the fall harvest is likely wrapping up. The colder weather is also coming. Now is a great time to focus on getting the barn ready for winter. This article will build upon those tasks noted in the preceding article on Facility Maintenance, and focus on the ventilation system and what you can do to ensure good air quality throughout the winter months. The purpose of winter ventilation is to control humidity levels, minimize drafts and control contaminants such as carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen sulfide. This is accomplished with a well-tuned ventilation system, including heaters, fans, controllers and inlets. Good air quality can increase feed efficiency and growth, and reduce mortality and morbidity, making your operation more profitable. To get your ventilation system in top shape for winter, consider the following tasks for each component of the system. Heaters: Supplemental heat can provide thermal comfort for all ages of swine. While older animals may produce enough heat through metabolism, younger animals will require supplemental heat sources. Additional heat can also help lower humidity levels in the barn as warm air has much larger holding capacity than cooler outside air. To ensure your heaters are safe and efficient: Clean all heaters of dust and debris. Both gas-fired unit heaters and hot water radiators are safer to operate and more efficient when clean. Have a licensed gas technician repair any damaged components and make any necessary adjust- ments to gas-fired unit heaters and gas-fired boilers to ensure efficient fuel usage. A poorly adjusted heater can waste fuel and produce deadly carbon monoxide. Consider adding a supplemen- tal heating system to rooms that cannot maintain the temperature set point while running minimum ventilation rates. Fans and Louvres: Fans exhaust stale, humid air from the barn and produce the negative pressures to draw fresh air in through the inlets. Louvres and hoods reduce back pressures on the fans due to wind. To ensure your fans operate as efficiently as possible: Clean all fan motors and blades. Accumulated dust can cause overheating and failure of motors. Dust on blades reduces efficiency and lowers the amount of air the fan is exhausting. Repair or replace any damaged components. Install winter covers on summer fans to limit unwanted air infiltra- tion. Excessive air leakage through these large fans will reduce static pressure and inlet air speeds, causing poor air circu- lation and drafts. Clean and repair all louvres and fan hoods. If your Stage 1 fans do not have hoods or stacks, consi- der installing them to help con- trol wind effects. Sensors and Controllers: Ventilation controllers are the brains of your
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc0MDI3