How much dust can the Backward-Curved fan handle?
Clean to light dust. The solid backward-curved blade is tougher than a hollow aerofoil, so it tolerates more particulate than the high-efficiency Aerofoil family, but it is still an efficiency-led family. Once dust becomes more than a light loading the blade starts to erode and efficiency is no longer the right thing to optimise, so we move you to the Radial-Tip family (built for high dust) or the wear-plated Radial family (the heaviest, most abrasive dust in our range). We pick the wheel for the wear mode, not the other way round — the exact dust-loading gates are shared with your enquiry.
Will the motor overload if the system resistance is lower than we calculated?
No. The backward-curved characteristic is non-overloading — power rises with flow, peaks, then falls. If the real duct resistance is lower than design and the fan runs out toward maximum flow, the power demand drops away rather than climbing, so the motor cannot be driven past its rating. That is one of the main reasons to choose a backward wheel over a forward-curved or radial wheel for variable or uncertain systems.
What is the highest pressure you have actually built on a BC fan?
610 mmWC is the job-proven maximum on a real build; we attest readiness to engineer to about 800 mmWC, which is the software-validated structural ceiling of the wheel. If your duty needs more pressure at a given size, the honest answer is our Backward-Curved Plate family, which is built for medium-to-high pressure (to 2,000 mmWC on a served job). We will not inflate a BC point that fails a motor-power check just to keep you on one family.
Can you run a BC fan hot, and what changes above 150 °C?
Yes. Most BC duty runs 10–350 °C, and the family is attested to 600 °C with high-temperature (HT) construction. Above about 150 °C we fit a shaft cooling disc as standard to protect the bearings, and add a heat-resistant build and expansion provision for the thermal growth. Tell us your operating and maximum (excursion) temperature and the fan is built for that case, not a generic rating.
Which duties is the Backward-Curved family the right pick for?
Clean-to-light-dust air at moderate pressure: forced-draft (FD), primary air (PA), secondary / overfire air (SA), seal / cooling / booster air, bag-filter and pulse-jet draught, dilute pneumatic conveying, drying (spray / fluid-bed / flash), quench / tempering air and combustion / process-air blower duty. For perfectly clean air where efficiency is everything, the Aerofoil family is the step up; for higher pressure at a given size, the Backward-Curved Plate family; for real dust, the Radial-Tip or Radial family.
Can you build it as a plug fan for our AHU or fan array?
Yes. The BC wheel is available in a plug/plenum (unhoused) configuration that drops straight into air-handling units and fan-wall / fan-array (N+1) builds, as well as the conventional housed scroll fan in SWSI or DWDI. Tell us whether it is a ducted housed fan or an AHU/array installation and we configure the arrangement and drive to match.
Do you performance-test before dispatch, and can we witness it?
Yes. Every fan is performance-tested in-house to the AMCA 210 / ISO 5801 method on our 200 HP VFD test rig, and dynamically balanced to ISO 21940 G6.3 as standard (G2.5 on application). The test and FAT take about a week and are customer-witnessed on request. You see the curve and the balance report before the fan leaves the floor — to be precise, that is testing to the AMCA 210 method in-house, not AMCA certification.
What about API 673, CE and ATEX requirements?
For petroleum, chemical and gas service we design and build to API 673 as project-specific scope (allow 7–10 working days for the offer). CE is self-declared per 2006/42/EC and 2014/35/EU, and ATEX Zone 2/22 is self-declared per 2014/34/EU (Category 3) with SR (spark-resistant) construction where the area classification calls for it. To be precise: those are self-declarations of conformity, not third-party certifications; our only third-party certification is ISO 9001:2015.