Loading bay doors – is the investment worth it?
As businesses strive to reduce energy costs but also improve safety at work, Efaflex explores whether investment in high-speed doors for your loading bay area are worthwhile?
Doors. There are a huge variety on offer to match application and budget but what advantages do the modern designs offer over more traditional styles? The cost of a high speed spiral door maybe initially more expensive, but once considered in the round, this capital investment can soon become an asset.
For one, they can significantly reduce energy costs since the desired temperature – whether that’s purposefully warmed or chilled – is maintained as a result of the fast opening and closing door speeds. Efaflex’s unrivalled door opening speeds of up to 4 metres per second ensures the loss stays low with examples of saving 4,600 litres of heating oil per heating period not uncommon.
Couple door speeds with thermal insulation of its laths for even greater energy efficiencies. Efaflex were the world’s first manufacturer to provide thermally insulated laths for their spiral range, the EFA-SST to achieve outstanding heat insulation between 0.66 and 1.52 W/m²K. They are ideal for closing off large halls and loading bays.
Maintenance and service costs of the door should also be taken into account when considering the whole life costs of the investment. The quality, engineering and longevity of high speed doors do differ. At the research stage of your planning it’s key to study load cycles, that’s the opening and closing of the door blades that is achievable between service intervals. Efaflex’s premium doors are capable of up to 250,000 cycles per year. Clearly that lowers the overall annual operational cost of the high- speed door, but also reduces the number of service and maintenance visits required which in turn minimises down time.
Here we have looked at just some of the advances in loading bay door technology to help drive efficiencies. Every application is unique with its own set of considerations. The purchasing choice is important but hopefully here we have helped you to look beyond just the initial installation cost to consider the investment a long term asset to your business.
