Warm Weather operations
The mercury is rising. Responders all across the country are demoing their shelter caches, conducting trainings and inventories, and preparing for hurricane and fire seasons.
Warmer weather can bring tougher working conditions. Even slightly elevated temperatures can bring an increased risk of heat stroke, dehydration, exhaustion, and more. The OSHA Heat Index is a good resource to understand additional steps that need to be taken in hot and humid working conditions.
We offer a wide range of accessories to make our shelters comfortable and operable in any climate, whether it’s below freezing or well above 100 degrees. Our HVAC units are a popular addition to our shelters, but sometimes the mission is so remote or the response window is so small that having a generator and full power isn’t part of the equation.
If you foresee running into this situation this summer, we manufacture several warm weather components with little to no energy requirements in order to keep operations efficient and (somewhat) comfortable, even without the use of an HVAC.
upgrade your vinyl sets
Even without any additional components, Western Shelters are manufactured to do their best to keep you comfortable. We recently worked with our vinyl supplier to make improvements to our standard shelter vinyl in order to reduce the light coming into the shelter. Since our shelters now block more light, they stay inherently cooler and maintain better insulation, even without the use of our insulation material.
All new shelters are being produced using this vinyl; customers with older shelters can contact us for more information on upgrading your vinyl set.
Components
Shelter Screen Walls
Response teams have deployed Western Shelters without the walls in hot environments, to reduce the temperature of the interior of their shelters. While this is certainly an option, there is a win-win product that allows for insect/elemental protection, ventilation and privacy of a walled shelter while offering the benefits of an open-air shelter.
Screen Walls are made from a fire-resistant mesh, and offer cross-ventilation and air circulation in a shelter that isn’t using an HVAC for cooling. Just like shelter wall panels, the screen walls are built with vinyl skirts to keep dust and debris at bay. Wall panels can be interchanged with screen walls in just 5 minutes without the use of tools, making for a quick conversion should temperatures shift.
Shelter Ceiling Fan
The shelter ceiling fan is a great choice to cool a shelter when only minor power generation is available, as it uses less energy than a 100 watt lightbulb. This means that in quick deployments without an HVAC, the ceiling fan could potentially be operational using 120v solar power.
The ceiling fan breaks down and fits into a rugged carrying case for storage and transport and is hung easily in the shelter. It’s manufactured with a corrosion-resistant finish in order to operate efficiently and last in high humid environments.
Awning
The awning designed for the GateKeeper can add extra square footage to your shelter, and in warm environments it can be operated without the walls to add shade to your operation.
A GateKeeper awning can be installed in 20 minutes with one trained professional. It offers 122 sqft of covered space and the kit includes the frame, wall panels, doors and roof inside a vinyl transport bag.
Take the steps to make your warm weather operations more comfortable today by contacting us using the form below. All of the components mentioned above are available individually and work well on their own, but excel when combined together.