Turkey Barn Energy Retrofits Start With AgBarrier

HOW TO AIR SEAL VIDEOS

SEALANT SOLUTIONS

INFORMATION

Turkey Barns Use AgBarrier

Photos & Video of a 35 Year Turkey House

Turkey farming is changing. For many farmers who have been growing for years, they are finding that while their turkey barns are structurally sound but their buildings themselves are energy obsolete. But what if you want to continue to grow turkeys for another 5 - 10 years ? The answer is AgBarrier, developed by Sealant Technologies for turkey retrofit projects. This high density polyurethane air barrier will stop air and moisture from coming into the barn.

More and more farmers are looking at turkey energy retrofits as a way to inexpensively allow their brooder houses to maintain energy efficiency and improve the ventilation. With AgBarrier, the walls of the houses can be rebuilt using the air barrier which blocks the air and water from getting into the building and bringing additional insulation. Also, because the walls are sealed up, they do not leak air which improves the ventilation capabilities of the house, improving the bird performance and feed ratios.

In the context of mechanically-ventilated houses, this means that you bring in fresh air only through planned inlets and expel exhaust air only through planned outlets or fans. In the vast majority of mechanically-ventilated turkey houses, during brooding or mild weather ventilation, fresh air is brought in through ceiling or sidewall inlets. During summer, when higher ventilation rates are needed, fresh air is brought in through cool cell pads or by dropping the curtains. As houses age, they lose their tightness, for example, as the lumber shrinks and warps, cracks develop and instead of fresh air entering through the house only through the inlets, a portion of the air comes in through the cracks which is why the AgBarrier is such a good air barrier.

A good test of your house tightness is to latch shut all inlets and openings, turn on one 48-inch fan (or two 36-inch fans), and watch your pressure sensor. While a reasonably tight older house may give 0.15 inches of static pressure, a new house with solid side walls may read as high as 0.33 inches. Obviously, a less tight house may read only 0.03 – 0.04 inches, indicating that a large portion of the fresh air is coming in through cracks.

While many cracks can be located with the naked eye, smoke can be used to not only identify small cracks but also to visualize airflow. While my experience has been limited to ‘smoke bombs’ and larger, though portable smoke or fog machines, places such as Party City sell ‘fog machines’ for much less than $100. Once these cracks are identified, they should be sealed with caulk, foam or weather-stripping. Substantial air leaks can occur through the sides of curtains and installing curtain flaps and boots can minimize these leaks.

Tunnel inlets should be tight and insulated. Back-drafting through fan shutters (that are not in use) also cause large air leaks; consider covering shutters not in use with foam boards or fan covers. Tightening the house not only reduces heating cost during winter and brooding but it also improves ventilation effectiveness during summer. Payback on time and money spent on tightening the house is very rapid.