Power in an industrial bay
Amps, phases and voltages explained for tenants — how to read what a bay has, work out what you need, and understand what an upgrade involves.
Services and systems
Heating, ventilation and make-up air
How industrial bays are heated in a cold climate, when you need make-up air, and the ventilation requirements that catch tenants out.
In Alberta, heating an industrial bay is not a comfort question, it is an operating question. Freezing costs you inventory, pipes and vehicles. Ventilation is the other half of the same system, and it is the half that gets missed.
How bays are heated
| System | How it works | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gas unit heater | A suspended forced-air heater fired by natural gas, blowing into the warehouse. | The most common arrangement in multi-tenant bays. Cheap to install, simple to service, noisy and drafty. |
| Radiant tube heater | A suspended tube radiates heat downward onto surfaces and people rather than heating the air. | Efficient where doors open often, because the heat is not all lost with the air. Needs clearance below it. |
| Make-up air unit | Brings in and tempers outside air to replace what is exhausted. | Required where you exhaust significant air. See below. |
| Rooftop unit | Packaged heating and cooling, usually serving the office portion. | Standard for the office. Cooling in the warehouse is rare and expensive. |
| In-floor radiant | Heated tubing in the slab. | Comfortable and even, found in newer purpose-built space. Slow to respond. |
Make-up air — the requirement that surprises people
If your operation exhausts air — a spray booth, a welding extraction system, a commercial kitchen hood, a vehicle exhaust system — that air has to be replaced. You cannot simply pull it out of a sealed building; doing so depressurises the space, which starves combustion appliances, pulls flue gases back into the building and makes doors difficult to open.
A make-up air unit brings in outside air and heats it to a workable temperature before it enters the space. In a cold climate this is a substantial piece of equipment with a substantial gas load, and it is one of the largest fit-out costs a tenant with an exhaust requirement will face.
If your use involves spraying, welding, sanding, cooking or running engines indoors, establish the make-up air requirement before you commit to a bay. Whether the building can supply the gas and electrical capacity for it, and whether the roof can carry it, decides whether the bay works for you at all.
Ventilation for the use, not just the building
General building ventilation is designed for a general industrial occupancy. Specific processes carry their own requirements — from occupational-health exposure limits through to code requirements for specific hazardous processes.
- Vehicle repair — exhaust extraction, and ventilation rates set for the occupancy.
- Spray finishing — a booth, interlocked exhaust and make-up air, and specific electrical classification in and around the booth.
- Welding — local exhaust ventilation at the source, not just general dilution.
- Food production — kitchen-grade exhaust and grease handling, plus health-authority approval.
- Battery charging — ventilation to prevent hydrogen accumulation where you charge forklift batteries.
Practical things to check
- Ask when the heater was last serviced and ask to see the tag.
- Look for a separate gas meter. If gas is shared, your heating cost arrives through additional rent.
- In an unheated or poorly heated bay, look at where the water lines run — an exposed line in an exterior wall is a burst waiting for a cold snap.
- Check that the office heating and cooling is separate from the warehouse. Sharing one thermostat between an office and a warehouse pleases nobody.
- If there is an existing exhaust system, ask whether it was permitted and whether make-up air was installed with it.
Questions
Frequently asked
What temperature will an industrial bay hold in winter?
Warehouse heating is usually designed to hold a working temperature well below office comfort — enough to protect stock and let people work in outdoor clothing. If you need a consistently warm space, or a controlled one, say so early, because it affects both the equipment and the operating cost.
Do I need make-up air for a welding operation?
If you are running local exhaust ventilation at the welding station, you are removing air from the building and it has to be replaced. The scale of the requirement depends on the extraction rate. Get a mechanical designer to size it before you sign a lease.
Is air conditioning normal in a bay?
In the office portion, yes. In the warehouse, no — cooling an industrial volume with overhead doors that open is rarely practical. If your process or product needs a controlled temperature, that is a purpose-built requirement, not a fit-out item.
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