Wednesday, September 7, 2011
There are lots of obstructions inside actual ductwork that would make it difficult to travel more than a few feet inside of them. In this example, the ninja runs into turning vanes.
Turning vanes are installed in the elbows of square ductwork. They help the air to turn a corner smoothly. Without them, a more powerful fan is needed to move the air through the ductwork, and the air movement is much noisier.
As you can see in the comic, the turning vanes look like a set of bars across the ductwork. Air can move through them, but they would completely block anyone trying to crawl past.
Mark Robison, PE
