I intend to buy a ductless spray booth that will handle lacquers and acrylics. What experience do the members have with various manufacturers?
Where do all the fumes go? If they are just staying in the room, why bother with a booth?
What eagle334 said. Maybe you could explain what a “ductless” spray booth is.
I just use a cardboard box on the deck.
Well… ductless…good idea, not practical. They’ve tried that idea with kitchen appliances. Does’nt work. Solids get trapped, but fried fish fumes,… laquer thinner…not for me. You gotta get those gases to the outside.
dragonfly
Im currently building a Ductless spay booth with a fan inthe back of a large box with a filter in front of the fan. I spray mainly with Acylics so i realy dont care about any fumes,I just want to catch all the airborn paint particles. Save yourself some money and get a cheap fan and lardge cardboard box with some furnace filters. If the fumes wher that exsplosive near a fan, there would be a lot of headless women after spraying Hair spray in the washroom with the exhaust fan on.[2c]
It’s not that the fumes are explosive, The hydro-carbons are very toxic to the human nervous system. The man said he wants to spray laquer. A furnace filter is a very bad idea. You must vent outside!
dragonfly
David:
are sure that it’s necessary to have a ductless spraybooth? You can use a flexible wahsdryer hose to vent everything out. Just hang the hose out a window, you don’t need to make holes in the wall or have your spray booth at a fixed position.
Hope y’all don’t mind me jumping in here for a moment…
Artograph www.artograph.com probably makes one of the best ductless spray booths. Micromark www.micromark.com offers another (I think). It is considered ductless (if I understand your request), in that all the air is filtered through an activated charcoal filter which adsorbs all the vapors prior to returning the exhausted air to the room. An exhaust duct is not required in this setup, although I believe the booth is equipped to allow external ducting of exhausted air if the customer desires to do so. In addition, the booth is considered a downdraft booth, and the amount of air needed to capture the vapor fraction is less than that required of a backdrafted booth (50 fpm vs. 100 fpm), so it’s quite efficient.
Bad idea. Spraying into a cardboard box does nothing more than concentrate the vapors, and increase the potential for inhalation overexposure. Vapors-- and some pigments–need to be removed (best), or diluted (next best).
Vapors from spraying acrylics have the potential to be as toxic as spraying lacquers or enamels. Just because acrylics don’t smell like lacquers or enamels doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a significant decrease in exposure potential. Acrylics and their associated thinners may contain glycols (an alcohol form) or glycol ethers. Other alcohols may be present, particularly if the thinners are “home-brewed” varieties (such as those using isopropyl, methanol, and/or denatured alcohols). It turns out that many alcohols have toxicities that may equal or exceed some of the more common solvents used in enamels or lacquers.
Furnace filters are not the best for catching pigments. They may snag many of the larger size particulates, but those of respirable size (~10 microns) will pass through essentially unabated, which makes ducting a booth to the outside quite attractive. I understand the Artograph booth mentioned above has good pigment prefilters…
Please remember that the primary purpose and position of a bathroom vent fan is to remove hot, rising, moist air (water vapor). As a result of this physical action, the vent fan doesn’t need to be very large, or have a significant cfm rating and associated capture velocity. In addition, the vapors from hair spray are all heavier than air: they fall. The ability of a bathroom vent fan to capture those vapors is severly limited. Consequently, any vapor concentration that may reach the fan is already diluted to the point that no explosive potential exists. That potential, however, may change dramatically when that same fan is used as the exhausting component of a spray booth.
First, fumes are particulates resulting from the process of heating (vaporizing) metals, as in welding. Vapors are the gases resulting from the evaporation of a liquid medium. When organic vapors are generated, they fall, because they’re heavier than air. Because of their physical properties, the tendency is for the vapors to accumulate in the breathing zone of the person doing the spraying. If windows and doors are open during spraying, and if a fan or two is running in the room, then the vapor fraction is being diluted; a spray booth may not be necessary. However, if there is no booth, then a respirator equipped with organic vapor cartridges and a pigment prefilter is highly recommended, even in a dilution ventilation setting.
Comments have been made in previous threads that respirators should be worn even when using a spray booth. There is certainly nothing wrong with this practice; however, if a spraybooth is designed and equipped correctly, a respirator is usually not needed. In prioritizing hazard abatement, the general idea is that engineering controls (a spray booth) are used so that personal protective equipment (a respirator) won’t be needed.
Hope this helps a little
Gip Winecoff
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?page=-1&TOPIC_ID=39686&REPLY_ID=399462#399462
awesome review of safety aspects of spraying. Thanks for helping us look out for our health. I’m hypervigilant nowadays b/c my uncle has non hodgkins lymphoma and his oncologist suggested that exposure to titanium compounds from his photography deveolper may have contributed to developing cancer. There are a couple of articles out of Europe suggesting this. Anyhoo I’m going to build a fancy spray booth this summer to combat evil vapors. Gip, any suggestions for filters or fans? Thanks.
You need brushless motors in the fans because of the explosion danger. (see above)
I would suggest that you vent outside, that wat you are sure that no fumes get into the room. As said earlier, a flexible wash-dryer hose is an easy option to get the fumes outside.
I also use a respirator, though, on ocassion, I forgot…If you have a good spray booth, you just don’t smell the fumes![xx(]
Hi, mpartric!
Try this site for filters: http://www.aplus2000.net/html/Paint%20Booth%20Filter.html
You might also try a local store that sells automotive paints and related equipment, or even the local body shop(s) may be able to help.
As far as fans go, the recommended fan is one in which the motor is removed from the air stream. Squirrel cage blowers that meet this requirement are available from Grainger, and come in varying cfm sizes. If you need help in determining cfm requirements, let me know.
The other fan that is OK is one that has a shaded pole motor (the armature assembly doesn’t produce sparks). You might find these at Lowes or Home Depot. IMHO, you should stay away from range and bathroom exhaust fans.
BTW, where in W-S are you? My brother lives near Kernersville and works at Timco at the Greensboro airport…
Hope this helps a little.
Gip Winecoff