I am getting ready to start my spray booth and have a slight concern over putting lights in the booth with regards to a fire hazard. After looking at many designs I am going to build a booth that is 24 wide X 18 tall, I have a Dayton brushless fan with 275 cfm for the exhaust which will be piped through a nearby window. I still have a question about what is best for a light inside the booth. I am looking at a two bulb fluorescent set that is 24" long from Lowes, these lights have no cover over them. Any thoughts ???
Lowes also has a sealed unit, then you can also add a couple of directional units.
Hope that this helps.
doc
My booth has a plexiglass window in its top panel; I mounted fluorescent tubes on its outside surface so they shine in through the plex but are out of the airflow. When the plex gets too much overspray on it it’s easy and inexpensive to replace.
Matt
In an open booth design as we use the chance of a fire from the light bulb source is essentially zero!
The only thing bad about fluorescent lights is that they can make colors look different unless you buy color corrected ones which are expensive.
I use two 100 watt GE “Reveal” light bulbs on the sides of the booth.
After the discussion a few weeks ago I decided to build my own booth. I got a Dayton 485 cfm squirrel cage blower for the fan, and I’m just going to go with a clear plastic panel on top with a clamp on reflector light with one of those curly flourescent light bulbs that go into a conventional socket. It won’t be in the air stream so fire isn’t a problem, and the screw in flourescent bulbs are much cheaper than the tube bulbs and associated hardware.
I use 3 flourescents around the opening of my spray booth, although the light is a little soft (diffused) it is good to work in, if i need a colour match i do that on my desk under the halogen light. the 3 lights and white booth eliminate shadows in the work area.
regarding the fire risk, are you talking about from heat (fluros burn much cooler than tungsten); sparking (this should not occur if the lights are fitted correctly, and would be more likely to occur in the exhaust fan); or wiring (once again should not be a worry if it is done correctly).
The only ones that are 100% completely safe are the ones that are labeled as “Explosion proof” which I doubt yours is.
As I said earlier unless you have a build up of fumes in the booth the chance of a flame or explosion is almost zero. I have a friend that has been airbrushing cars/motorcycles since the 60’s and he used a large box fan for years to exhaust lacquer and other paints and never once had a mishap. Dumb luck? I don’t think so. Nothing wrong with erring on the side of caution but I think people take this way too far.