finishing room filters and blower

[Justin Ludwig]

I'm looking for recommendations for outfitting my finishing room. Anybody have any experience with filters and explosion proof blowers? The room is outfitted with 7/16 OSB, caulked and sealed, and primed then painted with semi-gloss enamel. The lights are vapor tight, LED ready with 5000k Hyperikon tubes.
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The fan(s) will be in the ceiling behind that opening. The opening will be filled with filters and modified as needed. Return filtered air will be above where I'm standing.


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My state-of-the-art drying rack. 2x4s with 3/8" fiberglass rods at an angle. 5th board down and far left rod's hole got drilled a little steep. Not sure what happened on the drill press there.


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I'll have a cabinet here with a sink. My clean up and mixing station.

[Alan Lightstone]

I built a portable one, with paint filters and a large explosion proof blower.

My explosion proof fan was from Canarm. 20 inch, 3640cfm. Noisy sucker, but I haven't blown up the house with lacquer, and it clearly moves enough air through three 12"x12" paint filters.

I've done well with a dedicated large table with lazy susans for spraying. Your drying rack has impressive capacity.

I am building a dedicated finishing room in my new house, so I may have better info for you, but it will be a few months. I plan on permanently installing my blower there. It works great.

Building your own is dramatically cheaper than buying a pre-made booth.

[John TenEyck]

Have you talked with your insurance company and town building inspector? Seems to me there could be an issue if you did have a problem and you had built something that is not inspected/approved, etc., regardless if it meets all the codes.

John

[Justin Ludwig]

There is no inspector here. Seriously. But so far I've completed everything to code for insurance reasons.

[Wayne Lomman]

Your work area looks good. I'll leave regulations to one side. You know your local requirements.

I recommend pleated paper paint filters. Devilbiss make it but there are plenty of cheaper alternatives using the same design.they ate extremely effective, cleanable and do not restrict airflow until about 80% full.

For inlet filters, make sure you get material that is designed for inlet air and calculate the area you need to provide enough volume. The material you buy will have the necessary specs to work this out.

Make yourself a turntable if you don't already have one. The drying racks are good. This is a proven design. I have used these in many booths with good success.

The explosion proof fan is essential of course. Look through on line industrial auctions. You can get good deals that way. Otherwise it is just research until you find what you need. Wire it up with a delayed shut down so that the booth fully ventilates before shutting down. The code should tell you how long you need. Cheers

[Bill Adamsen]

Just out of curiosity ... how important are explosion proof fans with waterborne sprayed finishes? I know dust itself (grain silos for instance) can be explosive ... just haven't seen empirical data on waterborne spray.

[Andy Giddings]

Just out of curiosity ... how important are explosion proof fans with waterborne sprayed finishes? I know dust itself (grain silos for instance) can be explosive ... just haven't seen empirical data on waterborne spray.

Bill, I don't believe they are important as the material doesn't contain solvents that are flammable - for your own health a respirator is required and extraction to the outside world are good to have if you want a finish without coating your shop with dried overspray. Even with LVLP, there's plenty to go around :-)

[Justin Ludwig]

I'll be spraying more lacquer than WB. Even my stains are solvent based and sprayed (VOCs like lacquer thinner).

Currently we spray outside and use the drying racks, but that won't be possible in winter.

[Justin Ludwig]

Just out of curiosity ... how important are explosion proof fans with waterborne sprayed finishes? I know dust itself (grain silos for instance) can be explosive ... just haven't seen empirical data on waterborne spray.

Not a clue.

[Alan Lightstone]

Not a chemist or physicist, but I work around combustible gasses all day. I can't imagine that explosion proof fans are important at all with WB finishes. Grain silos blowing up has to do with having enough fine particles (in the right concentration - too little and too much are not combustible) suspended in the air in the presence of an oxidizing material (oxygen), and ignition source - usually in an enclosed place, like a grain silo, coal mine, etc... When they occur, it's impressive.
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I don't believe enough of those elements are present in this situation.

Next topic - Diet Coke and Mentos...

[Jim Becker]

Just out of curiosity ... how important are explosion proof fans with waterborne sprayed finishes? I know dust itself (grain silos for instance) can be explosive ... just haven't seen empirical data on waterborne spray.

Honestly, not necessary at all. The ventilation is still important to help clear the air of suspended particles, etc., but there are no explosive vapors. In the OP's case, he's using solvent based products and does have to contend with this.