DIY spray booth thoughts, questions, recommendations

gtc73

New member
I looked around the forum for a place to put this post, didn't find anything immediately obvious. So figured I would post this, and if the forum moderator chooses to move it great? Maybe a "sticky section" of it own for spray booths, safety equipment etc etc?

? explosion proof exhaust fan, or not explosion proof exhaust fan.....this is the question ?? you'll see right away the price can be significantly higher for the explosion proof fan. I'm thinking....ya.....my life and my home is worth the extra cash!!!!!!

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****** BACKGROUND AND STORY AS TO WHY THIS IS A MUST READ.....GET YOUR POP CORN AND GET COMFY AND READ ON*************
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- all safety thing being OBVIOUS....like PPE (personal protection equipment), those of us who have been around the paint fumes long enough know that right from the git-go, we SHOULD be wearing some type of "solvent rated respirator" when spraying those paints that require such protection, which for me is "most of them"....but for this post, I'm looking for more ideas and information about the BOOTH.

- VENTILATION - not unlike others, I have built my own DIY spray booth in my basement. (YIKES DUDE!!! U SERIOUS??) yes, I enclosed the small 8'x6'x8' booth in poly, had a filtered air inlet, and filtered my exhaust fan. Speaking of the exhaust fan....I paid extra money for an "explosion proof" rated 300cfm exhaust fan and mounted that in the basement window. So generally speaking, this wasn't a bad setup....let me tell you about a couple problems with this....

- #1, IN THE BASEMENT, !!!!! IN THE HOUSE.....eh, not such a good idea. The booth didn't contain and exhaust 100% or anywhere near 100% of the fumes, over spray ESPECIALLY when it came to clearing!!!
- #2, booth was literally 5feet away from an OIL FIRED BOILER!!!! CAN YOU SAY OPEN FLAME!!!, not smart though I got away with it for like 2 years, still not smart. Learn from our experience right!!

The main problem was the inside of my home, INCLUDING THE BOILER EXHAUST was my fresh air source INTO the booth. While the exhaust fan was running, it would literally pull exhaust fumes from the boiler into my spray booth.....YA, NOT BRILLIANT I KNOW. Again, learn from our experiences....

SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO THE DIY SPRAY BOOTH, DO IT IN A SHED, OR A GARAGE, BUILD IT TO THE APPROPRIATE SIZE FOR THE TYPE OF WORK AND PROJECTS YOU WORK ON, IE....AIRBRUSHING/PAINTING SMALL PROJECTS LIKE MOTORCYCLE TINS= SMALL BOOTH. CAR SIZE OBVIOUSLY MUCH BIGGER. AND MAKE SURE YOU APPROPRIATELY SIZE YOUR EXPLOSION PROOF EXHAUST FAN TO THE SQ. FTG. OF YOUR BOOTH....
 
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