Hi,

I have a home spray booth approx 10ft x 6ft with explosion proof 24inch fan extraction with two stage filter material venting outside the booth..i am wanting to remove the actual fumes has anyone had success with anything to remove the fumes in their spraybooth..i have seen carbon filters but not sure if they are any good...cheers

So where does your 24" fan vent to? Is it just outside of the booth but still in the shop/garage? Or does it go through the wall to vent outside? If so is the exhaust then routed via a flue up the wall to the roof or does the flue go through the roof?

If you're concerned about safety it's best to look at the mandated safety requirements. In most countries there is a requirement that a flue vent either through the roof or up the wall to above the roof. The most stringent, that I'm aware of, are the Australian rules that require the flue to extend 3m above the highest part of the roof.

The reasons for this are simple. When the exhaust exits a flue the concentration of isocyanates is reduced as it mixes with air. If the flue exits about 3m above a person then, by the time that the exhaust reaches that person the concentrations will have dropped to a reasonably safe level. If there's a breeze then the concentrations will be lower again.

So, at a minimum your exhaust should exit above roof height and then extend as high as is reasonably practical, up to about 3m. There may be mandated requirements where you live - check these so that you will comply.

Water wash filtration systems in the exhaust have been used but are less popular now than in the past owing to high maintenance and installation costs. Well designed they do a reasonable job but I certainly wouldn't stand near an exhaust. Activated carbon will definitely work and has the potential to clean contaminants to the point where the air is breathable. But, to do so for the volume of air coming out of a booth, typically 8000 to 30,000 cubic metres per hour, requires vast quantities of activated carbon which would need to be replaced very often. Impractical and cost prohibitive, which is why most jurisdictions just require venting away from anywhere where people could be standing.

Many thanks for the informative reply...at the moment the fan is extracting out the side of the booth although i am looking at constructing another spray booth with an extraction tube venting the material higher into the air.

My main reason for asking was if anyone had success with removing the actual smell of the extracted paint dust maybe with carbon filters...

Here is the link to a filter i think might do the job https://spcb.co.uk/products/carbon-pane ... lter-panel

Cheers

newsprayer wrote:My main reason for asking was if anyone had success with removing the actual smell of the extracted paint dust maybe with carbon filters...

It has to be in two stages. First remove or filter out the solid particles or droplets of paint. Most use a glass fibre filter for that.

Then address the other contaminants, the ones you can smell, and the more dangerous ones that you can't smell. Activated carbon can do that, as I said in my earlier post.

BTW, if your just taking air from your booth and pumping it into the garage/workshop that's potentially fairly dangerous. Best to get those fumes, which are not only poisonous but explosively volatile as well, outside where they can disperse.

Hi...thanks for the reply..yes my booth extracts out to open air with a two stage fibeglass filter...i will certainly have a look at the carbon filter as the actual smell/fumes is what i am wanting to remove.

Cheers