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Shop Air Filtration Suggestions

quarters_ninja

quarters_ninja

5711 Oorah
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
594
Messages
135
Loc
MN
What do you guys use to scrub the air in your shop?

I'm trying to avoid venting it outside so I don't waste that lovely AC. There isn't one thing in particular I am trying to scrub, but I do random painting, welding, stinky things, and it can get a bit rowdy in there with everything sealed up.

Maybe the answer is to get a better AC so I can vent outside, or don't be a sally and enjoy the fumes. Just curious if you guys have any DIY things or stuff you bought that was worth the effort.
 
Strip the power vent off a gas water heater. It's already got a rubber dingus to attach to some plastic pipe to plumb to the outside. The bottom is flat so you can easily mount it to a plywood. Add a flexible duct and instant ghetto fume extractor. Move a surprising amount of air.

Edit: and yes, I know that it's venting it outside, but not as much as a big wall mounted truck shop fan. It's better than running dirty air through your a/c and doesn't require any filters to be changed...

P3100387.jpg
 
Think furnace filter, fan, and duct, and go crazy.
 
5 20x20x2 filters taped into a cube shape 20" box fan on the open side of the cube. Unless your looking to get fancy
 
phase 1 is box fan as stated with 20x20 filters
phase 2 is attic fan through the wall to outside
phase three is doors open

That is how we do it in our shop
 
Get better A/C

You will never find a way to remove all the varied fumes and particulates from the air. They get close with multi thousand dollar setups in industrial environments but even then those are specific to one or two kinds of contamination.
 
For particulate stuff these work decent, Jet makes fancier ones


I've been trying to decide which way to go also. This is tempting from ease of setup, I have plugs already, just hang and go. But I have also considered a vent fan to outside.
 
Particulates are one thing - the fan and filter will take care of those. Depending on how fine the particulates are, you may have to step up a bit from a furnace filter, though.

Fumes are another thing - a fan and filter isn't going to do much for those. One option would be localized ventilation - think welding fume extractor or "spray booth" with a residential stove vent hood (depending on the size of what you're painting). You can use the "ventilator" while you're painting or welding and suck air out of the area where it is the worst rather than just having a wall fan that sucks everything out. You could also look into an ERV (energy recovery ventilator) to plumb into the HVAC system. They basically bring fresh air into the space being conditioned without losing the heated/cooled air in the space.

You can read about them here: https://www.hvi.org/HVIORG/document...le/public/publications/HVI_HRVERVBrochure.pdf
 
Put a mask on a fan.... bingo... not even a virus will survive...
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
Strip the power vent off a gas water heater. It's already got a rubber dingus to attach to some plastic pipe to plumb to the outside. The bottom is flat so you can easily mount it to a plywood. Add a flexible duct and instant ghetto fume extractor. Move a surprising amount of air.

Edit: and yes, I know that it's venting it outside, but not as much as a big wall mounted truck shop fan. It's better than running dirty air through your a/c and doesn't require any filters to be changed...

P3100387.jpg
Click to expand...
this plus a 20' section of flexy duct, and a scaled up pantograph-lamp setup to position it around where the smoke is being made

I haven't done it yet, been meaning to for years
 
Erv would be the best way. It will need to be cleaned occasionally in a shop environment but it's the only way to move air without losing the ac/heat.
 
Squirrel cage fan with some big furnace filters strapped to it is my plan.
 
HobbyAir supplied air and a half mask..
 
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