# Small Cardboard Painting Booth with Ventilation



## J_King (Apr 14, 2013)

Ok guys and gals because I know there's a few out there, I need your help. I constructed this paint booth and I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so. Other than the duct tape I used was apparently pretty crappy and isn't sticking to the cardboard very well, but that's an easy fix. I even put a damper on it to prevent the cold air from coming back into the shop when not in use.

The problem is that I've read that if the fan that I use to suck the fumes out doesn't have a sealed motor then it could cause an explosion. My question is if I use a paper towel like shop cloth as a filter because I really don't want the crap getting into my fan motor or onto the fan itself, then would that help to prevent an explosion especially considering how confined an area I'm spraying in. I also found that the small fan that is in the picture wasn't doing the trick and I'm going to have to use the bigger one that sits on my night stand. That one I know will work.


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## gadawg31 (Dec 4, 2014)

J_King, by no means am I an expert on fume ignition, but I built a temporary paint booth at my house in MS and had zero problems. However, one thing my buddy helped me with was building an exhaust fan housing. We used an old blower motor from an A/C unit. We built a box that the motor sat in and on one end we had the exhaust port and on the inside we used a 20"x20" filter that slid in. We lowered the garage door down on the box and sealed the remaining opening with plastic wrap. Worked pretty good. It was almost the same setup you have inside your house as the A/C return vent, except our vent blew all the air outside of the booth. With that said, that does not mean we where lucky for two years, but we painted about 6 cars/trucks over this period of time and never had any issues with our motor. Your setup looks similar to ours, but our intake was covered by the 20×20 filter.

JD


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

I'm not qualified to answer your question, but I will be setting up a spray booth myself for the new spray station I just bought in the very near future so I having been researching the need for ventilation quite a bit recently. My take on it is that you can probably get away with a lot, meaning not using an explosion proof fan, etc. but it seems to me that just the risk, even though perhaps relatively small is not worth taking. If your house burns down because of it, it could nullify your insurance not to mention endanger the lives of your family. Are you willing to take such a risk, even though it may be small? I wouldn't and I will tell you why.

This happened back in 1974 back in the U.S. One of my neighbors across the street who was an aviation accident investigator had a nice motorcycle. He was out in the garage doing something on it, probably, maybe washing some parts in a gas bath, I don't remember now. This was in a double garage and the main door was fully open at the time. He lit a cigarette and there was a loud explosion and the rafters in his garage ceiling were on fire. He was still standing, but he stunned by the blast and he just stood there in a daze until myself and a neighbor when running over to get him out of there and put out the fire, which luckily we were able to do very quickly. If we hadn't been around I think his whole house would have burned down pretty quick.

Problem is that those explosion proof fans are very expensive, so I am planning to spray only waterborne products, which means that I can use a regular inexpensive box type fan with some cheap furnace filters.


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## J_King (Apr 14, 2013)

> I m not qualified to answer your question, but I will be setting up a spray booth myself for the new spray station I just bought in the very near future so I having been researching the need for ventilation quite a bit recently. My take on it is that you can probably get away with a lot, meaning not using an explosion proof fan, etc. but it seems to me that just the risk, even though perhaps relatively small is not worth taking. If your house burns down because of it, it could nullify your insurance not to mention endanger the lives of your family. Are you willing to take such a risk, even though it may be small? I wouldn t and I will tell you why.
> 
> This happened back in 1974 back in the U.S. One of my neighbors across the street who was an aviation accident investigator had a nice motorcycle. He was out in the garage doing something on it, probably, maybe washing some parts in a gas bath, I don t remember now. This was in a double garage and the main door was fully open at the time. He lit a cigarette and there was a loud explosion and the rafters in his garage ceiling were on fire. He was still standing, but he stunned by the blast and he just stood there in a daze until myself and a neighbor when running over to get him out of there and put out the fire, which luckily we were able to do very quickly. If we hadn t been around I think his whole house would have burned down pretty quick.
> 
> ...


Thank-you Stefang for your cautionary tale. I had thought about doing the same thing, but then discovered that they have the same explosive warnings on the back of the cans as the other spray cans, so then I was like so what's the difference.


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## J_King (Apr 14, 2013)

Well, I tried using the larger fan and the shop towels, but I think the shop towels are a bit too heavy because the fan wasn't able to clear out the little bit of test spray that I sprayed into the booth as quickly as it should have. I had it on high and that little fan can move air.


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## bold1 (May 5, 2013)

My buddy has a car heater motor mounted on his duct. I cut the part of the plastic heater housing with the motor and adapted the duct to it, for him. The motor is sealed and sits outside the exhaust fumes. When it's run he hooks up his battery charger for power. He's had for about 12yrs. now, & so far no problems.


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## J_King (Apr 14, 2013)

> My buddy has a car heater motor mounted on his duct. I cut the part of the plastic heater housing with the motor and adapted the duct to it, for him. The motor is sealed and sits outside the exhaust fumes. When it s run he hooks up his battery charger for power. He s had for about 12yrs. now, & so far no problems.
> 
> - bold1


Nice idea - I should be able to use one with a simple porous filter to collect any paint, lacquer, or anything else sticky to keep it off the fan. Thanks.


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