How To Keep Your Paint Booth Ventilated

Spraying is definitely demanding, but also kind of fun and interesting to do and observe. Chemicals that are in the paint or spray are not so fun. They can be damaging to your health, especially if you don’t handle them well.

The best thing you can do – since you can’t just stop offering painting services – is to protect your employees and yourself. This often comes in the simple form of bringing enough light to the booth and having proper ventilation in there as well. Good airflow will make the chemicals less dangerous and your workers – or yourself – a lot happier.

Need to Meet Certain Requirements

There are certain requirements for ventilation too. For example, OSHA – which you can learn more about if you click here – states that the booth must have the option of filtering out any flammable elements.

The air must move to the ventilation where an exhaust system would throw it out.

The booth has to be ventilated all the time while working and after working. The air shouldn’t have a way to be recycled into the room and cause any contamination.

EPA also has specific guidelines when it comes to painting booths and spraying.

They state that the filters in these spaces should capture 98% of particles and that they shouldn’t let them out into the environment. All of them should contain these maximum efficiency filters.

Spray booths have to be closed, sealed and ventilated as well, and there are specific requirements for the pressure in the room and other elements which you can learn more about here: https://www.epa.gov/

Both of these will allow for a fairly easy setup since the rules are so clear. This is not just about the law and regulations, but rather about what will keep you and your employees safe.

Better airflow

When you start working on your booth ventilation, you will need to purchase some important equipment. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Fans –

  These should be installed in a place where they can support the airflow and discharge or harmful fumes. The contaminants should leave the building because of the fans. This is why it’s important to inspect the ventilation and especially fans to make sure that they are working at maximum efficiency and that there is nothing blocking them. Check for malfunctions too.

• Filters –

  Naturally, as you were able to see in the EPA guide, you will need some filters. There are two types and these include exhaust and intake filters. The former ones capture coatings before they are released outside of the booth into the environment.

  If your paint booth has a downdraft, you’ll likely place them on the floor but if your booth is cross draft, you will put it opposite to intake filters. The latter represents a way to clean dirt from the air which enters the booth. You would likely place them in the ceiling if your exhaust filters are on the floor. It’s extremely important to clear your filters regularly and replace them if necessary because they get ineffective if broken or clogged.

• The design of the booth –

  Booths come in many different forms. There are ones with flat tops which are very popular due to their low price. But the airflow in these is bad. The best form of the booth could be the gabled one which has good ventilation and airflow.

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Risks

If you think that ventilation is not that relevant and that you don’t need it, here are just some of the risks of not having it:

• Fumes –

  Obviously, this is what you want to protect yourself from because you could inhale it. Most paints, sprays and other chemicals you use contain VOCs which stands for volatile organic chemicals that affect your health on a long-term level. They could cause all sorts of illnesses and diseases, and none of them will be pretty or easy to handle, let alone cheap to pay for when it comes to healing.

• Fire –

  Another common problem in poorly ventilated areas is fire. Paints and sprays are flammable which means that you could easily start a fire. It could happen when the fumes get in contact with some sort of electrical discharge. And we all know how easily that could happen in this environment. The best way to prevent them is to have proper ventilation that clears the fumes.

• Poor work quality –

  A bad or inexistent ventilation system will not capture the dust and other elements that can reach your workspace and cause your work to look bad and low in quality. You know just how annoying it is when dust particles ruin your work. As a bonus, your employees and you won’t be able to work as well as you would in a well-ventilated space.

If you have good ventilation and you maintain your workspace properly, it will last longer and your work quality will improve. You also have to keep your own health in mind as well as that of your employees. In that spirit, make sure that the air is clear, your ventilation is up to standards and that your booth is clean.

Image Credit: paint booth ventilated by Pixabay

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