[Skipr]

HI all,
Is there a special paint booth filter I should use? Also should I have two fans blowing air in and one exhaust to keep pressure in the booth?
Thanks, Walt

[astroracer]

I don't know if having fans blowing into the booth would be a good idea. Stirring up the air is not a good thing and you never know what the fans will pick up and shoot into the booth.
I have used a single large squirrel cage blower, blowing out, for years and it keeps my "booth" fairly clear. Just make sure you have a couple of good sized filters on your air inlets to get a decent air exchange. I use two 20x20 furnace filters and I spray them with cheap hairspray right before I do any painting... Grabs a lot of junk, you'd be surprised....
Mark

[302 Z28]

There are different types of paint booth setups. The most common in commercial use is a downdraft. The filters are in the ceiling and the fan sucks from the floor. Fresh air is drawn from the outside through the ceiling filters and down through the filters in the floor that trap overspray.

I just spent a weekend a few weeks ago cleaning up and painting the paint booth I have been using. The owner bought new filters for the ceiling, twelve of them 36" by 54", they were $700.

Vince

[kenseth17]

I use furnace filters at home in an open window and a large exhaust fan blowing out with more filters before the exhaust. There are special filters made for spray booth, but like vince said, not real cheap. A downdraft system is the best for dirt control, since dirt and overspray are drawn to the floor not across the car and where the painter is working like a crossflow setup. There are different thoughts on if you should have positive pressure or negative pressure in the booth. I think most are slightly positive with more intake air then exhaust to keep dirt from coming out of cracks in the booth. It would probably be difficult to set up at home though. There are controls in a booth where you can set how much positive or negative pressure you have. They even have meters that tell when the filters need changing. There was a good article somewhere explaining it, but I lost the link. But if I take my time cleaning well before painting with the setup I am now using, make sure the car is clean, and wearing a good suit or clean clothes that won't give off lint, a spray sock, ect, I can get a pretty clean job. But often there doesn't seem to be the time and you are not as good at housekeeping. I painted for years with box fans, and they really don't move much air and would be trying to see through overspray clouds, which also isn't a good environment for your health. I know got a fairly big attic fan, and on low to not stir up a lot it does a much better job clearing the air then box fans did. But mine is not an explosion proof motor, which you really should have in a painting environment.