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Garage or shop ventilation

OH71RRunner

FBBO Gold Member
FBBO Gold Member
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Location
Fulton, Ohio
When it's nice out, I just open the doors. When it's cold, I would do little things at a time and let it air out with a fan aimed out the dog door. That got frustrating. Last year I started looking into ventilation. I installed one of those in-line duct work fans with a tube going out to a dryer vent housing on the outside of the house. It doesn't work all that well, but it's been enough to keep most of the moisture out unless temps change drastically.
Yesterday, I was doing some welding on a stand for an old bench grinder. I wasn't paying much attention to how much I was doing and looked around and noticed the crazy amount of smoke I created. Figured I did too much at one time for the fan to keep up. Waited about an hour, went back to the garage and there was still a lot of smoke.
I have a garage attached to the house that's 10x22 and an extra workshop about 10x18.
I need something better that isn't expensive. What do you use? How well does it work? Should I just spend the money to get a good fan for the wall?
 
I have a commercial grade 30"($125 at Lowe's) stand fan. I put it by the garage exit door(to outside) and open my (rollup-style) garage door about 4"....turn that thing on high speed and within a minute or two it sucks all the smoke and stink right out. Works good for welding or something or like when I was working on the rear end of my car and got that Ford additive stench everywhere!

Mine...
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These work awesome too..
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.. if you don't want to go the permanent fan-in-the-wall route
 
I kinda have the same problem. Here in Texas it doesn't get near as cold as Ohio. Daytime average temperatures are around 50° and nights near freezing. I have a 16" exhaust fan mounted in the gable(13' high) on the end of the shop. Does ok to get rid of smoke/ fumes if I open the door at the opposite end of the shop. My real issue starts when a northerner blowes in and the temperatures drop quickly. It starts raining in the shop. The humidity will climb to 75%-80%. I can turn the exhaust fan on, but doesn't do much good unless I open the door. Then I freeze my butt off.
You might try one of those fans that have a shutter that open/close when turned on. But you still need some fresh air for ventilation. Maybe use the doggie door?
 
Problem with venting is air has to come in for air to go out, where will you pull air in from? I've built boxes and mounted attic fans in the wall, they work great but I also had an equal sized intake from another area of the garage. Also when I built the box I incorporated an adjustable door that allowed me to control the amount of air it could pull. After a little painting I found the happy spot where I was only pulling enough to exhaust the fumes.
 
Ventilation for a shop is based on air changes per hour. Find the volume of your shop in cubic feet (LxWxH)... multiply by air changes per hour (10-20).... divide by 60 and that's the cfm you need for good ventilation... PM me if you need help.
 
Both the dog door and regular door are not sealed tight. The dog door is basically a hole in the wall with a piece of rubber for a flap. I thought there should be enough places for fresh air to come in. Butt, that is a possibility of not enough in. Next time, I'll try opening the flap more on the dog door.
 
I use two furnace fans . one into the garage i can regulate with a reastat light switch the exhaust full bore out . I use exhaust fan paint booth filters on both
 
Ideally the exhaust will be on the opposite side of the garage from your make up air, allowing for the smoke/fumes to be pulled out of the entire space. The fresh air should come from your back (if possible) so the fumes are pulled away from your face, not into it.
 
air to air exchanger. Air going out heats or cools the air coming in. About 85% efficient. They are required in many States that have building codes with air tight construction. Have a new house? You should have one for the formaldihyde and other toxic chemicals evaporating from carpet, cabinets, adhesives, etc.

(not mine, just an example)
http://vi.vipr.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBay...descgauge=1&cspheader=1&oneClk=1&secureDesc=0
 
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When I built our new house I installed an "whole house" attic fan upstairs. Works great in the summer months. Open a couple windows downstairs and the house cools down in a few minutes. My wife still doesn't understand the concept of flow through ventilation. She'll turn the fan on without opening a window and complains it's not working right or why the door knocks her in the face when she turns the knob!
 
Ventilation for a shop is based on air changes per hour. Find the volume of your shop in cubic feet (LxWxH)... multiply by air changes per hour (10-20).... divide by 60 and that's the cfm you need for good ventilation... PM me if you need help.
10-20 ACH is a lot of air, Pharmacys and ORs only require 12 ACH, HAZ MAT rooms are 4 ACH. A regular garage that might have some light welding or fumes from brake clean or something like that could get away with a lot less. And like 747 you have to bring in what your exhausting, or your room will be negative.
 
Small fan in attic access opening in the ceiling pulling up and open the window in the storm door in my garage door pulls pretty good.
 
10-20 ACH is a lot of air, Pharmacys and ORs only require 12 ACH, HAZ MAT rooms are 4 ACH. A regular garage that might have some light welding or fumes from brake clean or something like that could get away with a lot less. And like 747 you have to bring in what your exhausting, or your room will be negative.
Pharmaceutical manufacturing areas are way higher than 12 ach. Gymnasiums require 6 ach... I dont have the book in front of me. You are right, 10-20 air changes sounds like a lot.... but at 10 acr you change the air every 6 minutes... a typical 24' x 24' x 8' garage at 10 air changes is only approximately 750 cfm....
 
Pharmaceutical manufacturing areas are way higher than 12 ach. Gymnasiums require 6 ach... I dont have the book in front of me. You are right, 10-20 air changes sounds like a lot.... but at 10 acr you change the air every 6 minutes... a typical 24' x 24' x 8' garage at 10 air changes is only approximately 750 cfm....
Im pretty sure USP 797 states 12 for non compounding RXs IIRC. SOILED UTILITY/HAZ Waste room are 4 ACH... of course there are other requirements for other industries/volitility/Hazards ect
 
Sounds like we have a couple pros onboard, that's why I love this place.:thumbsup:
 
I have the 30" one installed in my shop. Moves like 4000cfm. It works awesome to remove fumes. I love it in the summer. Turn it on after it cools of in the evening, open a couple windows and keep the bugs out!
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I have a box built for it on hinges with 1" rigid foam and weather striping for the cold months. It has a pulley system to open it easily if I'm working on snowmobiles and need to evacuate to 2 stroke smoke.
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