Garage Ventilation

[alankulwicki7]

First off I want to say that I'm glad I found this place. A friend of mine told me about it yesterday and I can't beleive how much information is here.

Anyway, my question is about garage ventilation. I live in Minnesota so my garage is closed up for nearly 6 months out of the year. Lately I've been doing some work on my car that involves chemicals (brake cleaner, spray paint, etc). After just a few minutes of use, my garage fills with the odors of whatever chemical I am using. I was thinking about installing an exhaust fan (similar to a bathroom fan) or would I be better off installing a filtering type system that recycles the air.

I just finished my garage last fall so I haven't run into this problem until now.....

Thanks!
Doug

<-- I am a stay at home dad and this is how I feel some days!!!

 

[trovato]

I think the only way to deal with toxic chemicals is to exhaust the air. Recirculating/filtering works ok for dust, but I want chemical vapors to be exhausted outside. One issue that comes up on this is the requirement for an "explosion-proof" fan. Biggest drawback is that they're very expensive. I've been trying to come up with a "middle ground" solution, perhaps a bit better than a bathroom fan, but not quite up to commercial spray booth. I haven't decided quite how to go yet, so I'll be following this thread with interest.

 

[the intimidator]

here is a thread showing how one member built a explosion proof fan seems like a simple enough solution but im not seing the need for explosion proof for general garage ventilation think abought it you are always creating sparks of some sort in a garage anyways with grinders motors switches ect so why the need for a explosion proof exaust fan i would just use a normal exaust fan

http://www.garagejunkies.net/showthread.php?t=437&highlight=fan

 

[Jay H 237]

I've seen people use whole house fans. Depending on the size of the garage you may want to change the sheaves (pulleys) to slow it down. The slower speeds are good for smaller garages where you don't want to turn the air over too quickly and lose all your heat. The size of the fan and fan blade style also come into factor here. Nondirect drive models are quieter and with some of them the motor isn't mounted in the path of the exhaust air. Most of these fans aren't explosion proof but if all your doing is some spray painting then they'll be fine. If you're spraying complete cars and turning the air hazy then I'll step up to an explosion proof fan and then you'll have to order one through MSC, Grainger, McMaster-Carr.

With any exhaust fan you use you will lose some of your heat. Try to run the fan just enough to clear the air and fumes. With some of the chemicals though I'd rather be a little cold than be stuck sniffing them.

 

[BoostAddiction]

All good advice above. I'd add that you should wear a good respirator if you are generating that amount of dust.

You still want to be breathing when you send the kids off to college, right?

-Will

 

[Spencer Was Here]

I just installed a 24" fan about a month ago. I wanted to get it installed before I put the steel siding on that wall. This will be used for welding and plasma cutting fumes as well as provinding cross ventilation when needed.

 

[moefuzz]

Just one thing to consider when putting in exhaust fans....


If you have a furnace installed, A powerful fan can "back draft" your heaters exhaust (CO2)..

When you turn on the exhaust fan and the heater is running, The exhaust fan my pull the heaters exhaust back down from the chimney. This will cause all the CO2 to be drawn into the garage instead of going out the chimney, a very dangerous situation.


To see if your exhaust fan is back drafting the heater, ....


With the heater running, turn on the exhaust fan. Use a candle or a lighter (or the smoke from a cigarette) to check which way the air is moving at the heaters intake. If the heaters intake causes the flame to tilt toward the room, then you have too powerful of an exhaust fan.


In that situation, it is best to slow down the fan and/or be very wary of the air quality when the heater and exhaust fan ore both running..

(((back drafting the heater is a sign of a fairly air tight building... sometimes opening the door a crack will allow more airflow into the room without back drafting the heater))

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view 24 albums from the drop down menu at http://spaces.msn.com/moes-garage/

 

[Coach James]

When I need to vent my garage in winter time, I just stick a 20" box fan in the garage window and run it on low.
Coach

 

[alankulwicki7]

Thanks for all of the advice. I will take it all into consideration.

I don't plan on doing any major painting (other than spray cans) so I can probably get by with something small for now. I'll probably just use a fan mounted in the window until this summer. I am definitely going to get a respirator, too.

One thing I don't have to worry about is backdrafting my furnace because I'm using electric radiant heat.