How to build a Shop Air Cleaner and Paint Booth Ventilation System 

Thanks! It works really well and I found myself using it to cool down the shop in the summertime as well by pumping the hot air outdoors while sucking in air conditioned air from the house.

​@@TommyTompkins Do you experience any pressure differences in the workshop, due to fan power. I'm guessing that in enclosed room it could cause some pressure discomfort.

Awesome! Glad to hear that you like the plans! I still think this is one of the best additions to my shop that I ever made.

Do you have a picture or a link to the one that you used? Any idea what the CFM rating is?

It works great!

Yes that was really important. Fume fire hazard is something I was not actually even realising. Also this powerful fan (without filters) can suck in screws or some small metal chips, which could cause problem to engine living inside the duct system. Very smart indeed

lol!!!

Save BIG Money at Menards!!! lol

Thanks! Glad it helped!

I think you might have misunderstood how I'm using this. I'm not adding two filters to increase the Merv rating. The reason for using two filters is so that I can use a more expensive, higher Merv filter on the inside and a super cheap $2 filter on the outside. Since the outside filter catches the majority of the sawdust floating around, I can change those out several times before needing to change out the more expensive Merv filter on the inside. It's all a fine balance of saving my lungs, saving money, and preserving airflow. To be honest, it's been working out great and I wouldn't change a thing.

@@TommyTompkins Yes I thought that might be your reason.. but I was getting a little long winded... A great build, at some point I will probably build something similar. as painting in a garage in the winter time can be quite toxic.

They work great for that purpose. And they're pretty quiet too.

Awesome! Thank you!

Thank you!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks! The filters that I use when painting are only used to try and capture the majority of the overspray so that it doesn't cake up the inside of the fan blades at the siding on the outside of the shop.

That works too.

Awesome! Small world!

He explains it in the video, but his fan and the motor are separated. The only issue is the motor is still exposed to the elements of the shop that he is trying to evacuate. This design would work really well if it was blowing or exhausting in/out of a sealed room from the outside.

Yeah it's 120 volts but honestly, I don't know much else about it. It was a Craigslist find.

Thanks Brian. I really don't see it as overkill at all. Sometimes I wish it was bigger! Haha

I was told that it came out of a furnace.

Initially, I was concerned about the same thing but when the filter gets dirty is fairly evenly covered. It works pretty well, but there's probably room for improvement.

Thanks! I think you meant to say the one I made is very "in-expensive" rather than "expensive"?

@@TommyTompkins lol is i did sorry about that.

Thanks! Yes, I did look at door type baffle's to start but none of the ones that I found sealed very well so I decided to make my own which seals MUCH better.

@@TommyTompkins I meant did you consider making your board a swing door? Should be easy to seal and a clasp to close. After reading your comments throughout, I can see you thought this out more than most of us imagine. It works for you and it’s worth every moment you put into it. I’m considering doing one for my garage which I use only in summer, so I won’t need filters to get rid of dust and humid air. I’m now looking at a blower setup thanks to your video, makes sense.

Thanks Charlie! Hope all is well with you.

@@TommyTompkins Likewise! Are you going to George Vondriska's Meet the Maker event on the 17th?

@@JackbenchWoodworking I was thinking about stopping by. I’ll probably see you there!

@@TommyTompkins Great!

I think you’d lose a lot of airflow going that route. I’m very happy with the contraption.

A startup?

Filtering is only used when recirculating the air. I don't filter the air when venting. Venting is only used when there are harmful fumes I don't want to breathe. In the winter time, my heating bill would skyrocket if I only vented and didn't filter and recirculate the warm air.

... at the outside vent

Thanks!

Thanks Troy!

You might be right. I haven't cut out the screen because it still seemed like it wasn't very restrictive and has fairly large holes. I might give that a try though and see how it goes.

What types of issues could I potentially experience? Just curious. I've been using this for about 1.5 years now and haven't had any issues with the furnace that I know of. But I should mention that I use it in extraction mode much more during the summer months to draw in some dry air conditioned air from the house and pump out the hot humid air for some climate control. When I do this, I also turn on the air exchanger in the house thinking that it might help with the negative pressure. The only time I do this in the winter is when I'm painting which isn't that often.

@@TommyTompkins it can cause the pilot to go out or even the furnace itself while it is running. The furnace was designed to use the air in the room for combustion but when the room is at a negative pressure it could back draft the exhaust into the garage instead of out of the flue.

@@jacobframe8769 Good to know. Thanks!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks!

In the winter, I mostly just use the filter which just recirculates the heated air in the shop. I don't do a lot painting in the winter, but when I need to use the exhaust vent, I'll crack the door.

@@TommyTompkins thanks for the reply! Very cool build!

@@TommyTompkins What effect does the paint fumes have on your unprotected heater when you do paint in winter while that is running? My contractor told me he would not honor warranty on the heater if painting indoors.

Great question! The presence of the Reznor heater actually contributed greatly to my decision to build this unit. I was getting ready to do a lot of spraying in the garage and with it being cold here in Minnesota, I knew that I'd have to keep the garage doors closed with the heater running. Obviously, that's a potential recipe for disaster. I knew I had to find a way to keep my shop heated while being able to vent fumes at the same time. I built this unit and used it with my spray booth to spray about 250 Pegs & Jokers game sets. That's a ton of spraying and it worked excellent at drawing out all the fumes. I could spray for hours, put everything down, step back 15 feet and not smell a thing. Speaking of combustible material...very fine sawdust floating around the air is also a potential explosion hazard. The air filtration feature of this unit helps to minimize that risk as well by removing all those fine particles. Here's a quote directly from Reznor: "WARNING: Gas-fired appliances are not designed for use in hazardous atmospheres containing flammable vapors or combustible dust, or atmospheres containing chlorinated or halogenated hydrocarbons."

No visible sign of paint or any discoloration on the siding outside. But I typically spray finishes like Arm-R-Seal and don't do a whole lot with bright colors.

@@TommyTompkins Thank you. I’m definitely following your channel.

Hello Hugo - the program is called Sketchup.

Hello Devin - I didn't include any specs for the blower other than the size of the blower that I used in my specific application. Here's the text copied directly from my plans: "Step 2: Measure the Blower The blower housing is going to fit inside of the Main Enclosure so before you start cutting wood, you need to make sure it’s going to fit within the default measurements. These plans were designed for a blower that is no more than 16-1/4” (412.75 mm) tall and 18” (457.2 mm) wide with some room to spare. If your blower is larger, no problem. Simply modify the dimensions in these plans to make your enclosure box a bit larger. If you’re modifying the original dimensions, just remember to choose a filter size that will fit your enclosure dimensions (the default filter size is a 16x20x1)."

Good point. I usually crack my garage door which brings in fresh air when painting. When it's just filtering the air, there's no need since it doesn't exhaust out of the shop.

Honestly, I don't remember if it was UV resistant but I think it was? It's held up great so far.

Thanks! No, I didn't add a fresh air intake because I found it sufficient to just crack my garage door which allows it to suck in fresh air. In the winter when it's really cold, I open the door that goes into the house and turn on the air exchanger on my furnace and that seems to work well too while keeping the shop warm. Sometimes it's kind of a pain to crack the garage door since the wind can blow dust around so eventually I'll probably add a dedicated air intake somewhere.

Hello - I use Sketchup

If I remember correctly, I used a 3/4 HP motor.

​@@TommyTompkins @Devin Nasar - The motor is 1/3 HP - it's a Dayton model 5K282 - 1725 RPM, 6.2 Amp

@Devin Nasar - Your 1/4 HP motor would likely be adequate based on the fact that the motor in this video is 1/3 HP, not 3/4 HP as stated below.

Thanks! To be honest, I have no idea what the CFM is for the squirrel cage that I used. But it's very quiet and MUCH MUCH quieter than the first blower that you see in the beginning of the video. I think any standard size furnace blower / squirrel cage would do the trick.