I use to solder without a fan and the smoke would go into my face. I would breathe in that nasty smoke. I then started using a extractor fan and place it about 30cm away from were i solder blowing the smoke away. Once i started soldering with the fan I kicked myself for not doing that for years breathing in that smoke. Or even a small desk fan would work.
Yes I really should be using a fan. I worked as a JT certified solder tec a few years back. I built and assembled the weapons pylons and cable systems for F16 jet wings and other planes. They had some state of the art solder setups for sure.
Thank you 33gate1, got a fan and never tough to use it. Now I keep the fan and solder iron both on the same plug combo that has an interrupter button , the spinning fan also help me remember me to shutdown the solder iron when finished.
