Hello everyone, I have been reading Knots for a while now, thanks for all the great advise and information. I have a workshop in my garage. Approx 20X20X9. I build mostly furniture for friends and family from oak, walnut, and cherry. I will update my profile when I figure out how.
In hopes of improving air quality in my workshop I would like to exhaust air to the outside from one corner of my shop while using the existing vents and possibly cracking the garage door a little for the air intake. This would give me “fresh” air close to where I work and dirty air exhausted at the back of the shop. What are some ideas for this. I was planning to use an attic fan or possibly a solar powered one that rates aroung 540 CFM. This setup would give me around 7 exchanges per hour, which is about 7 times better than I have now : ) Quiet operation is an issue as I have live in a subdivision in Las Vegas with close neighbors. I do use a shop vac for collection at the source when possible.
Any concerns or ideas would be appreciated. I have done a little research on filtering the air but came to the conculsion that exchanging the air may be better than filtering it and recirculating it.
Thanks for your input.
Tony
Replies
My building is 40x60 but not all of it shop. I have a bad dust problem because I don't have any real duct collection other than a shop vac and a small portable DC. I have a 4 ft attic fan installed on hinges at one of the doors to the shop. I open the door 4 feet and swing the fan in-place. It moves a lot of air and is how I clean the air. On windy days I open two doors, turn on the fan, and put the shop vac on blow. The dust cloud is gone in minutes.
In the summer it can be 100 deg in the shop so it's the AC also.
A good cyclone would solve my problem but it will still take a while to blow out all the dust that's already there.
PS: I live in the country so blowing dust outside is not a problem.
Jim
I only have one door, the one leading into the house. But I can see how your setup would work. That gives me food for thought.
Thank you
Do you use any air conditioning in your shop? If so, it's going to have to work pretty hard to keep up with the constant air exchange.
-Steve
No air conditioning, just 2 small vents ( 4 x 9 in) on the opposite corner to where my exhaust fan would be, one near the ceiling, one near the floor. The vents are on the east side of the house where it is mostly shady, the exhaust fan would be in the opposite corner where it is always sunny. That was the basis for my solar powered attic fan idea. I could always crack the garage door for extra air intake if necessary. I'm wondering if an attic fan would provide the necessary amount of pull and be relatively quiet to operate, or if there are other fan options I should consider. The opening would go between the studs in the wall, I would build a box to adapt the fan size to the space between the studs.
Thanks
Tony
Tony, air exchanging is good. The only downside is losing heated/cooled air.
Ok, sounds like I am on the right track. I'll go check out some fans today.
Thanks
Tony
I think if you use an attic fan to the attic that you will accumulate an awful lot of dust in the attic. It accumulates unbelievably fast. Maybe not in your climate but in the cooler climates one can pick up an old furnace with a good squirrel fan for almost nothing. All the installers just throw them away. They make a very nice fan and are usually already fitted for filters. I have a good sized air handler that I intend on using but I will use filters and recirculate the air. I should equip it for blowing it outside but I heat in the winter and dehumidify in the summer. I may put in an AC.
Edited 4/15/2008 10:20 pm ET by Tinkerer3
Good point. I actually planned on installing an attic fan in the wall of my garage to blow air outside. I don't heat or cool the garage as of yet. Although I did plan on using filters in some fashion to keep any large particulates from accumulating in the back yard. Above my garage is a bedroom. An attic fan is the only thing I could think of to pull a large volume of air quietly. And you are correct about squirrel cages in my climate, I have called several heating and air companies and none of them have any to give away or even to sell.
Thanks for the reply
Tony
Ha, Ha. Yes by all means. Put the attic fan to the attic. Will the maid notice. They make a fan (maybe it is an attic fan) for walls. They use them in green houses, warehouses etc. Some of them are made for filters. If you are just pulling air out of your shop, I doubt it would make too much difference to your yard but a filter would definitely keep the fan cleaner.
Just an update on the solar attic fan idea, it worked great. Air flow through my shop is definately increased and that smell of mdf in the air is now long gone. Thanks to all who replied.
Tony
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