Hello All,
I am getting things ready for my PRO to show up some time this month and currently working on what I should do for ventilation.
I live in Alberta Canada so just working with the garage door open is not an option for most of the year so I need to come up some sort of exhaust system. I have two man doors into my garage so I am thinking of cutting in a barn fan into one of the doors (and possible an inlet louver).
Do you think a barn fan installed 15ft away from the plasma table will be sufficient to keep the fume, smoke, etc. down or would you recommend installing an inline duct fan, ducting, and a hood overtop of the table?
I live in Ottawa…so I understand the cold and ventilation issue.
I am expanding my garage next spring and I am installing a HRV…
a heat recovery ventilation system with heat exchange…
something like this…
that way I can eliminate the fumes…and still maintain some sort of heat recovery…
install a good filter before it and you are all set
I’m doing an overhead “hood”. I haven’t fabricated it yet, but I did purchase a couple of parts already. My ducting is flexible and I plan to have it mounted floating above (so I can reposition or move it out of the way whenever I need). The hood itself I envision will be similar to the shape of what you see above a kitchen cooktop, only smaller and shop-styled (home made).
Here’s my fan:
And the ducting:
All in for $200. The hood itself I’ll be making out of some scraps and hung from the ceiling in a way that is close enough to the table to be effective, yet highly moveable and positionable (x, y, and z) for whatever is thrown at it.
I’m not cutting a hole in my walls or garage doors, but I plan to have one of the doors open the 8" required to stick the hose out. We don’t really get much snow, sometimes zero; garage is insulated and stays relatively warm. If it turns out to be too cold I’ll build an 8" blocker out of a sheet of plywood to run across the open space to keep the wind out.
I’m also making four moveable walls out of welding curtains with some metal frames. This will help to keep sparks inside the zone, and also channel more fumes towards the suction of the hood. These are what I purchased:
The problem with Canadian cold climate is what ever you exhaust you have to warm up.
Mi d you that is the same every where…
The heat exchanger reclaims about 30% of the heat you vent out which in turn saves a lot of energy.
I’m in Winnipeg. I built a fume extraction unit that blows out one window while another window is open to draw in fresh air. I also wear a P100 mask during a cutting session.
One thing to remember with the duct fan is that the air will be filled with fine metal particles. Over time they will build up on the magnets in the fan and kill it. I found this out with my set up, and it didn’t take long. I’m going to add a cheap filter and try it again.
Here is my enclosure. I vent outside with a re-purposed delta dust collector. The fan turns on automatically when current is sensed on the 220v power line for my plasma/welders. It turns off 45s after the torch turns off. The electrical system is designed for woodworking tools. I got it from Lee Valley. So far so good! It still pulls some heat out of the shop, but I’ll live with that.
