Mobile -Ventless Portable Paint Booth question?

[ebaypdllc]

Hey Guys,

I bought one of them mobile portable paint booths for doing small items. In process of getting it all setup and finalized.

Attached is a picture of it. There is a 10'x10'x8' curtain system that goes around it that I still have to install.

The unit is a 4 stage filtration, that recycles the air so you don't have to vent it. The overspray/fumes get sucked in via the bottom of the unit through (3) GFS Wave filters. Behind the wave filters are (3) Galvanized 20x20x2 frames that you fill up with granular carbon. I think it uses Coconut Carbon that you buy in bulk online. Each frame holds about 12 lbs of carbon each. The air comes out the top and passes through (2) filters. The first filter is a 55 or 65 Series Intake booth filter, then a pleated 20x20x2 Activated Charcoal filter. Its got an explosion proof 21" fan with sealed hazardous 2HP motor. I think it does 7500 CFM.

It works really well, i've tested it out spraying the nastiest stuff I can find and there is no smell at all...

My question is the unit did not come with a Manometer. I ordered a Dwyer Mark II manometer. I never used a booth before so I am not 100% familiar with them. I have to run (2) tubes I beleive before and after the filter. On a setup like I have which is not a tradional booth, where would you run the tubes to get the pressure at? Do I run one inside the lower ventilation area, then stick the other unit infront of the intake filters at the bottom? But would overspray get sucked into the tube if I did that way? Or do I actually need (2) Manometers, one for both top and bottom?

 

[shine]

i aint breathing any recycled fumes period. iso's have no smell . i'll pass.

 

[ebaypdllc]

Lol, I work for Lockhead Martin as my regular job. We have these units there and they did testing on these with chemical alot worse then iso's.

Carbon is wierd thing. 5 grams of carbon has the surface area of an entire football field. Just in that lower intake is 36 pounds of granular carbon. It doesnt "mask" the fumes, it completely scrubs and eliminates them by bonding to the carbon molecules.

They use these units when testing nerve gas, which is super nasty stuff.

 

[shine]

your lungs your choice .

 

[DATEC]

You don't have a real need or use for a manometer in that type unit because it is not a completely sealed room and the use of a manometer is only one measuring system that only gives basic room pressure levels.

I agree with Shine never put 100% trust in anything mechanical, mechanical things can and will fail.

 

[Chris_Hamilton]

Agree with DATEC that a manometer will be a complete waste of money as it is a air purifier, not a booth. Manometers are for measuring airflow in a sealed (pressurized) environment. It would be like attaching one to or near a household fan in order to determine the speed to run the fan at. Wouldn't work. No need to measure the airflow in a situation such as yours.
Also remember not all Activated Carbons are alike and they lose potency fairly quickly (as far as scrubbing ISO's is concerned) as they are exposed to moisture and humidity. Ask the guys at Lockheed Martin about that. Example, 3M P95 Respirators are only rated for 24 hours of use. That is also why they provide a bag to seal the respirator up. Leave one out over a weekend the activated charcoal in it is useless as far as scrubbing ISO's. You still won't smell anything as ISO's are essentially odorless and the charcoal still filters out the paint smell but you are getting the full brunt of the ISO's. And everyone reacts differently to ISO's. Some people only need to be exposed for a short time before they start exhibiting sensitivity symptoms etc. Once you start having reactions to ISO's you are done as far as using anything with ISO's again. It is not reversible.
One more thing to ponder, you said that Lockheed Martin guys tested it. What are they using it for? What do they say the recomended changeout time for the carbon is. Does the machine come with any rating/certification as to the type of purified air it provides? Did they specifically test it for Isocyanates? You LOL'ed Shine and said they tested it for way more nasty stuff, but my friend ISO's are nothing to be casual about. If you are doing this in your basement and you have a family I most certainly wouldn't want to expose them.

But like Shine said your lungs your choice.

 

[metalman]

I feel the same way about the face masks that are supplied from the compressor. Has filters and I guess they work but I prefer the air come from a cleaner source. Just knowing what the scum that comes out of the tank drain looks like was enough for me not to want to breath out of that!

 

[shine]

my question is why ???? your breathing the air it is scrubbing so you still need protection . this thing cleans the air being discharged but does 0 for the painter in the booth .

 

[ebaypdllc]

Well you still wear the appropiate clothing and respirator when painting. You paint inside a curtain system which I still have to put up.

The top of the unit can also be reversed if you want to exhaust the air out a window or use it as exhaust system for negative pressure booth setup. I don't spray large items, just small stuff. But so far just playing around with it, I dont smell anything. I sprayed the nastiest stuff I have bulldog adhesion promoter and the smell was completely gone. The carbon and charcoal filters last about 6 months, but they recommend changing them every 3-4 to be safe.

The main selling point for me is I live in Pennsylvaia and we have rough winters and hot summers. Now I can paint in a perfect climate controlled area year round because I dont have to vent the booth.

Here is a video of it how it works:

 

[ebaypdllc]

I was orginally going to go with this booth...But unforunately my ceiling height restriction screwed me over. I wasn't able to do it. Need 9' ceilings minimal.

 

[shine]

makes more sense now. i just couldn't see putting one in my 16x25 booth . keep us posted on how it works out for you .

 

[AAE]

How much was that? There is a similar system that comes with an EZ-UP tent. They want $8k.

 

[ebaypdllc]

Several companies make these. Shop Pro was the orginator, so they charge the most. Cheapest model is about 9K and goes up to 20K attached is pricing they gave me . The marathon booth showed above they quoted me at $10,000 roughly.

I got mine for 5K shipped to my door, however it's a stripped down model. Its galvanized unit, non powdercoated. I plan on spraying the unit with white tacky booth coating. It came with a 3/4 HP 18" explosion proof Dayton Unit. I resold that fan/motor on ebay for $1300 and I upgraded it to a 2HP, 21" Hazardous location/Aluminum tubeaxial fan with a Variable Frequency Drive so thats its more powerful then the 1 1/2 HP top of the line unit they sell. I wanted the ability the be able to regulate the speed of the system so that when parts are curing, I can put it into "idle mode" and suck up the solvent offgasing. I was inspired by the Brutus King 500 which is another company that makes this type of unit. The 2HP 21" fan can pull 8150 CFM at 0.125" Static Presure. I have to get the magnhelic gauge setup so I can see where my baseline is with clean filters installed to see what kinda static pressure I got.

Mine doesn't have the fire supression system but I just bought the appropiate Fire Extingusher just in case there was ever issue. It didn't come with the manometer also but I figured out from pictures online how they did it so i'm going to install that next.

I bought my own curtain system from Goff's Curtain Walls. There unit comes with the 20 mil curtains. I got the upgraded CLEAR VISION, 40 mil, fire proof curtains with the overhead track system for $1,100 shipped. 12'Lx10W'x8'H.

All together I got about $6500 invested. But its basically the same as the brutus or model 5450. The Brutus is $17K and the Model 5450 is $13K

 

[EddieF]

So vacuum gauge is for knowing when filters are clogged?
If air recirculates and nothing is being sucked in/out of booth, then that's the only thing possible.
How much vacuum? Sensitive meters you speak of i know are used for seeing near perfect vacuum when sucking down freon systems before recharging.
A cheap vacuum gauge might do ya.

 

[ebaypdllc]

Looks like its a Magnhelic gauge? Judging by the last picture, they run the tubing behind the intake filter then they got one that goes down bottom of the machine and sneaks up the front. I think I can improve that and maybe put those dwyer static pressure tips and curve it infront of the filters.

 

[Josh G]

Great work getting all that for that price! I’m in the process of opening a shop for small repairs-spot repairs, bumpers, wheels etc, and have been looking at the shop-pro units and really didn’t want to fork out 9k or more. I’m very interested in what you’ve done and I’m thinking I might just copy your exactly! So does shop pro sell the unit that you bought?