Q: Is there a safe way to set up a separate room for spraying shellac? I was going to put a fan with a TEFC motor and exhaust through the window to the outside, and cut a hole in the room door for intake air.
A: There’s a bit more to it than that, but you certainly have the basic idea right. You want to evacuate the air in the room and replace it with clean air. You want to always be standing in the flow of clean air, and will want to efficiently move the solvent laden air out quickly and with good flow. That’s where spray booths come in. Simply put, a booth acts like a funnel. You stand in the large end, with clean air coming in behind you, and spray toward the small end which has a fan to gather the flow and move it quickly outside. Typically, there is a set of filters over the fan to clean the air of particulate before it goes outside.
All that is fairly simple, but here’s where it gets complicated. There are a host of laws and safety regulations regarding spraying of flammable liquids. They involve wiring, lighting, booth and room materials, types of fans and filters, and even the sheet rock on the walls and ceiling. A business subject to OSHA and EPA rules must be concerned with these. A hobby shop has the choice to ignore them, but they would be wise to speak to at least two people before they make that plunge; their homeowner’s insurance agent, and the local fire marshal. Get the blessing on your spray room design from those two and you are good to go.
Michael Dresdner
straight talk about wood finishing
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