Ventilating the Studio!

[Adrian]

HI All

Regular readers may remember the saga of my Stained Glass Studio - out here in the far south-west of Ireland...

The good news is that it's now roofed, waterproof, floored and mostly fittted out - and is in daily use for stained / fused glass work....

However - due to some slight misunderstandings between me and the Shedman - i've ended up with a Studio without any ventilation. This is Bad News - not only as the place gets pretty warm with the Irish Sunshine (yes, really !) beating down on the large felted roof, but also because there are various processes that take place inside the studio which generate nasty fumes (soldering, some kiln-work etc)

So - any suggestions as to the best way to provide ventilation. The shed construction is 3/4" shiplap on 3x2, with 11mm OSB as the internal lining.

I think I need two types of ventilation - general 'trickle' ventilation (probably all the time) and specific 'forced' ventilation when I'm soldering.

For the trickle venting I thought about the kind of round plastic soffit vents that you'd fit into UPVC -

for the forced venting I happen to have three mains PAPST fans (6" diameter, I think) that I was going to sit 'side-by-side' above the soldering workbench - with some kind of sloping wooden 'roof' on the outside to keep the rain out.... might even fit a dimmer to give variable speed extract !

Any comments / suggestions / etc ??

Many thanks Adrian

[Clive Mitchell]

In message , Adrian writes

That's a bit home-made sounding. A traditional Xpelair type fan with speed controller above your bench might be better and could take those solder fumes away nicely.

[Adrian]

HI Clive Thanks for the reply

After all - this is uk-diy

Yes - it's the unquantifiable 'might be' that I was wrestling with..... ......and I do happen to have these three fans 'by me'.

I know that the traditional low-voltage PC fans tend to be more 'air stirrers' than 'extractors' - but I remember that these little mains fans were somewhat more effective when I tested them back in England before we moved..

The soldering area is about 2 ft wide - so I was imagining putting these fans along the back wall, behind the soldering bench - maybe spaced 6" apart - and seeing what that might do. For the sake of visual appearance I was going to build the 'sloping vent' arrangement on the outside, sealed at the top with mastic and open at the bottom.....

I'm guessing that it'd be more effective to have the three fans spaced out along the 2ft rather than tucked up close to each other...?

I know I _could_ just go buy an Xplair - but I have 'the bits' by me - and the whole Studio thing has cost considerable more than I was intending already......

Any thoughts on the general 'trickle' or 'eaves' venting ??

Regards Adrian

[Andrew Gabriel]

If these are the same mains PAPST fans I have, you can't change the speed of these fans that way -- they're fixed speed based on mains frequency. If you try, they'll quite likely overheat. You could switch one, two, or all three of them on.

[Adrian]

Hi Andrew

Thanks for the reply

Aha ! - thought there's be a catch Ah well - your plan for a triple-switched arranagement would be fine.

Are they likely to be better (more effective) with the fans mounted near to where the soldering is taking place and 'pushing' the air towards the extract duct - or to mount the fans at the 'outside' end of the duct, 'sucking'....

My guess is that the first plan is going to work better. Also, if we're going to design for the possibility of individually-switched fans, the 'duct' probably wants to be three separate ducts internally....?

I guess a bit of 'suck it & see' is called for....

In case anybody's wondering why I'm going to so much trouble - in stained glass we use a rather agressive liquid flux, and a sal-ammoniac block (helps keep the soldering iron tinned). Both of these give off some fairly unpleasant fumes - and, since I can be soldering for an hour or so at a time, I think a bit of 'health & safety' wouldn't go amiss....

Regards Adrian

[Stephen Howard]

You'd be best off with the fans placed above the hearth, pushing fumes up and out via a hood over the work area. Ideally the fans should be situated inside the hood. Soldering fumes will be hot, and will therefore rise - and the last thing you want is any forced air across the hearth that will act both to cool the work and disperse the fumes around the workshop. Also, if you're using a gas gun you'll find that a breeze across the hearth can play havoc with the accuracy of the flame.

Regards,

[Adrian]

OK - like a cooker hood...?

Understood. I was hoping that the draught would serve to get the fumes away and out through the wall asap.... all depends on how strong the draught is, I suppose....

I've been using a little fan/filter arrangement from Maplin, but it's not really powerful enough unless you're soldering immediately in front of it - which isn't always possible as some items are simply too big..

As to cooling, shouldn't be a big issue, but I'll bear it in mind

No - we use electric irons - either 60W or 100W temperature-controlled

- plenty of heat available, but you need it when you're melting 5mm bar solder !

Thanks for the comments Adrian