Exhaust Fan Advice

[NJMike]

Hi! I have had a miller dynasty for over 2 years now, and im trying to get myself a good set up in my shed for hobby work. Im insulating and running wire as of now, so before i close up the walls i want to have everything wired and ready to go. I will mainly be tig welding aluminum, but id also like to pick myself up my own mig machine. I also work on Atv's and motorcycles in here and every so often will run them. From what i've read tig doesnt produce fumes on its own, but from contaminants. Basicly i want some advice on what size exhaust(CFM wise) i should go with. In the summer if im mig welding ill open the double doors, but in the winter id like to be warm. My welding space is a 12x9x8. Two single pane windows and a double door. I was going to pick up a broan 180 CFM fan, but im not 100% sure its sized for the job.
Thanks for your help and time,
Mike

[Bistineau]

That fan would be a start on the ventilation, maybe installed near the work bench where you do most of the welding. If it proves to not be enough sometimes, then you could put a box fan in one of the windows(or both) blowing out. Just use them as needed to supplement the Broan, other times you could have it keeping you cooler in the summer.

[MMW]

With that fan you will be replacing the interior air about once every 5 minutes. Being a small space I would say yes it will work as tig does not produce much if any "smoke". Don't forget you will need to crack a window or put a vent in elsewhere to let fresh air come in. Worst case open the window & door if it is really bad. Don't forget you will be sucking out your heat also.

12x9x8= 864 cf /180cfm = 4.8 minutes

[elvis]

Hey Mike-

bistineau has some good points. I like to have the fan pulling air away from the welding area as close as possible. If you are trying to keep it warm then you can get away with a lower cfm fan and pull the air as close as possible that you are not interfering with the shielding gas. Also mounting a fan up high can work well in the summer as you can get extra heat and welding smoke out of the building.

Check out this fan for near the table. I think you could mount it in the wall and then run a flexible duct down to your welding area with a device to position it in the right spot.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280888077583...84.m1423.l2649

[Meltedmetal]

Don't know how tight your room is but in a room that small keep in mind that not only does your shielding gas not support combustion it doesn't support life either. You might want to look at infrared heating and be sure you ventilate enough.
Meltedmetal

[Hammer65]

I have a shop in a 10'x9'x8' shed, my fix for ventilation was a shop vac placed outside with a flexible hose running in with a collector on the end, I place it anywhere on the bench where I'm welding.Not only does it remove the fumes, when I'm done working I vacuum up any slag and dust that I've created.

[NJMike]

Thanks for all the advice fellas. I ended up getting a 250 cfm inline fan with speed control. Right now as far as heat i have 2 space heaters, which ill probably upgrade to a single unit eventually.

[clint738]

Thanks for all the advice fellas. I ended up getting a 250 cfm inline fan with speed control. Right now as far as heat i have 2 space heaters, which ill probably upgrade to a single unit eventually.

Where did you pick up your inline fan with speed control? I'm interested in this as well.

[NJMike]

Where did you pick up your inline fan with speed control? I'm interested in this as well.

I picked it up from a local hvac company we do business with. Its a greenheck fan.

[HomerJSapien]

I just made a fume extractor out of 3 50cfm bathroom fans and they work great. I open the garage door just a crack and I run the 4" exhaust underneath it. I've got it posted with pictures in the Welding Projects section in case you're interested. I used 3 because they were very cheap at $14 each. No more fumes or smoke in my face or in the garage.