As many of you have read I am converting an area in my basement into
a studio. In talking with contractors it is clear to me they do not
understand what we need for ventilation. This is hobby but I would
like to plan for safety. Could some one please share what they use.
Thank all of you for your many suggestions, the work starts this
weekend. Sue
Suzanne Angell
Development Coordinator
Graphic Communications Group,
Document Imaging Division
1041 Ridge Road West
Rochester, New York 14652-3495
Phone: 585-726-7801
Fax: 585-726-0129
email:@suzanne.angell
There are a couple of options for ventilating solder fumes in a
closed environment such as a basement. A standard hood with fan
design that pulls air from the room and vents it outdoors or a
self-contained filtration unit that requires no outside venting.
A hidden cost behind standard venting (to the outdoors) is increased
heating bills in winter and air conditioning bills in summer as the
system is pulling heated/cooled room air along with the fumes and
spilling it outdoors. I imagine a basement in Rochester in the winter
has a high enough heating bill, so I’d recommend a self-contained air
filtration unit.
These units offer a series of filters designed to absorb the harmful
fumes. Here at Gesswein we sell two brands but I personally like the
Quatro SolderPure.
(A quick aside:
Some readers may regard with suspicion advice from an employee of a
company that sells this equipment. That’s understandable. And those
people may want to stop reading right now. But please be aware that
we do not manufacture the equipment and in fact, you can buy Quatro
units from many different distributors, not just Gesswein. I have
used the Quatro unit myself and I have sold it to many customers
who’ve been quite happy with it. I’ve used other brands as well and I
like Quatro best for the reasons listed below.)
The Quatro SolderPure has a 4-stage filtration system and returns
99.97%clean air back to the room so no outside ventilation is
necessary. A capture hood on an articulated arm catches fumes at the
source – so you can position the hood immediately behind or to the
side of the solder area and pull those fumes before they get near
your nose or dispersed in the air. That’s a big reason I prefer this
type of unit over, say, an updraft hood.
I had a carpenter to install a dryer vent in the exterior wall of my
studio ($80).
I then purchased a very quiet bathroom fan and flexible duct that is
positioned directly behind my soldering station to draw the fumes
away from me and to the fan ($118). The fan I got moves 70 cubic feet
per minute and is very quiet (it was mounted as one of the demo fans
at the store so I knew how quiet it would be).
I have my shop in the basement of my home. I can tell you from past
experiences, the fumes of Pickle and solder will travel throughout
the house. Especially if the AC or heat is on at the time. It will
pick it up and take the fumes to every section of your home.
After a month of so of that, I put in ventilation, changed to a
citric based pickle (real safe and works great) and built my own
solder ventilation hood from found parts. Ive since upgraded the
venting system and it works much better. (I had a water pipe crack at
the washing machine and boxes of clothes and books got wet. My shop
vent fan was able to help dry and pull the stench of the wet
cardboard out in less than half a day. Basically, it sucks!) This
was really a must do 5 years ago when my first daughter was born. I
just couldn’t imagine subjecting her tiny lungs to any possible
fumes.
I take your Quatro suggestion without suspicion. I went to your web
site and checked it out; and I have a further question that might be
of general interest to other Orchid readers. How often do filters
have to be replaced on the Quatro unit?
I agree as well on the quarto units. The history and there
background is excellent. The service is on the ball. As well when the
stuff is refined the return on the dollar is great
Andy " The Tool Guy" Kroungold
Tool Sales / Technical
Stuller Inc
Phone 800-877-7777 ext. 94194
Fax 337-262-7791
