Spray Booth Gone Wrong .

G,day , found this on the model cars magazine web site and thought everybody should be warned . Be very careful when making your own spray booth .




I know this topic has come up in the past but it needs to be discussed again. I friend of mine built his own spray paint booth from a kitchen stove exhaust hood that he was using in his garage. Last night he was using it when it caught on fire. He has burns on his chest, arms, face and head. His wife told me he has no eyebrows, eye lashes or hair left on his head. He also wears contact lenses which melted in his eyes from the fire. He's in pretty bad shape and was transferred to a Shriners burns hospital in Boston. He was using Testors rattle can enamel on an airplane model that he was building. His wife told me she herd a boom sound then a scream. When she opened the door into the garage his shirt was on fire. Luckily there daughter's boy friend was there and he used a fire extinguisher on him to put out the fire. If anyone is using a home made spray booth don't use it anymore. The fan motor windings are exposed and will ignite paint fumes and vapors. You need to use a motor this is in a vapor proof or explosion proof case. This guy Dennis is 47 years old and is a pipe fitter by trade, ironically he installs fire sprinklers. I didn't intend to ruin anyone's dinner, but I hope it may help save yourself from getting hurt, or worse. Sorry for the gloom and doom, be careful!

Holy crap.sorry to here about your mate,
I was talking to kirk at rocky about paint booths and he mentioned using an exhaust fan/range hood from a stove and that was somthing i thought of later how it would go with paint fumes.
I actually use computer fans on my booth and it's all ducted to outside, but I'm yet to set up a filter system to it.

I've heard of a similar story to this before with someone using a range-hood, mind you I've been using that setup for about 8 years without a drama and know of a few others that use the same setup - I always make sure the area is well ventilated before painting though. I've got to admit though mine's been getting used less and less since 1st hearing of them igniting, I think were possible nothing beats painting in the fresh air outdoors

I think it was Bluedog talking about that Trent, I spray in the open then put it in my warm box.........no the other one
I tried computer fans but was creating a vortex so don't spray in it anymore just heat and dry and keep crap out of the paint.
I think also the yanks may have different rules and regs as far as designs standards go so maybe our range hoods are better protected Power set up and voltage is different.

we have been suffering a bit of excess humidity of late so I have been using the warm box before and after spraying. I have 2 old computer fans that are set in the sides at the bottom of the box with holes in a false floor above the fans to draw the heavier paint downwards (as in 1:1 scale paint booths) the PC fans seem to be well sealed, are only 12 volt (I butchered an old phone charger to power them) and it works well enough. I would have thought an exhaust fan or range hood created too much draft in a small booth. Thats my 2 cents worth

spray booths, computer fans, range hoods, sh#t i just spray outside then hit with a blimin hair dryer and im suposed to compete with you guys lol i guess u can say im a back yard painter then hey allthough i would like to c one to c just how big they are if not to big i mite make one

Have a look at this boothy, it's not hard. https://ozautobuilders.forumotion.com/general-chit-chat-f2/my-warm-box-t1707.htm

cool thanks tubman

It'll be the propellant exploding rather than the paint.
Never would have happened in the old days when we didn't care about the ozone layer...

were ment to care for the ozone layer ,you meen we cant paint out side, ummm well lucky i dont do that then hey oh yeah i just rememberd i had to do somthing

My current spray booth is the boxy shroud from an old CRT tv set! Sure it doesn't extract fumes & overspray, but keeps them contained from contaminating the floor and other stuff in the shed....and I keep the door open for fresh air.