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I stumbled across this Mannix booth on ebay. Is anyone here familiar with this carbon recycler technology? Will it realy remove all VOC's from the airflow and return clean air back to the shop? I would be sceptical about using this with nitro, but would it remove the fumes from oil varnish? - Justin

"This paint station recycles the air and supplies it back to the room.
There is no need for make-up air, eliminating heat loss.
Carbon filters strip the VOC's from the air stream." - This is the quote from the add...

I have no first-hand experience with this booth, but it appears to meet some OSHA specs. You can check on line to see if the specs meet your needs. Since this booth utilizes special filters to capture the VOCs, the replacement cost of these filters should be a big consideration. Also, it looks like it uses a 3-phase motor. Unless you have 3-phase power available in your shop, a converter adds another chunk of money to the mix. Just some considerations that come to mind.
Craig

My question would be how much to replace the filters and how often?
Initial costs seems OK, but what about operating costs?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Do you have a 10' ceiling? That looks like the height with the fan and filtration system. If not, the system can't work for you.

I'd be kind of wary about recirculating spray booth exhaust. I guess it's convenient not to deal with intake and exhaust, but I'd want some hard data on how efficiently those carbon filters remove VOC's and for how long and how much it costs to keep replacing them to keep the efficiency up.

Price is good. Why not contact them and see about a conventional exhaust and a single phase motor? You don't need 1hp for this size booth, BTW. 1/2hp is enough. Going to 6' wide might be a good idea if you have the room and $$.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

The fan and carbon filters can be mounted on the side of the unit at no additional charge making the total height 7 feet. Also a single phase motor is available for a $30 upcharge. The amount of time I spend finishing makes this a rather extravagant purchase, but I think it would be a very long time before I needed to replace the filters (about 5 guitars a year)... I'm just curious as to how effective it would be at removing VOCs...

Does the manufacturer of the booth have numbers? I would think so.

From what I can see on the net, a lot of recirculating, manned booths require good respiratory gear in order to meet OSHA standards. That would mean airing out the whole shop after spraying if you don't have a dedicated room for the booth. And if you do have a dedicated room, getting clean replacement air for a conventional booth is not a big deal. Getting the exhaust out the roof is a bigger deal, but not rocket science. Of course, then the issue can be where your neighbors are located.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I wouldn't spend that on a booth, especially for spraying oil based varnish. I'm not crazy about the recirculation, but carbon filters are supposed to effectively scrubb away VOC's. There's a bunch of fairly new VOC regualtions for automotive body shops. Their booths, at least the "approved" booths I've seen (even though they don't recirculate) use carbon filters to reduce (or eliminate?) VOC emissions. I don't know how often these filters require replacement, or how expensive they are. Carbon filters are...."filtering" all the time, if they're not locked in an airtight container. I suspect amount of usage wouldn't have a big effect on how often they need replacing.

FWIW the newish VOC regulations, at least here in NC don't apply for spraying 3 ounces or less at a time.

For spraying 1 guitar at a time, with oil based Varnish I'd recommend a box fan placed in an open window. Send the price of the booth to the charity of your choice.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Thank you all for the responses. Lot's of good info. If I decide to go the oil varnish route a may just build a booth and exhaust out the window. Woody, are you saying that explosion proof fans are not necessary for oil varnish? I think I remember hearing that before also...

Local, or insurance regulations may require an explosion proof fan, but Varnish isn't explosive. Spraying 1 guitar at a time would probably be considered a "low volume operation" exempt from some regulations. A fan with some kind of filter in front of it to filter out the overspray, or a belt driven fan where the motor is located outside the airflow should work great. Varnish take a long time to cure, so a dust free spraying area is important.

I have a dedicated booth, in a building seperate from my shop, with an explosion proof fan........but in addition to Varnish I also spray Nitro, 2K urethane and Polyester. I also use my booth things other than guitars. I got my explosion proof fan used from a body shop that was upgrading their booth to meet new VOC regs.

_________________
I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/