I'm planning on having a dedicated area in my basement for painting, I would vent the entire "room" to the outside using a powerful fan and filter designed for grow rooms.

This are could be near my furnace, which would allow me to have a sink for cleanup, or in a way distant place, that has water, but no drain for a sink

Is there a danger of explosion if I use spray cans and airbrush near the furnace, if the area is well vented

Can't say for sure without seeing,how much overspray gets out,if any at all ? Does the furnace have an open flame burner,or is it a high efficiency sealed burner compartment.all so there are some factors.

Also depends on the paint you spray. Anything petroleum based, enamels and lacquers are potentially flammable. IIRC even Tamiya paints have a flammable warning on them. In any case probably best to err on the safe side and have your booth set up away from the furnace.

most likely the concentration of flammable particles/gasses will not be high enough to start a fire, but then again: have you ever seen a victim with burn wounds????? There is a reason why spray booths have motors that don't spark. Do you want to be a nominee for the Darwin Awards...that's the question.

I would save up some money and get a dedicated spray booth that can handle flammable paints. Several brands here in the US.

Pace Enterprises comes to mind..

Pace got a not so great review here. I think they're more into paint shop (like 1:1 cars) than hobby.

I paint everything from 1/35 tanks to 1/200 battleships, to 1/32 bombers i.e little to BIG.

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll go with the room way away from the furnace

I'll post pictures once I'm up and spraying.

Better safe than sorry. ALL of the fluid vehicles used in model paints, other than water, are potential fire hazards.

That said, short of pouring a lot of paint or thinner into the air right next to your furnace, there is little risk of fire and less of explosion. As a general rule with volatile solvents, unless you can smell a lot of the stuff around, it's not likely to be at a high-enough concentration to either ignite or sustain any fire. Now, if you are also pouring a lot of pure O2 into the same air-space... Otherwise, there would have been many, many more basement fires and explosions from folks painting and varnishing stuff and cleaning brushes with thinner, etc., than have actually happened. Us model-painters seldom actually get enough total solvent volume into our hobby-spaces (unless they are really small closets) in any one painting session to get near to combustion concentrations even if all you are doing is stirring your air around and not actually venting it away.

Almost all of the volatiles and vapors we use are actually fairly heavy and tend to sink down towards the floor - they act more like propane gas than hydrogen gas; A good extraction fan mounted to pull air from under a booth is a good route to get more of the vapors out. I've always worked with a down-draft ventilator that pulls my fumes and vapor down and out. And a belt-drive squirrel-cage with a sealed motor or some similar "sparkles" set-up is a good and safer thing no matter where you set your booth.

But be safe and avoid all the un-necessary risk!

Bob

Just a secondary consideration. Paint and cleaner fumes will also corrode the internals of a water heater and cause the water tank to fail. All kinds of things in a basement that need to be taken care of.

Pace makes hobby paint booths and by no means i'm advocating Pace as the only hobby paint booth supplier out there. There are plenty that make hobby paint booths that can handle flammable paints.

Heck, i made my own booth with an explosion proof fan found on eBay.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Most of these stories about booth explosions etc , are that; stories. Or every time someone posted a booth thread there would be , YouTube videos, newspaper articles , books and ACTUAL PROOF that booths are dangerous. I built booths in sign shops with explosion proof glass etc. All to satisfy insurance companies whose reps told me it was because of guys who torched there own business' for the money. Which sounds more likely?

Make sure you have a fresh air feed to replace the air your grow-op fan removes, you'll be fine.

This is one instance where I would support overkill.

I would even isolate the booth in a make-shift room to keep anything from entering the furnace area.

Like it was mentioned before... not visually seeing what we are working with I wouldn't say it's okay.




Jeff

Don't use anything flammable near your furnace. If it's cooler in the basement than the rest of your home, flammable vapors could settle toward the floor and find their way into the furnace.

Just not worth the risk even with the positive mechanical ventilation you intend to provide. Be safe...ALWAYS!

the plan is now to turn a storage room that's about 6x10 with 9' ceiling into the "spray room" I will be venting this to the outside through the rim joist.

Do you know of a very high capacity vent fan I might use?

I've come across this but it would only pull from high, I think I need high and low based on comments about the fumes going to the floor

http://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Sun-Inline-Exhaust-Blower/dp/B005UGX04C

google
modelling spray booth fire
Good info comes up,nothing about actual fires. I used a fan from an old air conditioner, scrapped everything else , kept the fan and wiring. As long as you dont spray directly into the fan then light a lighter or something exceptionally stupid like that you'll be ok. 500 cfm sounds good for the room dimensions you provide.Make a box for a filter set up with a hose to the fan then a hose exhausting. Make sure there is a fresh air feed to replace the air exhausted.
Good luck!

So is your house insurance paid up and how good is your health insurance? Just asking?
I paint in my carport storage room. I model next to the open door. It's Arizona so the weather is OK most of the time.

I'm in the Denver area, so the weather can be almost anything. 50's to 70's this week, yes 70. but can have snow on mother's day

I would think that by the time you got to a vapor concentration high enough to cause a furnace explosion you'll already be dead from the fumes....

i am of the same idea...ca be a job for the "MythBusters"...

I have a Pace Peacekeeper Deluxe and love it. Really pulls the fumes out of the shop and not too loud when the fan is running. I use about 5 foot of dryer hose to the window and it works great. Good light also. With Testors Dullcoat, spray primer and enamels it really makes a difference.

So what do you consider a spray booth? A card board box or something with an exhaust fan that vents outside? If you are using a booth with a fan venting outside , you should be just fine. If the fumes are venting outdoors, there will be little fumes inside. Jut don't spray lacquer thinner into the furnace flames. You remember the lisol can and the match?

Or pouring powdered coffee creamer over a match?

I have read about the hazards of fumes around paint boots/furnaces/etc. for years. I am convinced that the risk (risk = probability X severity) is low for what I consider the hobbyist, yet I believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.

Hi Dave, I spray all the time in my basement next to the furnace using a cardboard box under an open window. I have not had any problems. As added safety, I just turn off my furnace using the breaker switch durning spraying, and turn it back on after spraying and letting any fumes dissapate from my basement. Most all furnaces have a dedicated breaker switch, so just turn it off to be safe. I have been doing this for 25 years with no problems. Hope this helps, best regards.....Dale

Warning label on my gas boiler and water heater



So they do warn us

lots of buzz about this, thanks

the only reason I considered doing this near the furnace and water heater is that I have water and a drain line available. That would let me include a cleanup sink in "booth" that can get a little grubby.

If I use my other alternative, I'll have to cross over a carpeted area to get to the nearest sink, which is in a bathroom, and I don't want to trash that with paint or spill on the carpet.

I was just in the area, and noticed that both the furnace and water heater are the sealed type that get combustion air from outside, and exhaust to the outside through large PVC pipes

so I don't think there's any danger, as long as I exhaust my stuff well away from where they draw their combustion air.

am I right