How often To Change Paint Booth Filters – A Guide
Why Paint Booth Filters Matter
Paint booth filters help collect over spray which refers to coating that has not been applied to your products surface. By efficiently collecting over spray, your paint booth filter provides a few benefits.
- They protect your paint booths fan from over spray build up.
- They prevent excessive overs spray from escaping your paint booth’s exhaust chamber resulting in coating potentially ruining vehicles or other objects outside of the paint booth’s exhaust.
- A proper paint booth filter that meets all requirements set by the EPA will ensure you are meeting proper regulation requirements (which primarily means the filter meets a minimum efficiency of capturing over spray).
- By properly maintaining your paint booth filters you can help maintain a cleaner painting environment which can help in achieving a quality finish.
How Often To Change Your Paint Booth Filters
There are two ways you can determine if your paint booth filters should be changed. One way is primarily visual and the other is via a visual gauge. To visually monitor your paint booth filters you can often base the need for change on any changes in visibility you may see in your paint booth. If you start seeing the air in the paint booth appear as if over spray is in it usually you will want to consider changing paint booth filters. If your filters are relatively new it might be the paint booth itself needs to be checked. In addition to the visual method you can also use a visual gauge called a manometer. When using a manometer you want to make sure you install it appropriately and perform the initial calibration correctly. For an idea of how to install and calibrate a paint booth manometer you can check out this guide.
Once you have performed the initial calibration which you do by installing clean filters in the paint booth. Assuring the manometer is set at 0 when the paint booth is on. Turning the paint booth on and marking a line where the gauge oil measures on the manometer. This gives you a clean benchmark which means the resistance your filters provide when they are brand new. From the clean bench mark you will typically place a mark anywhere from 0.25 to 0.5” of water column higher on the gauge this is often based on recommendations from your filter provider as well as OSHA and the EPA in your state. When the filters become filled with over spray the manometer reading will rise and you should change paint booth filters at that time (or if the air seems to be lazy prior to the manometers change out point is reached).
Conclusion
By routinely and properly changing your paint booth filters you can help maximize the life of your paint booth, reduce over spray from going into the atmosphere, meet proper regulations, and ensure quality finishes for your paint process. To know when to change the filters using both a visual gauge and your overall monitoring of your paint booths condition can ensure you change your filters at an appropriate interval.