Paint Booth Filters – Reviews and Guide (Includes Video)
While it may seem like a small component of your painting work, your paint booth filters can have a greater impact on your work then you think. Spray booth filters capture overspray, protecting your paint booth fan from excessive paint build up, they are something that needs regular maintenance which costs you time as it is time spent not painting, and they are a consumable so they are an expense in your painting work. Given these three reasons, paint booth filters are a good thing to have an understanding of the different options available so that you can best know which type of paint booth filter may work best for your application.
Choosing a Paint Booth Filter Factor 1 – Filter Grams and Filter Depth
The grams that a paint spray booth filter is rated for will determine two primary factors, one is how much paint the filter will hold before needing to be replaced, and to a certain extent the efficiency of the paint booth filter. Common gram options that paint booth filters are offered in include 22 gram and 15 gram other filters will not have a gram rating but will have a greater filter depth which means the paint booth filter will perform better, these are filters like Paint Pockets and the E28 series paint booth filter. The lower the gram rating the less holding capacity of the filter and less time it will last, meaning greater frequency of changing out filters which also can mean increased fees for disposal or the cost of man time spent changing out filters. This can be a good thing to consider so that you can better decide if a lower or higher gram filter will make better sense. The video guide below shows each filter so you can better understand how dense the filter is.
Choosing a Paint Booth Filter Factor 2 – Blanket or Pads
Paint booths typically come with a pad style paint booth filter by default. However you can also convert a paint booth to a paint booth blanket filter system. A blanket system allows for quicker changeout of your paint booth filters and can reduce the cost of your filters as you can buy paint booth filters in blanket rolls that are a variety of widths ranging from 24 – 48” and 300 feet in length, with the price per foot significantly lower than a pad style filter. Additionally change out can be quicker with a paint booth blanket filter. The main drawback to a blanket style filter is that they can be heavier to change out because they will capture more overspray than a pad and you have to install a system to hold the filter rather than the standard grids that you already have with your paint booth. That being said a blanket can be a great way to save changeout time and filter costs.
Choosing a Paint Booth Filter Factor 3 – Multi or Single Stage System
For certain painting applications (like aerospace coatings) you have to use a multi stage filter system which is NESHAP compliant. A multi stage paint booth filter system will typically be made up of a pocket cube filter and a sacrificial first layer filter or two intermediate layers. While NESHAP will require a multi stage filter system, you may also consider a pocket filter behind a sacrificial first layer filter as a potential option to reduce the overall costs of your filters. Paint booth pocket filters are initially expensive costing around $4.50 per cube but you can use a very light gram front layer filter which can reduce the overall filter costs. More importantly a cube style filter behind a first layer filter will provide some of the greatest overspray capture, making it a great option if your concerned about overspray not being caught by your paint booth filters. Paint booth pocket filters are offered in various depths as well as number of pockets.The deeper the pocket and more pockets the pocket filter has the greater overspray it will hold.
Choosing a paint booth filter Factor 4 – Paint Booth Filter Material
The material that a paint booth filter is made of will impact its efficiency at capturing paint and holding paint. Fiberglass is one of the most common paint booth filter materials and is the most common in use today, sometimes paper is added to a filter for specific applications.
Paint Booth Filters Reviewed
Most of the time the minimum recommended gram we suggest is a 22 gram filter because it is still 99% efficient (15 gram filters are 98% efficient) and will tend to last a while. If you want to use a 15 gram filter you can, it makes an especially good option for a sacrificial filter in a 2 stage system with a pocket filter. Usually, a filter like the Paint Pockets or E28 is ideal for the longevity of time between changing out filters. In general, each step up in filter quality should result in a performance increase of about 20 – 50% depending on the material your spraying and a variety of factors. For a better understanding of the filters, the video shows each type of filter so you can see them, their thickness, and quality differences.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately your paint booth filter impacts a lot of things from the costs of your painting (as filters are consumables), to downtime for maintenance. Having a good understanding of paint booth filters can help you make sure you choose a filter that will provide good protection but also be cost effective. You can check out our complete selection of paint booth filters here