Selecting a Paint Booth For Your Facility
Paint booths will contribute significantly to the finish and production you achieve in your paint department. Below are the key factors to consider.
Booth air flow
Crossdraft – Most Cost Efficient airflow design; Typically best for large paint booths;
Downdraft – Cleanest finish, requires concrete cut usually; more expensive than crossdraft design
Side Downdraft – similar cleanliness to downdraft but more expensive
Replacement air for paint booths – Needed or Not?
The amount of time before you run out of heated air in your building will be calculated by the design of your paint booth and the size of your building. The air flow in CFM of a crossdraft booth is based on the width and height of the booth x 100. The air flow of a downdraft paint booth design is based on the length and width of the booth footprint x 50 fpm and the side downdraft design is the same as a downdraft paint booth. Calculate how many cfm of air your paint booth will remove. For a 14 x 10 cross draft booth this would be 14,000 CFM.
Next calculate your buildings square footage and multiply by height. A 100 x 100 building with a 20 foot roof would be 200,000 cubic feet of space. Divide the building cubic feet by the CFM of the booth to determine how many minutes it will be before your building heat is gone. If less than 30 minutes you should definitely get an air make up if more than 1 hour it will be up to you to decide how much you will be painting and whether an air make up makes sense.
Cure Capability
If you are going to buy a heater it almost always makes sense to include paint curing with your paint booth. Including paint curing will allow you to reduce the drying time of solvent based paints.
Additional Resources