Spray Booth Filters
Proper Filtration Goes Beyond Selecting a Filter
The Importance of Proper Spray Booth Filtration
At John Baker Sales, we have over 54 years of institutional experience, and we can safely say we’ve witnessed or heard about almost every conceivable scenario and crisis related to paint booths, tools and accessories, and that includes a lot of avoidable disasters caused by improper filtration and improper maintenance techniques. The Golden Rule of paint booth filters is simple: they must be changed regularly to ensure your spray booth is efficient, compliant and reliable. Simply put, when you fail to regularly change your filters, it will directly lead to paint contamination, booth failure, regulatory liability and, ultimately, loss of revenue.
Regularly changing your filter is great, but it’s equally important to ensure that your filters are properly sized and manufactured with the best materials. At John Baker Sales, we recommend that our clients avoid fiberglass filters, as they do not provide an optimal filtration experience! Instead, trust our team of experts to select a filter for your system that will maximize filtration efficiency and protect your revenue. Finally, our on-site equipment installation and maintenance services will guarantee that your booth filtration is operating at peak efficiency.
Purchase Your Filter
You have many choices available when it comes to purchasing a filter, but not all filters and filter purchases are equal. Some filters include installation services, while others include installation by shop personnel. It’s important to know exactly what you need before you complete your purchase.
You may be tempted to purchase a less-expensive filter, but don’t be fooled – an inferior filter may be costlier to your business in the long run, as a lack of quality air diffusion can damage your paint booth. We discourage our customers from purchasing fiberglass filters for this exact reason. Instead of settling for fiberglass, we recommend choosing a polyester-type product.
The manufacturer of your spray booth may have recommended a filter change schedule based on operating hours, but unless your technicians are keeping strict records, this can prove to be a faulty method of scheduling. Instead of leaving your equipment vulnerable to human error, we can install gauges that can help you determine an optimal and accurate filter change schedule. Our experts can help ensure your gauge is accurate through on-site testing, custom gauge marking and by leaving a repository of extra filters on-site, allowing your employees or technicians to change the filter immediately when needed.
Determining The Right Filter For Your Booth
Before you begin the process of replacing the filter on your equipment, it is vital that you accurately measure to ensure that you’re purchasing the right filter. We see filters cut short and not wide enough quite often. The air that will bypass the filter has paint in it that attaches to fan blades and causes them operate out of balance. This leads to vibration of the system that damages bearings and other components, loosens electrical connections causing additional failures.
It’s important to learn how to determine when a dirty filter needs to be changed. Filters should be replaced when the static pressure across the filter has exceeded the point in which the fan can no longer effectively overcome it. If you need assistance making this determination by sight alone, an expert on filters should be consulted.
Automatic Notification of Dirty Filters
If you’re unsure whether your air filtration system is operating at peak efficiency, don’t leave it up to chance! Instead, consider installing an Air Pressure Switch. These switches are device-independent, and we can install a switch system that will notify your employees via a warning light of improper air pressure anywhere on-site, from your production floor to your management office. A switch system can also be configured to automatically shut down a spray booth immediately or after a specific amount of time.
John Baker Sales installs static pressure gauges like the one in the photo. We determine the proper change out static pressure and mark the gauge accordingly. This takes out all the guess work. You leave the filters in for just the right amount of time and as long as a good quality filter is used and provides a 100% seal (very important!!) you will not cause unnecessary damage to your spray booth.
