Adding Add Heat and Brake Capabilities to a Non-Heated Paint Booth
Choosing the right spray paint booth can be quite tricky. The term can mean anything, from a plain space with a fan to a high-tech booth with a complex system and varied features. Of course, you will have to choose depending on your needs.
If you’ve been researching spray paint booths, you may already know the different types they come in including crossdraft, semi-downdraft, downdraft and side-draft. But if you’re thinking of adding heat and brake capabilities to a non-heated spray paint booth, you need to seriously consider the move, especially its impact on your total costs.
Custom shops may not require upgrades, but if volume will be part of your business model, you probably will. While adding heat to your booth, make it a point to recycle it so you can save thousands of dollars a year.
Cheaper spray paint booths often cost the most to retrofit. For example, you cannot supply heat to a cross-draft booth through its doors. That will call for major alterations and be insanely expensive. In a similar way,installing a heat recycle in specific cross-draft booths can be done, but the cost will be through the roof.
Semi-downdraft booths are relatively simpler to retrofit when you want to add heat. Because there’s little metal customization or on-site work to be done, the costs of installation and labor will be low.
Adding heat recycle is going to be difficult and expensive due to the exhaust’s location at the rear of the booth. Most certainly, the project will require significant amounts of ductwork. When it comes to side downdraft spray paint booths, retrofitting with heat is easier since the ducts run along the sidewalls. It’s also as easy to add heat recycling because the heater may be connected to the exhaust duct practically anywhere. Depending on the layout, downdraft booths also come easy in terms of adding heat and heat recycling. Installation and labor costs can be kept to a minimum, considering changes to the cabin will not be required.
In any case, the booth should have ample space where you can add heat in the future. Your building should have the appropriate electric load, and you should determine where the power will have to be run so you can see what your costs will be. Also make sure that the fuel that will run the booth can be brought to the heater. Lastly, check whether you will be allowed by your city to add a heater, even if that is not in your immediate plans yet. If you take time to consider all of these details, you can save time and money into the future.
