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Fume Extractor advice
thm_w:
--- Quote from: beanflying on May 30, 2023, 01:32:14 am ---You need to understand what 'HEPA' is and is not. It is a term without specification when it comes to anything out of China for a start so because it has a badge on it like the "China Tick" doesn't mean anything. Doesn't mean there isn't country specifications but apart from any major brand of filter you are guessing.
Activated Carbon on the other hand is much better at filtering out organics, solvents, gases/smoke etc than HEPA will ever be. Non woven (NOT FOAM) Carbon like I have used (5mm uncompressed) is typically down to 2-3 microns (generally they use '5' as a number but is a tortured path for the air) while proper Hepa gets you sub 1 but will load up quickly on the surface with Rosin in particular.
Best solution would be a layered approach so Carbon to take out the nasties and a Hepa sub micron layer in behind it. Easy to do and that housing has room for a second simple layer so Laser cutting it and or the Non woven is easy to play I guess.
--- End quote ---
I'm referring to certified HEPA filters (H13, H14), ones that have to pass actual standards for air filtration quality: https://www.air-quality-eng.com/air-cleaners/hepa-filters/
The 5mm woven activated carbon has no filtering performance or spec that it has to meet at all. Its not magically going to be better at filtering smoke, while still having next to no restriction to a low static pressure PC fan. The better a filter is, generally, the more restriction it creates.
Better off using granular/pelletized (as recommended above), if you want effective solvent filtration:
https://www.teqoya.com/activated-carbon-filter-a-few-basic-facts-to-sort-out-the-truth/
https://www.consumeranalysis.com/guides/air-purifiers/carbon-air-filter/
You can use a hydroponic grow filter for $40 if VOC/odor is a concern, not sure of the exact carbon weight but its probably a decent value: https://www.vivosun.com/vivosun-4-inch-air-carbon-filter-odor-control-p68320123310966090-v58820960379611906
beanflying:
Except we are NOT trying to filter dust out here. An 'absolute' micron rating means squat to anything gaseous but it does however matter to 'dust and airborne particles'.
VOC's on the other hand like we get from Soldering or in heavier use cases like chemical production or use environments (Labs, Spray painting etc) then Activated Carbon is what is used and not any 'Hepa' anything as a stand alone solution.
Random Googling but it lays it out without a commercial bias fairly well https://molekule.com/blogs/all/best-air-purifier-for-volatile-organic-compounds-vocs#Can-HEPA-filters-remove-VOCs
Low static pressure fans are fine and even desirable here as more time for the Carbon to do the absorption thing, it only has to get the airflow thing done not suck the room into a wormhole.
Georgy.Moshkin:
false sense of safety is what should be avoided here. I am familiar with affordable devices for measuring pm2.5, tvoc and formaldehydes, but haven't seen anything that may be useful in this case. you've probably already used some kind of ventilation, so keep it to be safe, maybe even upgrading it with powerful inline fan, and a second one for fresh air intake from outdoors. Moreover, people often forget about protecting their skin. Hands, neck and face skin should be protected from all those microsprayed splashes and droplets of solder and flux. I use an old long sleeve shirt, thin gloves, full face transparent cover (you can find it as face protection used for cooking/frying), 3m carbon face mask under this cover for anything escaped exhaust fan and sneaked under face cover
tinfever:
When soldering, I absolutely see my PM2.5 measurement go up so I definitely think you'd want to filter the particulate matter from the smoke somehow. I'd guess the particulate matter is probably a higher priority than VOCs, since the particles are getting inhaled and presumably getting stuck in your lungs (I'm not a doctor though so what do I know) and the VOCs are just going to cause issues with exposure over a longer period of time? Like I think formaldehyde long term exposure increases cancer risk or something?
I'm sure somewhere there is research on the actual contents of soldering smoke and fumes. That would probably be helpful to know if debating about filtering methods.
It's true that trying to filter everything perfectly is probably a fool's errand, because you really do need to have outside air exchange somehow, if only to keep the room CO2 levels from breathing down.
thm_w:
--- Quote from: beanflying on June 01, 2023, 01:18:23 am ---Except we are NOT trying to filter dust out here. An 'absolute' micron rating means squat to anything gaseous but it does however matter to 'dust and airborne particles'.
VOC's on the other hand like we get from Soldering or in heavier use cases like chemical production or use environments (Labs, Spray painting etc) then Activated Carbon is what is used and not any 'Hepa' anything as a stand alone solution.
Random Googling but it lays it out without a commercial bias fairly well https://molekule.com/blogs/all/best-air-purifier-for-volatile-organic-compounds-vocs#Can-HEPA-filters-remove-VOCs
Low static pressure fans are fine and even desirable here as more time for the Carbon to do the absorption thing, it only has to get the airflow thing done not suck the room into a wormhole.
--- End quote ---
This thread is about soldering and de-soldering, where the prime concern is smoke particles, not "heavier chemical production use environments".
Low static pressure fans are not desirable under any circumstance. You want high static pressure, to be able to use as fine a filter as possible, while maintaining high flow rates.
Or in the case of VOCs, pass through more total weight of carbon granules (so you don't need to constantly change the filter and circulate the air multiple times).
I bought into this carbon filter for soldering bullshit too originally. But its not science backed at all. Its deceptive and harmful to peoples health that think that all they need is a 5mm sheet of carbon and she'll be good (Hakko, Metcal, and others are still marketing this, call them out if you see it).
"Activated carbon filters in the form of foams, used with the simpler type of cleaner, had negligible filtration efficiency against either particulates or vapours and would, therefore, offer no protection against any hazardous component of the fume. The granular carbon filter in the tip-extraction system was an effective vapour filter."
https://academic.oup.com/annweh/article/42/8/511/148079
https://www.isiaq.org/docs/papers/940.pdf
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