Ventilation in the Shop

The welding exhauster is something I'm pretty sure I will do.
He certainly wasn't pushy but he took one look at my 30 year old furnace then came up with the idea. It is old but works fine. I was not prepared to even consider the price he quoted like 12 or 13 grand. ouch. I will call the other company in town and see how they go about it.
 
I'd opt for a separate system and not circulate air from the house. Maybe no CO2 but the fumes from machining and welding wouldn't go well in the house, not even my house.

Greg
 
There wouldn't be any welding fumes as I'll have a proper exhaust for that. I don't think there would be any way to get fumes into the house though. Maybe when it shuts off but I would thunk there would be some sort of swing check valve/flapper in the system. My gut is telling me this is not a very great idea. What if I can't cool my garage down enough or heat it up. Your house will get very cool or very warm, possibly.
We'll see what the other contractor has to say.
 
Second contractor came today.
His suggestion was to use my portable AC unit and vent it out a hole in the garage door. If that doesn't work well we could always go with a split mini cool system at a price of ~$4000. Man I had no idea how expensive this stuff was. Maybe I should reconsider and do the work myself.
anyway he didn't see the need for any exhaust but if I wanted one it would be $200 to plum it out the roof.
He actually was the original contractor of my house (townhouse). He said the reason my furnace has lasted for 28 years is because it's all stainless. My AC is original, 30 year old Magic Chef.
He also suggested a new furnace and AC but at a more reasonable price ~ $6000. This might be something I need to do.
The welding fume extraction would be a separate project.
 
For <400 square feet, you probably have less expensive options for heat and a/c. Of course, a nice unit that's slightly overpowered and cleanly installed is a wonderful thing. Running a fan-powered exhaust is really the key for keeping your health protected from the welding, oil mists, and other things we do in shop space. There again, the costs should be low considering the size of the area you're working with. If I were in your position, I don't think I'd be willing to plunk down thousands where a window unit a/c, a good radiant heater or wood stove, and an exhaust fan would do.
 
Don't rush into a new furnace , if your old ones working well keep it . It's made better then any new one.. mines about sixty and the furnace guys love it over the new ones . The firebox is four times the thickness of the new improved type. I agree you should exhaust the welding fumes and the heat in summer , air conditioning and heat in the shop is mandatory , we need to get away don't we. I've only ever had portable heat propane fan forced , it warmed the shop but the concrete stayed frozen rising right through me . Of course my weldings all outside. Guess I'm no real help
 
No your opinion matters much. I tend to agree if it ain't broke don'fix it. The contractor didn't really agree with that though.
 
Sounds like you're working in an area like mine -which is a 2.5 car attached garage dedicated to the shop. Here in MD, our winters are not as bad as yours. I insulated the walls and ceiling and put up drywall. The two overhead doors are insulated too. I get by with a 20k BTU propane heater. There are enough air gaps in the overhead doors that I get plenty of outside air. I also have CO2 and smoke detectors to be on the safe side.

In the summer, it gets way too hot to even consider getting AC.

Now, the message I really want to convey....

Effective last month, I stopped using hand held grinders and doing stick/MIG welding in the shop. I have vacuum for the bench grinder and tool grinder. I only use the hand grinders outside or open the door and blast the particles outside. Same with welding... TIG welding is fine. It makes no mess to speak of. The smoke and mess left behind from the other welding is way too much to keep-up with. It turns your shop into a filthy pigsty mess in a matter of minutes. -Tired of the mess and I just spent 3 weeks cleaning the place and from one end to the other, I must have picked-up 50 lbs of grit and welding splatter. The white walls are all yellow too from welding smoke.

Just passing along my experiences (and probably obvious frustration from working in tight quarters)...

Ray
 
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