Venting my studio

[Havi]

Hello everybody,
Hope you are all well,


I am considering venting my studio. The vent should serve 2 purposes -
1. Help the hot air of the kiln get out quicker
2. Help dealing with powders, and / or bad stuff flying in the air from fiber papers etc.

What size would you recommend? What is the minimal effective size?
I need to be careful with the noise it might create - as I might disturb my neighbors.

Thanks a lot,

Havi

[Terry Rothwell]

Not sure what the conditions are where you live but there is a pretty consistent breeze here in New Mexico that is enough to drive my vent enough to at least remove the excessive heat from my kiln. It probably wouldn't be enough to pull powders from the room though. Wind driven and almost silent, easy to install and maintain.
http://www.supergreensolutions.com/prod ... roof-vent/

[Yardic Glassworks]

For heat and fumes, I put in a whole house fan in the ceiling. It exchanges the air in the studio in about 5 minutes. For my blasting/coldworking room, I have an additional wall mount exhaust fan. Both are from www.NorthernTool.com.

[Geo]

I use an overhead fan in the ceiling above my kiln to help with the hot air, and open a window/door to bring in fresh air.

I question the use the same vent to remove the bad stuff that gets in the air from powders, fiber papers etc. Seems you'll just be circulating them around more vs. letting them settle and then cleaning up. In the perfect world studio, I'd have some sort of ventilation built into a table or in a contained space used specifically for those purposes.

[charlie]

they make kitchen hoods with remote fans. i installed the fan from one in the ceiling, venting through the roof, and use an 8" flexible duct to move the suction to where i'm doing powder or something causing fumes (soldering stained glass panels, for instance). they are very quiet.

[Peter Angel]

I installed a sky window.

Its like a sky light but it opens up. You open it using a hook on a long stick.

It lets in light (essential for glass art!) and also air.

Its very water tight.

The only drawback is that you have to close it when it's raining...although you can leave it 1 - 2 inches open in a light rain (a bit like leaving your car window a fraction open in a light rain).

[Mark Hall]

A whole house fan runs either direction, with a simple turn-knob switch to control it. I place it in a window found at the end of my bench. Now I can exhaust the air, sucking out fibers, powders, and grout dust. It really becomes effective if I place a fan blowing air across the table aimed at the window fan sucking out - creating a cross ventilation to insure maximum protection. Ya it's a bit noisy, but there's always a compromise - that's what music is for!