filter question...

[sellersrodshop]

i recently built a small booth in my home shopthat works really well except for one glitch. my evac system consists of one of the belt driven tubaxial fans, & an exaust filter box thats 50"wx 90"l x18"d. i purchased what i was told was top of the line filter material (22 gram, 99% wet overspray holding ability). airflow passes thru this filter box, then to be "neighbor friendly", it goes thru 2 carbon activated charcoal filters, one in front of the fan & a second at bldg exit. you can stand outside when i spray & smell nothing but clean air exiting. here's the problem: after about a weeks use, airflow drops as the first carbon filter is loaded with paint. seems that the "paint" filter is catching nothing & it all gets caught with the carbon filter. did i get sold crappy filter material or is this normal? any recommendations?

 

[Barry]

From what I hear, this is normal and what happens.
Look at the styrobaffles for exhaust, cheap and just melt in thinner when you change them.
Made by Air filtration.

 

[shine]

you can get prefilters . much like a big tac rag. i used them in the van shop because i had so many filters in the doors . you can change them with every job and they save those expensive filters.

 

[crashtech]

Possibly a booth inlet filter between the exhaust filter and the charcoal filter would provide some protection for the more expensive charcoal filter. Even though it is on the exhaust side it can still be considered the "inlet" to the charcoal filter, and will trap most of the fine mist that escapes the coarse exhaust filter. It will probably need to be changed often.