Garage Paint booth, a/c to cool garage down?

B

BB6

Hello everyone, I'm having trouble here in California with the heat. I have a garage home made booth thats 20x15 made out of 2x4s and plastic. Its all sealed pretty good. I'm using 2 box fans with no filter to exhaust the paint and 2 box intake fans with filters. It gives me the right amount of negative pressure. Now I have a question it gets to 85-90 degrees from 10am - til about 10 pm. Humidity is from 20-40. Now Would one of those window a/c units work to cool the "booth". I have a spare a/c, and 2 temp/humidity gauges in the garage on opposite sides just wondering if window a/c are more dangerous than a box fan? the box fans are cheap non explosion proof fans and I been spraying primer and epoxy fine with no issues and it throws the spray out pretty quick. I will be sealing the a/c like it does on the windows just wondering if theres any sparks or danger using one of these. Has anyone has tried this or knows if it might be okay.?. thanks.
 
a/c works by recycling air and removing humidity. tried it once but it would take a good size unit. if you got it use it. cant hurt . just cover the intake with tack rags .
 
If the air is flowing you will need a huge unit to keep cool, but the A/C is no more dangerous than a box fan, which is to say there is no ignition source unless there is a malfunction.
 
If you are talking about window units - most ac units have either plastic fans or aluminum fans, only thing I would wonder about is it there are any open contactors that could arc.. Move lots of air or move very little and either way you are safe. Between the lel and uel is where you get the boom.

If they are window units you will need to stick the back end outside of your booth, otherwise it will actually work as a heater. The heat of the compressor motor and the heat coming off the condenser are greater than the output of the evaporator. As Shine points out you will want the air diverter set to recycle. Another point is on recycle you will not be removing any air from the booth without the use of other fans. Possibly make up some backyard duct work to push fresh air into the air intake filter area of the ac units? You would cool the incoming air some and still have air flow through the booth... Just thinking outloud.

The minimum concentration of a particular combustible gas or
vapor necessary to support its combustion in air is defined as the
Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) for that gas. Below this level, the
mixture is too “lean” to burn. The maximum concentration of a gas
or vapor that will burn in air is defined as the Upper Explosive
Limit (UEL). Above this level, the mixture is too “rich” to burn.
The range between the LEL and UEL is known as the flammable
range for that gas or vapor.
source: LEL & UEL Explained
 
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