Heating a paint booth in winter?

Jonas Calhoun · Post by **Jonas Calhoun** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:30 am

Gang, in the new house, I've got to paint out in the garage. Not a huge deal, I did that 2 houses ago.

However, this time I've got a nice spray booth vented to the outside. I'm a little worried about humidity and temperature though.

I'm thinking of putting a 60-100W incandescent light bulb inside the booth for a bit of heat while I'm spraying and while it's drying. Turn it on 15 minutes before I'm ready to go, leave it on a half hour or so while it's drying, then bring into the house (I spray acrylics except for primer).

Should I also worry about humidity? How to fix that within the confines of my booth?

Anything I'm missing? The bulb will be wired directly into the switch for the booth, it'll be on the top inside, so I won't hit it with a model or my hands...

Dan

Post by **TER-OR** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 8:35 pm

In the winter, I wouldn't worry about humidity - unless you need to increase the rH of the booth...

I paint in the basement, while cool in the winter, it's not cold.

Jonas Calhoun · Post by **Jonas Calhoun** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:45 pm

Well, I'm stuck on the planet Utah...high desert, not a lot of humidity normally. But when it's raining/snowing, I figured there'd be a bit more humidity than I'd want.

Or would the light bulb make me not worry about it?

Dan

Pat Amaral · Post by **Pat Amaral** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:00 am

Sounds like you need to sacrifice the garage in favor of converting it into a finished (read climate controlled) hobby work room.

Jonas Calhoun · Post by **Jonas Calhoun** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:29 am

Oh, the garage is in rough shape--it's probably got 1 year, 2 tops before it has to be replaced. At that time, I'll make it an oversized with room for my truck, a dedicated heated painting area, etc...I'm planning on being in this house for a while, and my wife's given me the go-ahead to start dreaming. Funds just won't allow it for another year or so though.

However, for the short term, I can't do that unfortunately. So I've got to look at band-aid solutions for now.

Dan

Mark Yungblut · Post by **Mark Yungblut** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:47 pm

The answer to your question is that It cannot hurt to warm it up. You'll also want to make sure that your paint (be it spray or airbrush) be warm as well and your model needs to be warm as well when you paint it.

Cheers,

Mark

Jonas Calhoun · Post by **Jonas Calhoun** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 5:22 pm

Ah--that's one detail I didn't think of.

So the plan is to keep everything in the house until it's ready to paint. Run out, paint, let dry, bring in as soon as it's dry to the touch, let cure inside the house. That sound good?

Dan

mech · Post by **mech** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:18 pm

You could look into a small space heater. I picked up a 1500btu electric space heater at walmart last year. I used it to add additional heat to the garage. (the garage is under the house, cold, not freezing cold, but too cold to work in ya know?) It works beautifully. It's got a timer, temp setting and fan speed adjustments. IIRC I spent roughly $49 or $59 on it.
I guess it really depends on the size of the garage.

j

Oh it's electric too.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:57 pm

It dawns on me Dan, that they make some nice little heater pads for reptile tanks that might also give you a heating hand.

Lord Darth Beavis · Post by **Lord Darth Beavis** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:12 am

What? No open flame?

Seriously, Dan, if you have a 60W or 100W lightbulb in there, and leave the light on, you might be able to cure the paint in the booth. I'd leave the fan on while the bulb is on, if only to keep it from getting too hot and causing your projects to assume more, "interesting" shapes.

Just for the record, I'd try it with a junker kit first, just so yo don't wreck something valuable.

Jonas Calhoun · Post by **Jonas Calhoun** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:27 pm

Kylwell wrote:It dawns on me Dan, that they make some nice little heater pads for reptile tanks that might also give you a heating hand.

Went out and looked at 'em...the best I could do would be a 25 watt unit, which I imagine just won't be quite enough...however with two of them on the sides, that might be enough.

I'll try the lightbulb first, see how that goes. The reptile pads would be a lot less intrusive, that's for sure.

LDB--curing the paint...hadn't thought of that, but it might make a decent drying booth--I was just thinking of keeping the temps above 70 in there, hadn't thought about going a bit more.

I'm going to wire it up this weekend, I'll put a thermometer in there just to check how things go.

Dan

Stu Pidasso · Post by **Stu Pidasso** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:49 am

Well, watch out if you have an exposed light bulb that suddenly gets paint on it.

BOOM

I've had it happen.

Jonas Calhoun · Post by **Jonas Calhoun** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:48 pm

Jimi--good to know. Was it acrylics or enamels?

Dan