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A clean booth is a happy booth. Scrape the overspray from your
walls and floor on a regular basis. Consider using a
peelable booth spray or a non-flammable booth paper to make the
job easier. Change your filters as necessary. Most booths have a
manometer that will indicate when the flow of air through the
booth falls to an unacceptable level due to dirty filters.
Most importantly, don’t forget to clean the stack. If you change
your filters regularly, you should not have too much buildup.
Some home improvement stores have extendable chimney sweeping
brushes that simplify this task; just watch out for any
sprinkler heads that may be in the stack. Since you can’t have
the booth running while you do this, be sure to wear a good
quality dust mask and goggles. While you are at it, check the
fan blades. Even a small accumulation will decrease your draw
and raise noise levels. Make sure the power is locked off when
working anywhere near the fan.
Dried paint residue on a booth’s walls and floor can fuel a
booth fire rather easily. Even worse, dried paint residue can
spontaneously combust. It doesn't take a spark or an external
heat source to ignite. This phenomena is called composting. This
is especially true if the residue is made up of layers of
different types of paint. The layers of paint can generate heat,
much like a pile of cut grass can. Unfortunately, they get much
hotter than a pile of grass. The other bad point is that if you
have enough overspray on your booth to spontaneously combust,
then you have enough fuel for a pretty big fire. Once the fire
gets in the stack it becomes very difficult to put out.
Considering that most spray rooms have flammable solvents and
finishes stored in them, this only adds fuel to the fire (no pun
intended). One other point, overspray from waterborne finishes
is also flammable, so don't be lulled into complacency just
because the product is not flammable in the can.
When performing the maintenance on the booth, do not forget the
guns and other items used in the booth. Clean them and fix them
before you start the next job rather than having to stop in the
middle of it.
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