The Shelfords on sat 22 mar 97
Hi All -
I e-mailed Monona Rossol directly with my question about air filtration
equipment for the studio, and, in case there are any lurkers out there who
might also have been interested in the question, I have copied the main body
of her remarks below. If she decides to re-post her reply to the group as a
whole, and you get it twice, I apologize in advance, but it is useful input,
and it would seem better to have it out there twice than not at all.
- Veronica on Thetis Island
>The best and CHEAPEST method is to set up your pottery so it is easily wet
>mopped and all surfaces can be sponged clean. The place should look like a
>nuclear laboratory in terms of cleanilness.
>
>Baring this, air filtration units and vacuum cleaners must have HEPA filters
>which capture 99.997% of particles 0.3 microns in diameter or better. Bailey
>sells some cheaper, slightly less efficient Gortex filtered systems, but I
>really don't recommend them.
>
>I also don't recommend units that are hung near the ceiling to collect clay
dust
>for the following reasons: 1) clay dust shouldn't be getting up their if your
>procedures are done well, and 2) the units often create a breeze which stirs up
>more dust than they collect.
>
>The HEPA filtered equipment that works well are 1) vacuum cleaners and 2) small
>ventilation units in which you can do dusty processes.
>
>
>Nilfisk, Hako and other good companies make and sells HEPA vacs and other
>equipment. Lab Safety and Supply sells this equipment. If you have trouble
>finding sources, let me know. I'll try to find Canadian suppliers.
>
>There are also people selling things that are useless such as negative ion
>generators or ozone generators. Charcoal filters also do not stop fine dusts.
____________________________________________________________________________
Veronica Shelford
e-mail: shelford@island.net
s-mail: P.O. Box 6-15
Thetis Island, BC V0R 2Y0
Tel: (250) 246-1509
____________________________________________________________________________
Gail Dapogny on tue 28 aug 01
I apologize for something that has been discussed previously. I did check
the archives, but did not find much conclusive information. A friend of
mine has been asking about air filtration systems, and she is particularly
interested in the Aerocology air filtration system that Bailey sells? Does
anyone use this, or have experience/knowledge of it? Thanks.
---Gail
Gail Dapogny
1154 Olden Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48103-3005
(734) 665-9816
gdapogny@umich.edu
KLeSueur@AOL.COM on tue 28 aug 01
<the archives, but did not find much conclusive information. A friend of
mine has been asking about air filtration systems, and she is particularly
interested in the Aerocology air filtration system that Bailey sells? Does
anyone use this, or have experience/knowledge of it? Thanks.
---Gail>>
I'd suggest your friend visit the Royal Oak campus of Oakland Community
College and talk to Charlie Blosser. The best filtration I've ever seen in a
studio environment.
Kathi LeSueur
Gail Dapogny on tue 28 aug 01
Thanks, Kathi. I will pass along your advice; it sounds very useful. Hope
to meet you sometime.
-----Gail
><>the archives, but did not find much conclusive information. A friend of
>mine has been asking about air filtration systems, and she is particularly
>interested in the Aerocology air filtration system that Bailey sells? Does
>anyone use this, or have experience/knowledge of it? Thanks.
>---Gail>>
>
>I'd suggest your friend visit the Royal Oak campus of Oakland Community
>College and talk to Charlie Blosser. The best filtration I've ever seen in a
>studio environment.
>
>Kathi LeSueur
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
>You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
>settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
>Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
>melpots@pclink.com.
Louis Hill on sat 7 sep 02
Looking through an old Grainger general catalog I
found several air cleaners, both electronic and
mechanical. This is one of the best all around
reference books on my book shelf. Lou
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Jeanne on sat 7 sep 02
Hi! I'm a relatively new potter working mostly with bas relief tiles and
small hand-built pots. I have fired some in a kiln and some pit-fired. I
am interested in primitive ceramics, mostly construction and firing. Does
anyone have a good source of information on this?
Jeanne E. Amis, RN, LP
jea@christophers.net__________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes
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>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>
>
Joseph Herbert on sun 20 jun 10
"We are looking for an air filtration system to be used in a community art
center pottery studio."
This is kind of a difficult subject. The normal technological solution is
HEPA filtration. These filters are designed to trap the very small
particles that can be inhaled and then trapped in the lungs. This solution
is used in many situation where hazardous dusts are found in the air.
Sometimes the filters are strapped to people (respirators), but sometimes
not. The problem with the installed HEPA recirculating units is the
requirement for periodic maintenance and testing. In a community art cente=
r
the likelihood of a long-term periodic maintenance and testing effort seems
low. The reason I point this out is the false sense of security that an
operating, but not effectively filtering, unit might give. Worse, the
constant circulation of the unfiltered air might actually make the problem
more severe by keeping the respirable particles suspended in the air.
That said, it doesn't mean you should not install such a system. It does
mean the installation is not the end of the story.
One thing to do is to investigate the level of problem you have. You could
get a survey of air particles present from a company that sets up filtering
units that suck up the air in several places for specific amounts of time
and then report on what was captured. Or you could go look in places in th=
e
studio area that don't have a lot of air circulation. Corners behind boxes=
,
on top of shelves, on top of pipes near the ceiling. If there are
collections of very fine dust in those areas, especially near the ceiling,
there may be a problem. If you clean such a place off and re-visit it in a
couple of months, it could be informative.
IF you do have the samples collected and analyzed, you could find that the
dust content does not surpass work-place air quality standards. In that
case, you could just continue doing what you are doing and not install a
system. The standards are set for 8 hour per day exposure and users of a
community art center usually aren't there that much. Often the employees
and others who are there regularly are not there for 8 hours per day, 40
hours per week.
Depending on the configuration of your room(s), you might consider a
low-volume exhaust system to draw air from quiet places near the ceiling an=
d
just send it outside. Larger particles in the rooms settle without rising
to the upper levels. Removing small amounts of air, continuously, from the
area where the smallest particles are most likely to be could help. This i=
s
not the classic solution, but a HEPA system that is not maintained and
tested may do more harm than good by assuring the smallest particles remain
suspended.
Joe
Joseph Herbert
Training Developer
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