Okay guys, so this decision has been weighing on me for quite a while. At this point, I think I’ve put in enough thought and research to warrant harnessing the knowledge of f4200 via a new topic.
I currently operate a 5lb bvv cls outdoors, however in a few weeks that location will no longer be viable. In my new location, the two best options would be either processing in a shed, or building a budget c1d1 in my basement.
The basement operation would consist of a roughly 10x15 room constructed from drywall and 2x4. Ventilation/purging would be accomplished from a floor set 16" (~2000cfm) Allegro explosion proof/static free blower, ducted out of an overhead window. I see my two options here being to either wire the fan to ramp to full speed when butane nears the lower explosive limit, or get a supplementary 8" blower (600cfm) for full time venting, and wire the 16" for purging. These blowers would either be wired to explosion proof sockets in the room, or ran with traditional extension cords well outside the room. Air supply would come from outside, and be ducted to provide equal pressure at normal operation.
Second option would be to outfit a shed. From a security perspective, this is option would not be my first preference, though security takes a back seat to safety. I’ve seen a few nice shed set ups, though I never seem to notice any sort of venting/ducting. Are you guys just running with the door open? Maybe placing an explosion proof fan in the doorway?
Anyways, I’m all ears. Please feel free to shred either of these options
If you don’t have a door that goes directly outside do not use that area. You should always have the option of being able to open the door for ventilation or worst case scenario to gtfo. Plus, basements are very bad for morale.
Thanks for all the responses. It certainly seems like shed tek has taken the lead here. Could anybody shine some light on proper shed ventilation techniques? Are most of you guys installing explosion proof outlets, or just some long extension cords?
In a previous life I operated a 5lb BVV CLS out of a 10x20ft tarp carport.
Had a couple 1.9 cu ft ovens in the back of a converted refrigerator van. Pumps in the front cab, ovens in the rear insulated area. Doors swing open to put the slabs inside. Once done with process broke down carport, cls, everything went into the van. On to the next farm.
Worked great. Little sketchy but kept the explosion proof fans running.
I have seen a few shed setups and fewer basement setups. Every single one is scary for one reason or another. I have seen a pretty convincing TuffShed setup decked out with c1d1 stuff but still not even close to NFPA standards. @shattertramp beat me to it, the best diy low cost dont-give-a-fuck about laws or humidity I’ve seen is a carport setup with lots of airflow.
Obviously if you are thinking about putting a pressurized flammable solvent vessel under your house you are not too worried about the fireman laws. Heres a link with some info from C1D1 Labs on their outdoor units for those that need to meet NFPA/ want to do this a bit more safely. https://c1d1labs.org/outdoor-c1d1-extraction-lab/ (relevant shill)
an Explosion prof fan sucking out and one blowing in is what I did. I always kept anything that was plugged in 3-4 feet off the ground and never flipped any of those switches or plugged/unplugged while running. Best thing to do would be to have 2 4 gang boxes on your outside wall and have all your lines run out there.If you can hook a hose to the exhaust on your Oven vac pump that goes outside that would be nice.
Speaking of Shed-Tek:
My booth is built using standard wood-framed construction in one corner of a 60’x40’ warehouse on 5 rural acres. It’s 12x12 on an outside corner, with an egress door and crash bar. It doesn’t have any electricity in the 4 walls or ceiling. We ran conduit down an exterior wall for lights and fan with underwater-rated J-boxes and connectors for the light, with a sealed 4’x1’ IP65 LED flat panel (needs a dimmer, too bright). The Canarm Explosion-Proof Exhaust Fan is 18"/1200/1800/3200 CFM. It’s mounted 3" above the floor. Make up air comes from outside the booth through two 24x24 filtered inlets, one on each interior wall 3" from the floor, The walls are 5/8 fire-rated drywall with FRP. The floor is epoxy over concrete. Two ground points in the booth, copper rod through the concrete pad to ground everything in the room with bonding wires.
The vacuum pump and chiller are outside the booth. The lines have bulkhead fittings. The CMEP-OL recovery pump, solvent tank, gas leak detector and nitrogen bottle are in the booth with the 5# CLS rack mount. The recovery pump electric line, is sealed as it passes through the wall and plugs into an outlet an adjacent wall outlet on it’s own 30A breaker. The vacuum pump and chiller are on their own smart-plugs.
The thing the booth will not do is contain an explosion. That will require the real-deal C1D1. It also doesn’t have fire suppression, but I have looked at the bottle systems like are used in food trucks. It’s only 12x12.
I’m not pretending it’s a C1D1 booth. I’m asking if it sounds unsafe from a practical standpoint. I can’t think of a place for butane and ignition/spark/heat to meet . Thanks for letting me butt in.
I rocked a 12x16 tuff shed for a bit. Ducted in a couple 12inch max fans. One on each side blowing in and ran 12inch hard duct that dump at 4 points. Then cut 13 floor level vents in and put nice covers over em for a very very effective positive pressure ventilation system. Wiring was 6ft off the ground. Ect ect. It was actually a bitching lab tbh.