Author Topic: How do you ventilate your soldering area?  (Read 25220 times)

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Offline portbaron

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How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 03:12:19 »
I just open a window (across the room though) and put a room fan next to my head blowing air over the board and away from me. Not sure if this is good enough. What do y'all do?
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Online tp4tissue

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #1 on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 07:01:29 »
Don't ventilate..

Breath Deep...

Get' dat keyboard High. !!

mmmm.... soldering flux

Online Findecanor

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #2 on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 08:18:08 »
I have a generic air purifier with fan and filter but not carbon filter. I don't think it is enough...
I do however use disposable breath masks with carbon filter and do try to ventilate the room afterwards ... unless my neighbour could be smoking outside. I find cigarette smoke to be more unpleasant that solder fumes, even though it might be less toxic.

I have a few spare PC fans. Maybe I should build a air filter rig...
« Last Edit: Sun, 24 June 2018, 08:20:39 by Findecanor »

Offline fanpeople

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 09:04:11 »
Yeah just use your lungs to ventilate, organic filters are best.

Offline Parva Ovis

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 10:05:11 »
I have a Hakko FA-400 fume absorber with carbon filter that works a treat, as long as whatever I'm soldering is really close to the absorber. Usually there's also a window cracked open and the ceiling fan is on, mainly just for the slight amount of heat.

Offline Rob27shred

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 10:34:34 »
Don't ventilate..

Breath Deep...

Get' dat keyboard High. !!

mmmm.... soldering flux


This explains a lot TP... :p

Offline MajorKoos

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 12:10:06 »
Couple of things:
- Use a fan to keep your work area clear of fumes so you can breathe.  Open window is kinda mandatory.
- Use your breathing.  Inhale before starting to solder and then gently blow the fumes away from yourself while soldering a few points.  Stop soldering when you run out of breath, rinse and repeat.
- If you've got one of those carbon fume extractors use it too, but don't forget about your breathing because stray wisps of smoke can still escape.

The second one is super important.  You don't want to be sitting with your face over your soldering iron and inhaling that stuff.
« Last Edit: Sun, 24 June 2018, 12:12:02 by MajorKoos »

Offline SpAmRaY

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #7 on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 13:41:46 »
How long are you guys heating joints to get enough fumes to be a problem?

I just make sure the room I'm in has some air flow, never had to open windows or anything like that.

PS: There are a few older threads on this topic but I'm on .mobile and tapatalk is being dumb copying links.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
« Last Edit: Sun, 24 June 2018, 13:43:32 by SpAmRaY »

Online tp4tissue

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #8 on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 13:42:26 »
I don't think ya'll are soldering enough for filtration to make a huge difference..  Do it near a window with a fan blowin' out if you must..


Overall.. cigarette smoke is not really that harmful unless you're the actual smoker..   Once it's in the air, the PPM is very very small..  Unless you're around all the time,  the damage is minimal..

It's not terribly different from driving down the high way.





Offline chuckdee

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 24 June 2018, 23:17:59 »

Offline typo

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #11 on: Mon, 25 June 2018, 00:28:46 »
proper setup with soldering station under a hood with forced exhaust to outside. No, you really do not want to breathe that. I know you joking TP.

Offline fanpeople

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #12 on: Mon, 25 June 2018, 04:41:35 »
proper setup with soldering station under a hood with forced exhaust to outside. No, you really do not want to breathe that. I know you joking TP.

He is not joking.

Offline barrel

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #13 on: Tue, 26 June 2018, 06:39:16 »
I don't it's an eternal challenge to not die while soldering a board.

Offline DALExSNAIL

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #14 on: Tue, 26 June 2018, 06:43:27 »
I dont use anything tbh

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Offline gingerjack

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #15 on: Thu, 10 October 2019, 23:17:58 »
I can speak only from a hobbyist POV, still here are some options:

  • Low cost - hold your breath while soldering (or tip your head to the side)
  • Medium cost - get a small fan (e.g. from a PC) and let it blow over your workspace. Alternatively, turn it around and have it suck the fumes away from you. Cheap and easy.
  • Expensive - buy a fume extractor (something like this). They are usually noisy and the filters need replacing, so unless you do hours of soldering every day, I wouldn't bother.

Of course, having a decent ventilation in the room is required - even an expensive fume extractor is of no use if the extracted smoke has nowhere to go! If you don't have a window you can open every once in a while, then it is better to either move your bench elsewhere or install a ventilation system first.
I always work with an air purifier (Houzetek works for me just fine) + a regular anti dust mask. Better be safe than sorry.
« Last Edit: Sun, 13 October 2019, 21:19:26 by gingerjack »

Offline pixelpusher

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #16 on: Fri, 11 October 2019, 00:33:13 »
Nice necro!

It really is a lovely, intoxicating smell tho... I'd hate to remove it :)

Online Findecanor

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #17 on: Fri, 11 October 2019, 04:45:40 »
I built a simple fume extractor. Wooden frame with feet, PC fan, carbon filter and fan grilles.
I soldered a couple header pins directly to a wall wart's cable and turned on the fan by plugging in the wall-wart.
Edit: There, Fixed.
« Last Edit: Fri, 11 October 2019, 05:39:20 by Findecanor »

Offline fanpeople

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #18 on: Fri, 11 October 2019, 05:22:56 »
I built a simple fume extractor. Wooden frame with feet, PC fan, carbon filter and fan grilles.
I soldered a couple header pins directly to a wall wart's cable and turn it on by plugging that in.

I am going to assume this means to a 12v line and not into 240/120 times the fun.

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #19 on: Fri, 11 October 2019, 20:49:16 »
I just open a window (across the room though) and put a room fan next to my head blowing air over the board and away from me. Not sure if this is good enough. What do y'all do?

Bold of you to assume i actually solder and have a area for working B)

Offline ju6ju8Oo

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #20 on: Sat, 02 November 2019, 23:46:33 »
Get a 12V1A 12cm fan, attach an active charcoal onto the fan guard.

Offline romevi

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #21 on: Sun, 03 November 2019, 00:05:08 »
Don't ventilate..

Breath Deep...

Get' dat keyboard High. !!

mmmm.... soldering flux


fpbp

Offline rowdy

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #22 on: Sun, 03 November 2019, 01:38:44 »
I've never ventilated, but I have heard that it is a good idea.

That smell though - brings back so many memories.
"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

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Offline typo

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #23 on: Tue, 05 November 2019, 12:05:29 »
Often times I take up projects "seriously" and have for years so I have a "draft hood". I realize that would not be practical for everyone however. If you were doing it a lot or running a business, perhaps better than cancer?

Offline jamster

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Re: How do you ventilate your soldering area?
« Reply #24 on: Tue, 02 June 2020, 03:33:16 »
Those little "fume extractors" mentioned on this thread don't actually do anything. All they do is take the visible plume of solder smoke and put it through enough turbulent airflow to make it invisible- all the gunk is still in the room, as the tiny bit of token carbon-treated sponge is too insubstantial to do anything.

I've done air quality testing while soldering, with much bigger DIY versions of these "extractors" running. I've also tested with decent sized air purifiers running at full volume- they don't really do enough either in an enclosed room.

The only effective things are going to be extracting the air right outside, or using some kind of respirator (I now use a 3M respirator with VOC and particulate filters).