Happy Ventless User here as well!!
We are located in the PNW and Southern California and opted for the 20' dual motor booth and couldn't be more satisfied with the booth, and the more importantly the quality of our finishes.
First off, not to be redundant, but we agree with everything Will Mack said above.
- The system went together as expected, not easy, but Jean was always available if we had a question etc, so the install went rather smoothly.
- The quality of the Ventless booth and its components are top notch. We have two conventional booths from two different manufactures and there is no comparison
- The technology is fantastic, and with the freshly ordered sliding cartridge filters; changing the carbon will be as easy as possible. In fact the carbon change was my only complaint, in that it needed to be easier to replace the spent carbon. The new upgrade fixes this, can’t wait!
- Shipping was fast and the booth was packed very well, they did short change us a few screws and bolts, but Jean was right on it and had his team send what we lacked.
- Pre planning with your local gov. agency is paramount to avoid any unforeseen’s.
- The booth is not totally ventless but it is darn close, as we only have to have a small exterior door/window opened by a 1-2’ in order to achieve the static pressure need in the booth. You’ll know when you get it right. Once you understand the system, it is effortless.
Now on to other considerations.
For us, we had to contend with three issues, heating, space, and the finish quality. We were considering an air makeup style booth, but after learning that our area would need a 1.2million BTU system and the fact that we were on propane, plus the starting cost was over 80k-100k, we needed to start looking around.
We stumbled across Ventless, and like many others, the tech seemed to good to be true, but after a good conversation with Jean, it was clean that we really needed to learn more. After 1.5 weeks of thinking and analyzing the pros and the cons the Ventless vs. a conventional booth vs. and air makeup, we decided on the Ventless.
Our primary use for the booth is fine piano finishes, prep and sanding. We seem to do all the dirty jobs in the booth.
After nearly two years of use, we have compiled a short list of pros and cons.
Pros
- Stunning results. No dust and even heating in the spray zone, and viola! A near perfect finish. I’ve been finishing for nearly 20 years and have never had such an easy time achieving stellar results!
- Saves a huge amount of money on winter heating vs. standard booth(which you couldn’t even use in the winter) or the Air makeup booth. In fact as an added bonus, and since the booth recirculates most of the air, it tends to pull the heat down from the ceiling and brings it down to the working area, which is wonderful especially in the winter months. Most of the time our heater is only running 20% of the time, with the door cracked open in 0degree weather, and it was 72degrees at the working level. The inverse is true about the summer, our AC can run, and our working area never get above 80ish, which is fine in the peak of the summer.
- Quiet!! The booth itself is a pleasure to work in. We would say the ventless booth is less than half of the operating volume of the conventional booths. My team and I thank you! One more note, the exterior (outside of the building) noise of the ventless vs conventional is not even comparably, you don’t hear the ventless unless you’re literally on top of, vs our conventional booths you could hear from anywhere in the parking lot.
- The static pressure in the booth fully protects your finish from contaminates(dust, bugs, etc.) that could be floating around the air. Also since it has static pressure, you don’t feel the air moving past you, and the overspray simply disappears.
- The booth’s main filters are a cinch to change
- More $$$ savings; Since the booth absorbs the VOC vs exhaust it, you’re able to turn the booth off after 5-10 minutes off after a fresh coat and just passively ventilate(window open, with a door cracked somewhere else, gets the heavy remaining VOC off the floor.) Obviously you wouldn’t want to hang out in the spray area, but that’s normal.
- No cutting into the roof for install!! We side mounted our exhaust and since it is so small, you need only two 1’ diameter holes, not a 24” or 36” hole which causes a slew of issues when installing.
- Carbon loads up quickly with VOC, so when you run the booth, you’ll smell the VOC, but when the booth is off, you smell nothing.
Cons
- Initial cost, the system is not cheap, but far less than an air makeup booth. Furthermore the results you achieve with a dustless booth is far superior so that initial cost really isn’t an issue when you’re not have redo your hard work.
- Carbon loads up quickly with VOC, so when you run the booth, you’ll smell the VOC, but when the booth is off, you smell nothing. So needless to say, if your spraying solvent or waterborne, you must use a mask, but you should be always be using a mask, PERIOD. I personally use the battery powered 3m filtration.
- Old issue, but worth mentioning, changing the carbon would take us 4-5 hours, perhaps less with two men, but if you have to do in on your own it is not easy. The upgraded cartridge system will fix this!
- The cost of the carbon is high if you don’t buy in bulk. I ordered an 1,100 pound super sack which will last us 5 years, and I think the cost was $1,200ish, so $225/year is not a big deal considering that I save that in power usage vs an air makeup booth or conventional within the first weeks of use.
- Installation instructions could have been improved. Regardless, Jean was there when we needed.
All in all, we are so happy with our system and we highly recommend the Ventless booth.