Hello ALL, My wife and I were talking about my new shed train room, and the idea came up about installing a ceiling fan, I would love to have a dust free train room, I have two windows in the upper loft so I'm looking for suggestions, Thanks Guys,
No fan, would blow stuff around including dust.
yea, its a bit odd, but I've learned from living in this old apartment(without central AC) on my college campus that, the more air movement(open window, fan, etc), the more dust you will see.
The only way to properly get rid of dust really is to get a full on air filter system, but as model train scenery degrades (from the ballast, to the foliage, to the dust generated as motor brushes being grinded off), a layout is fundamentally a dust generator.
Good luck!
Charles
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Modeling the Santa Fe & Pennsylvania in HO
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About 10 years ago on another RR Forum a fellow suggested using a 20” box fan with furnace filters on both intake and output.I give it a shot and mounted one hanging from the ceiling air direction pointing down above my layout. It is about 8” below the ceiling allowing for good air flow. The fan does stir up dust but the dust eventually gets trapped in the filters. I have to change the filters about once a month. I would say overall it does help trap the dust and still give a bit of air movement that seems to help the working atmosphere.It isn’t perfect but it does help. Much better than nothing and still working after 10 years. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
An air conditioner can be your friend. Sheds get HOT!
You can put a fan in the other window ,so it exhausts out.
Positive airflow.
If the interior walls are unfinished, dirt/ dust will get in. Insulate and cover the walls. That will at least reduce the dust. Do the same to the ceiling.
Rust...... It's a good thing !
This is Florida, and my train room will have three ceiling fans.
My small house has 14 ceiling fans total.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Trainman440The only way to properly get rid of dust really is to get a full on air filter system, but as model train scenery degrades (from the ballast, to the foliage, to the dust generated as motor brushes being grinded off), a layout is fundamentally a dust generator.
Actually, skin is the greatest generator of dust. In fact, your dead skin makes up 70-80% of the dust in your house.
Bottom line: STOP going into and/or using your train room and your dust problem will be reduced significantly.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstage STOP going into and/or using your train room and your dust problem will be reduced significantly.
STOP going into and/or using your train room and your dust problem will be reduced significantly.
Speak for yourself, I wear a level 1 hazmat suit into my train room, which is a positive pressure chamber with an argon atmosphere.
NittanyLion tstage STOP going into and/or using your train room and your dust problem will be reduced significantly. Speak for yourself, I wear a level 1 hazmat suit into my train room, which is a positive pressure chamber with an argon atmosphere.
The man's right, model trains is just as infectious as COVID, so I treat them the same way!
Cheers!
Little Timmy, Hi, How are you doing? the walls and ceiling will be insulated and covered with sheetrock, it's going to be turned into an actual insulated room, during the summer I'm going to use a portable AC, as well during the fall and winter I'm going to be using a wall heating unit.
Raise the pressure more, and use a deep diving suit, and you can remove all those pesky supporting walls to make more space for the trains.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
tstageActually, skin is the greatest generator of dust. In fact, your dead skin makes up 70-80% of the dust in your house.
Thanks for that info, Tom. I've applied two airbrushed coats of Dullcote to my entire body (I didn't want to look too flashy, so skipped the Glosscote), and now wear disposable hazmat suits whenever entering the layout room. The layout room has also been sealed and pressurised, and the only visitors allowed allowed must be skeletons.An exception will be allowed for attractive young women, who have not yet reached the stage of dead-skin-shedding.
Model railroading might be even more fun than I ever expected.
Wayne
This remodel project has had my entire house covered in dust for six months.
Getting all the dust out will be a huge project when all of this is over with.
Mel has the right idea: use some method of bypass filtration in the train room and restrict as much airflow in and out of that room as possible. I have used 'air purifiers' with electrostatic precipitation for quite some time in known dusty conditions (ever seen what a dryer for rags in a cleaning business produces???) and those work reasonably well -- if you don't mind a little wall blackening over time
The point of ceiling fans is air movement, and as long as you're keeping dust knocked down by some active means, that air movement can be beneficial. I use reversing fans to circulate warm air better in wintertime, too: at one time that was touted as 'more energy efficient' over just running forced-air heat, but I have my doubts ... there is little doubt to me, though, that it's more comfortable.
Be sure there are tight door and window seals between the layout room and the outdoors. Simple weatherstripping improvement kits are probably more than adequate, but be sure the areas like bottom-of-door sweep and corners get attention. Be mindful of the possibility of a kind of 'sick house syndrome' though if you have really good seals but use glue or paint or other like materials indoors...
I have always been one of 'those people' who think that HVAC should be used where and when needed to keep layout rooms within a reasonably constant temperature range whether actively in use or not. YMMV.
I'm interested in this discussion because my layout will be in my garage.
Has anyone tried using a Hepa filter?
Second question: My spray booth uses a 16" x 16" fiber furnace filter. The fan will move a lot of air on high speed. Would running that on a more or less constant basis act as an effective dust remover?
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
The day they sanded all the drywall joints in my basement, it was like walking into a cloud, couldn't even see from one end to the other. They cleaned it up well though, I'm not finding drywall mud dust all over except for what I created when doing the joints between backdrop sections.
hon30critterHas anyone tried using a Hepa filter?
The problem with true HEPA filters for this use is that they clog up relatively quickly unless made with very large area (if you've seen the old 'hexcel' air filters for Ford diesels, you'll get some idea of how these have to be made for reasonable life). Used as a bypass, you'll get some effect for a while, but as they clog they stop 'bypassing'... used as primary air filters you'll be changing them, likely, as often as hospitals do. (Unless your IAQ is already high in the areas leading to the train room...
Second question: My spray booth uses a 16" x 16" fiber furnace filter. The fan will move a lot of air on high speed. Would running that on a more or less constant basis act as an effective dust remover?[/quote] There are two things you could try. The first is to spray the fiber filter with something that dust will preferentially 'stick to' -- you'll still get some dust going through, but probably less, and perhaps less and less over time. The second -- which is what I'd do -- is to get one of the washable 'self-charging' electrostatic filters, cut it to fit as necessary, and put it on the spray booth all the time you aren't spraying something. This should give you reasonable visible dust control. You could 'gin up a better active electrostatic filter using the same kind of fan arrangement for better performance (the fine dust that goes through the filter itself takes on an electrostatic charge and then sticks to the walls as a kind of 'static' effect...)
The 20” box fan I suspended from the ceiling in my garage does trap lots of dust. It is evident because the filters definitely collect a lot of dust or just plain dirt. I only run the fan when someone is in the garage for long periods and the filters really need changing after a month with maybe around 120 to 150 hrs of running time.The dual filters do decrease the air flow of the fan. It moves enough air on low to help keep the temperature even over the entire garage. When the filters need changing it’s rather obvious when I can’t feel much air flow sitting at my layout control panel.When it gets hot and I need more air flow I turn the fan to high and with clean filters it stirs up any dust on my layout and the filters clog up faster with the fan on high so I know it helps. The humidity has been high for Bakersfield this summer and I didn’t get much longer than maybe 80 hrs between filter changes so higher humidity helps the filters to trap the nasty stuff. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I have the problem solved. My layout replicates the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. So, dust is a welcome feature of my layout.
Rich
Alton Junction
Some parts of the BNSF layout in the Chicago Museum Of Science And Industry were inreduibly dusty when I visited.
SeeYou190 Some parts of the BNSF layout in the Chicago Museum Of Science And Industry were inreduibly dusty when I visited.
For your information, Kevin, profanity is prohibited on the forum.
SeeYou190 Some parts of the BNSF layout in the Chicago Museum Of Science And Industry were inreduibly dusty when I visited. -Kevin
Even dustier now! This was last year. I remeber going a few years after they compleated the layout and it looked totally different with all the dust!
OvermodThe problem with true HEPA filters for this use is that they clog up relatively quickly
I wondered about that.
OvermodThe second -- which is what I'd do -- is to get one of the washable 'self-charging' electrostatic filters, cut it to fit as necessary, and put it on the spray booth all the time you aren't spraying something.
I take it that they don't require a power supply. I wasn't aware that such a thing existed. I'll have a look.
Something else just dawned on me. The 16" x 16" filter is at the back of the booth which is much smaller than the front. The front opening is 30" x 20", so if I can find a filter close to that size it shouldn't require changing as frequently, theoretically at least.
The concrete garage floor needs to be sealed as well. The walls and ceiling are already drywalled.
Thanks,
To the orginally topic:
I installed a two head heat pump for heating and cooling four years ago.
It is efficent heating and cooling, and requires no removing or replacing.
They come in various sizes/costs, but are something you might consider.
The various dust collectors all sound interesting.