: To deal with epoxy fumes, I mounted five computer ventilation fans
: in a piece of plywood sized to fit snugly in a partially opened
: window in my basement shop. I run the fans with a battery
: charger which provides the needed 12 volts. The fans suck air
: out of the shop and keep the pressure in the shop slightly lower
: than the rest of the house. For epoxying, I seal up the furnace
: ducts with blocks of foam mattress material, put the plywood fan
: assembly into the window, turn on the fans, and add some heat
: from an electric space heater. Using this setup, there is no
: hint of epoxy smell anywhere else in the house. You could do the
: same thing with a 120 volt ventilation fan and a piece of
: ducting, but the computer ventilation fans were cheaper, i.e.
: free, from the local computer repair shop. They seem to keep
: used fans that are removed from people's desktops when the old
: fans are replaced, and the fans are usually still operable. I
: don't leave the fans in the window because they will allow quite
: an inward draft of air when they are not turned on, and at the
: moment, that air here is about -18 degrees C.

: For this to work, the basement shop has to be reasonably separate
: from the rest of the house space, ideally a room separated from
: the rest of the house by finished walls and a door. And of
: course, you need a window that opens if you don't want to cut a
: hole in the wall. The less separate the space, the more powerful
: the fan required.

: Best regards,

: Allan Edie

My ventilation system is very similar. I have a sliding patio door at one end of my shop. I have cut a 2'x7' piece of rigid insulation to fit into the open door snugly. Within the insulation is a trap door that fits an evacuation fan. The whole unit goes in and out of the door in seconds. I just open a window on the other side of the room, turn on the fan and yes this keeps all dust, smells etc out of the house wonderfully. But when it's -10 outside, keeping the shop at 70 is impossible. 50 maybe. I try not to leave it on too long as the heating bill goes up quickly. I couldn't imagine leaving it on overnight as epoxy cures. I do run a small electric heater but it does not keep up with the frigid air rushing in. Maybe I just need a bigger make up heater.