Welding inside garage

[Windy Miller]

Fumes Fumes Fumes

Dangerous Fumes. Don’t forget about the DANGEROUS FUMES!!!

Weld close to the open door, and try to arrange stuff so your head is out of the path of the welding fumes, and get some sort of extraction too.

There has been a very informative thread about the health hazards associated with welding fumes - have a good read of that before you get stuck in!

 

[SteScouse]

Hi gaz1. I always wear mask mate, even outdoors, must have item in my opinion

My mask is the Eclipse with P3 filters, works well and fits under both welding hoods i i have

Just bought the Stealth version for my daughter, but she's not tried it yet.

Will post how that is when i know

 

[SteScouse]

Sorry Windy, I'm slow typing

Didnt see your reply til id replied to gaz. Not meaning to be rude

 

[Yamhon]

Hi gaz1. I always wear mask mate, even outdoors, must have item in my opinion

My mask is the Eclipse with P3 filters, works well and fits under both welding hoods i i have

Just bought the Stealth version for my daughter, but she's not tried it yet.

Will post how that is when i know

I have the Stealth one, seems to work well.

 

[jimbo84]

Obviuosly prevention is better than cure and in your case you seem to have the prevention nailed but should the worst happen check your home insurance covers you, insurers hate hot work, with it being a joined on garage too it’s well worth double checking.

 

[SteScouse]

Thats good advice Jimbo, i hadn't considered that

Will dig out documents and have a look. Thanks

 

[SteScouse]

Thats good to hear Yamhon, its important gear so good to know it gets a thumbs up

 

[Windy Miller]

Sorry Windy, I'm slow typing

Didnt see your reply til id replied to gaz. Not meaning to be rude

Nowt wrong with reinforcing a point!

 

[SteScouse]

No, nothing at all wrong with that
Its reassuring that people take saftey seriously and excellent point re fumes

I wasnt welding long before i got a respirator. You notice the difference in what your breathing in immediately

Anyone not using one i really do recommend them, small price to reduce risk of damage to lungs

 

[MCKDAVID]

.......... insurers hate hot work, with it being a joined on garage too it’s well worth double checking.

don't get me started on that one, because I have CNC plasma and welding works as part of my workshop, the insurance royally bust ma balls for weeks because despite my workshop being seperated from the house, and being all metal cladding it does have a wooden framing. 150 x 150 solid timbers, their "expert" eventually accepted that a wood frame wouldn't be a problem for intermittent works, but insisted that I separated the "hotworks" from the rest. As a result, I now have a metal partition wall with fire retardent welding curtain strips as a divider, between the areas and additional fire extinguishers everywhere. Basically anything with sparks, or open flame is now all in one area... additional expense / works that I hadn't planned on when I set up the business.. Despite being extremely pee'd off about it at the time, after some time using it, I'm glad I did it in the end, frankly it makes it easier to work, so it's actually an advantage..
Regarding the fumes, I installed a dedicated nedermann arm and fan, smoke / fumes soon build up in the area and it's 10 x 3m and 4m High, fan on all the time.

 

[SteScouse]

Cheers MCKDAVID, good to hear its working out as an advantage now

Your post got me thinking, two sheets of steel might work out better and possibly cheaper than welding curtain?

Most project's i do are reasonably small, but i do want to make some benches and cabinets soon

Its hobby level for me, so can afford to take time for breaks to clear room of smoke when needed

Fully understand its different if its your living, time is money

 

[premmington]

make sure you spend an hour cleaning up or pottering around to keep a check for fires after finishing up

I am not insured for hot work in the last hour of our working day - I think this is pretty normal in vehicle repair industry'

 

[the snooper]

Regarding your boiler just fit a cupboard around it like you would if it was in a kitchen, welding won't affect it but sparks could mark it, don't see a need to divide the garage, store everything at the opposite end to where you will weld and off the floor if you don't have too much get a couple of steel lockers to put it all in

 

[SteScouse]

Snooper thats a great idea, like it. Not too worried about cosmetics of it as old boiler, but like the extra saftey it would give

Nothing in there that I'm particularly worried about appearance of and i know what not to leave in there if welding

Been lots of good advice from people, thanks everyone

 

[Sean]

boilers by their nature are very well protected

 

[brightspark]

had a couple of experiences welding in garage namely sparks dropping on paper or cardboard near by then smouldering for 20 mins before I could smell it same with the grinder now I check 1st there's nothing near by flammable and go back an hour after finishing just to make sure

 

[MCKDAVID]

I am not insured for hot work in the last hour of our working day - I think this is pretty normal in vehicle repair industry'

forgot about that as well, same here, except they said two hours, which I argued was a bit of an exageration, but that's what's written in my policy..

 

[brightspark]

forgot about that as well, same here, except they said two hours, which I argued was a bit of an exageration, but that's what's written in my policy..

so if there was a fire and you welded tell em you worked over

 

[MCKDAVID]

the way it works is that I'm supposed to stop hot works 2 hours before the end of the working day, they didn't specify a time obviously. Frankly I'm not too concerned anyway, as I live next to the workshop and I'm usually kicking around in the garden or outside having a beer on the terrace after I've finished for the day, also have a fire alarm system (obligatory) which is loud enough to wake the dead so would hear anything quick enough.

 

[SteScouse]

Glad to hear boilers well protected, cheers Sean. Do most repairs at home myself but wont wont the gas. So know little about them

Know its is old as the house tho and got a pilot light. Dont know if that makes it safer re welding tho, gas already being lit

Am definitely reassured by all the advice today tho, looking forward to extra weld time once sorted