Fume extraction and home roasting. Success!

#1: Post by **mgrayson** » January 31st, 2023, 9:04 pm

I recently moved into an apartment with no outside venting. None. The dryer is ventless. There is no hood over the stove - what looks like it *might* be one is an AC vent. Open the windows? Well, I overlook the main entrance to the building, so I would like to keep toxic fumes away from it (actually, this is WHY there is no venting. They don't want fabric softener fumes clogging the entryway.)

So what's a home roaster to do?

Well, as I use an Ikawa, I thought I could just ignore the problem. Nope. It took four days for the roasting smell (and irritated eyes and nose) to dissipate. I got an air purifier. Better, but not enough. So... industrial fume extractor time! There are a bunch of powerful looking models from China for soldering stations and laser etching. I guess most of the world's soldering takes place there, so it stands to reason. But then I wondered about the local standards for environmental toxins in the workplace and decided to look a bit up-market. Today I tried a Hakko FA-430. With the hose positioned about two feet above the Ikawa exhaust, the temperature of the intake plastic never got above 110F. No hot air circumvented the intake. The only smell in the apartment was what the Hakko let through the filters, and that hasn't caused me any discomfort, and was gone after a few hours.

Success! I will now start burning (figuratively) through a large backlog of greens.

#2: Post by **Milligan** » February 1st, 2023, 10:09 am

Interesting that you don't have an vents. Not even in the bathroom? I guess they can get around that required if there is a window that opens in the bathroom.

Thanks for the ground work. I've been needing to get a set up for my Ikawa. I have ample ways to vent so I'm thinking an old/cheap vent hood would be fine for me. Got a pic of your setup?

#3: Post by **Trjelenc** » February 1st, 2023, 11:16 am

Milligan wrote:Interesting that you don't have an vents. Not even in the bathroom? I guess they can get around that required if there is a window that opens in the bathroom.

Interestingly enough, in college I lived in an off campus apartment and once I took the cover off of the vent in the bathroom wall and found it went nowhere. It was literally just a recessed box with a fan.

For OP, while you are being courteous in not venting out a window right by the building entrance, the issue would be more about the smoky smell being annoying to people walking in and out during the time that you're roasting, not because the fumes from a little Ikawa going out a window are a health hazard to pedestrians