We bought a house a couple years ago, and I have my cave all setup as my place to do my fun things…I want to shape and glass a small Mini Simmons type board, and was planning on glassing IN the cave, but I’m paranoid about the tankless water heater in there, and the epoxy fumes. Should I just do it outside somewhere instead?
Not sure what you are afraid of. Tankless water heaters are usually found at point of use, and have no open flames. If you had a regular water heater tank with gas flame, I still don't think it'd be an issue. Epoxy does not produce flammable "fumes" to my knowledge, and most garages are vented. Maybe if you could clarify what you are "paranoid" about?
Thanks…It’s defintley “vented”…LOL. I was just afraid of the fumes from the epoxy.
I glassed my first 5 or so boards in my garage. I didn't even think about the pilot light that was only feet away until I heard some guy ask the same question. It was PE resin and was not a brilliant idea looking back on it. I don't know how flamable Epoxy is, but I wouldn't take the risk.
Yeah, the first few boards I did at my old house were done in my garage with an old water heater…Not too bright. I could do it outside I guess…
I'm with Huck. Tankless water heaters are usually electric and have no pilot or burner ie no open flame. Therefore not any more unsafe than glassing in a room with an electrical outlet or light bulb.
That’s what I thought, but it says right on the front “DANGER! Do not keep or store flammable materials (adhesives, vapors, gasonline, etc…) near water heater”. I’d rather play it safe. It is a Takagi T-K3…
that’s definitely a gas water heater, not an electric one.
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/lowenergysystems/tk3.pdf
Howzit Huck, I looked into the electric tankless water heaters and the amount of electricity needed is a lot more than a regular electric water heater and most of the tankless I have seen were propane gas. Now that was in Hawaii and I can't speak for the mainland but a tankless is set high on a wall where a regular gas water heater 's pilot is down low and that is where the fumes are so I would be careful but feel safer with the tankless on the wall and as far from the chemicals as possible. Best advise is no flames in the glassing area. Aloha,Kokua
Right.
No glassing in the garage then…Even with epoxy.
Be nice to have Greg Loehr weigh in on this, since he's the epoxy guy. I have never considered epoxy resin fumes to be especially volatile.
LOL…Yeah, that’s EXACTLY what I was wondering. I would never in a million years glass with poly in this cave, but I was hoping epoxy would be ok. Either way, I appreciate the advice. The tankless is mounted on the wall, in the very back of the cave, and the bottom is about 2’ off the ground. Like I said, the garage is “naturally” vented (holes in the walls, crawl space to the underside of the house, and the garage “door” (for lack of a better term) would be open…The whole space is about 20’ x 10’.
I’ve always thought that epoxy has low VOCs. When my wife was pregnant, she was really sensitive to any odors, and she walked into the garage and didn’t even know I was glassing a board. I cracked the garage door a bit, just in case.
Sounds like gas to me. Continuous pilot light and open flame burner In that case you could blow the place up!
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We bought a house a couple years ago, and I have my cave all setup as my place to do my fun things.....I want to shape and glass a small Mini Simmons type board, and was planning on glassing IN the cave, but I'm paranoid about the tankless water heater in there, and the epoxy fumes. Should I just do it outside somewhere instead?
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Resin Research is Low VOC. You might want to look that up. It means .....not a lot of fumes.... Don't quote me please. Read the bottle. Add F is Flamable...not low VOC....you only use about 1/2 cap full for 15 oz so it's not a big deal............Water heater...look into it.....It's really cold in San Diego right now. Your space heater is going to be a fire hazard too.....I glass all year round...in my garage...with the door closed....I have a plastic barrier between the shop and the water heater / laundry area........I try to wait for the warmer nights.......it's been 35-40*F in the early am in San Marcos for about a week...Not good temps for epoxy.......
Hey...Man cave and a Mini Simmons...I love this stuff...we need photos......
Ray
Your going to blow up and die............run away, run away!!!!
You wimp. Pour a tall glass of epoxy...put a fuse in it...light it... and see if it blows up.
Or better yet, put it in a glass bottle with a rag and make a maltove (sp) cocktail...throw it at the neighbors cat............think of it as a napalm type product....very sticky, long burning, very nice.
On a serious note. It wont blow up. I've used open flames on epoxy to get the flow going on fishing pole rod wraps ( you stuff you put over the guide threads to make the wraps look like sheet glass)....I mean using a blow torch directly on the epoxy. It won't blow up.
But with that said, using proper judgement is important...there is plenty of other stuff in the man cave that can blow up. Acetone DNA, oli, gasoline, paint thinner, paint, fertilizer, etc....thats the stuff you need to watch out for.
i gotta say that i’m with resin head on this one. I’ve done lots of stupid shit in my time, none that i’m particularly proud of either…
its about common sense, but as long as you got some sort of ventilation - even set up a small fan to suck the fumes out - you should be fine. Epoxy fumes are the least of your concerns imho… ever light shaping dust?
be careful of course, but as long as you’re not being careless it should be fine
well that settles it.
when tthe wife goes away for xmas vacation
out comes the thick plastic
and we glass it in the living room!
should take 36 hours
of high intensive work and clean up.
…ambrose…
call for back up.
glassing hit squad
reservations required
two weeks in advance…