# Odor from printing shop



## corbincdc

Hello- 
I am a property manager and we had a new tenant move into one of our units. The smell is now going into the other tenants unit. We had then install a fan and vent, but the next door tenants are still complaining. 

Now that it is summer and hotter the doors are kept closed. 

Is there any solution or is this just the nature of screen printing? 

Dryer: Work horse 
I don't know the brand of ink, but can find out. 

Thanks


----------



## winkingpirate

Make sure the dryer is directly vented to the outside rather than just a vent for the whole space. 

If they are using discharge ink, it is gonna smell. Cant really get around that other than LOTS of air circulation.


----------



## corbincdc

Yes its directly vented from the unit. Would an additional hood vent work better?


----------



## corbincdc

No they do not use discharge ink. Do you think a 6 mil vapor barrier would solve the problem between the two units?


----------



## corbincdc

They are using plastisol ink.


----------



## funkym

Maybe see if they can put in an extraction fan that vents the air in the workshop directly to the roof. Volume talks and bull**** walks' LOL. In other words if you want to get rid of the smell you are going to have to shift a lot of air. If you caculate the cubic foot of the workshop and then get them to install a extractor that can replace all the air in the shop every 10mins that should help a lot. They will also need suction vents so the extra tor fan can draw fresh air into the shop. They could also run 400mm flexible ducting to just above each work station where the smell is the worst. Venting to the roof means the smell will hopefully blow away. 

Cheers Paul


----------



## Printor

That seems kinda odd for a plastisol shop. Maybe they're using solvent based sign or sticker ink some times. I've worked in a lot of shops and never heard a complaint about plastisol. We have a retail store in the same location as the printshop and never get comments unless we are using discharge, sticker inks, or a lot of screen opener. I'd inspect the walls between businesses for any air leaks. Are fumes sneaking across a drop ceiling over a wall? Maybe casually ask complaining tenant to describe smell. Maybe a case of them just not liking their neighbors and want them out. If they describe a toxic, acetone like, magic marker kind of smell, It's not the plastisol printing, but is probably another product that can be replaced. If it's the spray tack it can be replaced with a spreadable product to keep everyone happy


----------



## headfirst

corbincdc said:


> Is there any solution or is this just the nature of screen printing?
> 
> Dryer: Work horse



Certain aspects of screen printing can have an odor, but curing plastisol on an exhausted dryer shouldn't be that bad. 

One of my dryers is a workhorse and I can tell you it uses a passive venting system and the exhaust is attached outside of the curing chamber. There's a lip attached to the machine on the outfeed section. Having a pusher fan inline on the exhaust could help with that.

What type of odor are you dealing with? Is it a chemical smell? A rotten egg smell? 

How small of a space are you talking about? I think out shop might have had a bit of an odor to it when we were in our first 800 sq. ft. space. Now that we're in a 6000 sq ft. industrial building there's no smell to speak of.

If it's a little space it could concentrate the odor and make it more noticeable.


----------



## Ripcord

If the tenants next door are smelling something, I doubt it's plastisol ink, It has almost no odor and nothing in it is evaporative. The shirt fabric can give off a very slight and not unpleasant odor when they go through the dryer, but not enough that you could smell it through the wall next door. Most plastisol printers use solvents that are water soluble and virtually odorless, although there are still a few who use mineral spirits. Still, that doesn't have a huge odor unless they're using a whole lot of it. Ask the tenants to describe the smell. If it's a chemical smell, ask the printer what it might be. Chances are he can use something different that what he's using now and eliminate the smell.

Can you smell it yourself? Tell us what it smells like.


----------



## Printor

Smellllllll iiiitttt does it smell skunky? That's probably the most common smell complaint coming from a print shop if it's not discharge inks. kidding......maybe...


----------



## Leg cramps

No it was me, I lit the new "stinky screen printer" candle I got from yankee candle. You can find it next to beer and bacon candles in the man candle section.


----------



## Ripcord

Bubble bubble bubble (cough cough...) Wha? ...I don't smell nothin', man.


----------



## Dekzion

From a ventilation perspective,,, if you have installed ventilators that are sucking the air OUT of the room where a smell is creeping into, you are exasperating the problem, because you are pulling in the smell from the crack that it's coming through.
You need to pressurize the room slightly by venting air INTO the room with outside clean air.
We had to do that with a filtered fan on a sprayshop so that the dust from the de fettling area outside wasn't sucked in.


----------



## corbincdc

Thanks so much for all your help! We currently have it vent through the roof using a 300 cfm inline fan and connected to the 8" port on the top of the exhaust port on the dryer. 

And the neighbors are still complaining!

We are now thinking of upgrading the fan to a 720 CFM inline removing the 8" duct and building a hood that sits over the unit. Then installing a fresh air return. 

Any one think that will help/ solve the problem. 

Thanks


----------



## Ripcord

I think you're putting too much money and effort into a problem that should be solvable by figuring out exactly what it is they are smelling and getting the printer to stop using it. If he's just printing plastisol there are plenty of solvents available that are virtually odorless.


----------



## Printor

Doesn't sound like the smell has any thing to do with the shirt dryer. Without some one describing the smell, it will be very difficult to figure out which chemical and what part of the shop is the problem.


----------



## Celtic

If neighbors are still complaining, even though they say that they aren't using discharge, hmm, or maybe their using plasticharge, and don't want to admit to it. 
That would be the big culprit, unless some rodent died in their shop and keeps getting run through their dryer ! YIKES


----------



## corbincdc

It smells like burning plastic.


----------



## Ripcord

corbincdc said:


> It smells like burning plastic.


Well then, it's probably not a chemical. Curing plastisol ink creates a little bit of a scent, but not very much, and it's not a stinky smell. You couldn't smell it through a wall unless your sense of smell is overly sensitive. Have you gone into the print shop to see if you can smell it yourself? Or to the neighbors to see if you can smell it over there?


----------



## DigitalMayhem

corbincdc said:


> It smells like burning plastic.


https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130620233735AAqYuLW

Sent from my 831C using T-Shirt Forums


----------



## Printor

The only things in our shop that can smell like burning plastic, would be temporary smells, like, electrical problem, burning a shirt board, running a lot of polyester fleece though the dryer(to me that smell more sweet than burnt) Some iron on materials smell stonger than others,(but not like burning plastic) It really seems like the neighbors don't like them. If that wasn't the case they should have figured out what's going on by now. When the smell is strong, they should go ask what is being used right now that is different. If my neighbors complained about a smell, I would say" Please come wander the shop and tell me if one area smells stronger than another, so I can do something about it.) What kind of business is it, that's doing the complaining?


----------



## corbincdc

The neighbor is a gym.


----------



## Printor

B.O. smells way worse than plastisol. I bet the smell is coming from something in the Gym. There's more plastic in there than in the print shop.


----------



## Full Moon

I smell the smelly smell of something that smells smelly.


----------



## Printor

They probably have a belt burning on a treadmill


----------



## Celtic

Gimme the smell of a screenprinting shop any day over the mega B O of a gym !
Sounds like they just have a problem with their neighbors and are looking to cause a problem.
And, yes, the smell they smell could actually be some electrical issue with one of their workout machines.


----------

