HELP! I'm Waterlogged! Or something.
Something strange has happened and I need some advice.
Two years ago, my husband built me a really great fume hood. The fan sits on top and I have flexible ducting leading out an open window. Now, I know that you all are going to tell me flexible ducting is not good. I know it’s not the best but, for the small area and the placement of the hood, we have no way to brace up the other stuff and we’d have to do some serious work on cutting and customizing. We don’t have the space or the funds to convert it. With that said….
The window where the ducting leads out is covered by a screen. We have a board perfect cut to fit in the window and there is a hole cut in the board where the 8” mouth fits. It’s fastened on and sealed with this foamy tape but, it’s also covered in about an inch of duct tape, just in case. The FD (flexible ducting) is then bent up about 5’, curves a little and then wraps around a tight wall about another 5’. It then bends down about 1.5’ into this metal box that is hooked to the side of the fan. The fan sits on top of the fume hood and has about 1’ of rigid tubing that leads down to suck out the fumes. FYI, the fume hood passed the incense test. I have been using this system for a little over 2 years. I have had no issues. In the winter, I remove the board and close the window until I am ready to torch but, during warmer months, I leave it in all the time.
About 1 hour prior to writing this all out. I was sitting at my work desk and heard a weird sound. It made my dog’s ears perk up and I realized it sounded like water dripping. Sure enough, it was water and it was dripping down through the exhaust. I immediately unplugged the power source and wiped up the water (not a whole lot, really. Maybe a total of 1/2 cup). It’s still slowly dripping but, I have a bucket collecting the drips. This is the first time this has ever happened. Sometimes, when it’s windy and cold and I am not running the exaust and just sitting in my studio. I can feel a little cool air but nothing that will blow papers around. But, water? It has been raining but, not so bad that it can gush up 5’ of tubing and around a corner and across another 5’. Not to mention, the window its in is about 8ft off the ground and there is no gutter anywhere near it so that water could run into it. The more worrisome issue in all of this is…. Is my fan toast? I haven’t torched in about a week and, as soon as I saw what was going on, I unplugged the cord. The built in lighting is connected to the same power source so, I can’t switch on the lights to see if it works.
How should I proceed from here? There is no possible way I can get the fan unhooked and down from the top of the fume hood until this weekend. I cannot do it alone and my husband is very busy with work. I plan on doing what I can tomorrow to straighten out the FD to drain out any more water. If my fan is toast, I’ll have to wait to buy a new one but, if there is some way I can safely dry it out and save it, I would love to know what to do. If it matters, it’s a four speed fan with the lowest setting being 650 and the highest being 1200 (I think). It’s only hooked up to the 2 middle speeds and I usually run it on the lower of the two.
Has this ever happened to any of you? Any advice would be appreciated. Please don’t yell at me about the type of ducting I have. I have done the best I can with the resources available in the very small space I have to work in.
Thanks!
--Monica
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Monica
In love with my Sparkly Green GTT Cricket! Running it with an oxycon and cookin' my beads in George Clooney, my Regular Guy GlassHive Kiln (Like George he is Super Hot and Fabulously Grey!).
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