Portable Welding Fume Extractors

Generally, when deciding what kind of weld fume extraction system you want, you are choosing between a central engineered system and a portable fume extractor. Traditionally, you gain filter life from using a central system but lose the flexibility of a portable fume extractor. What makes Fume Dog different is that you get the filter life of a central system with the flexibility of a portable fume extractor. This is accomplished by our unique cleaning system, which makes filters last about six months to a year in a production-level environment.

Keep in mind an engineered system is rather permanent and expensive. If you add welders, it is not as simple as adding a couple extra drops to your existing system. The entire ducting layout needs to be redesigned, and the motor on the dust collector likely needs to be replaced to accommodate the increased demand. With portables, you simply buy more.

Choosing a portable welding fume extractor is simple; go with Fume Dog!

Proprietary Filters - The first thing you need to understand about a mobile welding fume extractor manufacturer is that most of them want to sell you filters. They will make their filters in an odd shape and charge you a ridiculous amount of money for them. The reason why? They are in the filter business, not the fume extraction business. Fume Dog uses non-proprietary filters so you can find the best deal you can because Fume Dog is in the fume extraction business.

Quality - Many portable welding fume extractors aren't welder-friendly and are made cheaply. Don’t buy something made of plastic.

Capacity and Filter - These two things are another concern when focused on a portable smog hog welding system. They're portable, so there's not much room for filters to keep out the hazardous fumes. However, our products have a longer filter life than normal, which helps for fume control!

Suction Distance - A mobile fume extractor needs to have appropriate suction distance, and that's why some welders don't prefer portable fume extractors. There is a reason most of those videos show the fume hood positioned right on top of the weld, and we show it sideways. Weak suction distance indicates that the arm must be closer to the source for proper fume control. However, it then obstructs your mobility and view. Our portable fume extractors have two feet of suction distance to help with fume extraction in all types of fabrication shops.

In case you didn’t know, breathing in melted metal fumes is bad for you. Don’t be the guy telling people they need to quit smoking for their health and then go huff weld fumes 8 hours a day at work.

In training, you probably heard that the fumes were unhealthy, but they're actually quite dangerous. They feature a toxic combination of particles (dust) and gases that get released into the air while you're welding for industrial applications. Roughly five percent of the fumes come from the metal itself, but the rest is from the consumables you use.

The particles found in the fumes have two sizes: inhalable ones are about 100 microns and go into the nose and mouth. Alveolar particles are only up to 10 microns, so they can go into the lungs. Welding shops need portable fume extractors to clean up the environment and capture those fumes.

Those small particles found in the fumes get inhaled into the mouth and nose, which can then reach the windpipe and esophagus and into the lungs and bronchial tubes. Since the particles are small, they penetrate cell walls and can cause mutagenic changes within your body. In short, you can get lung cancer, which is why fume extraction from portable smoke eaters is important.

You can find these particles:
- Nickel
- Cobalt oxide
- Chromium compounds
- Manganese oxide
- Copper oxide
- Fluoride
- Lead oxide
- Magnesium oxide
- Iron oxide
- Aluminum oxide

Welders must keep the air around them clean while working on the workpiece. Therefore, portable fume extractors are the best solution.

If you don't use portable fume extractors, you can experience difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, and fatigue. It's always wise to use a filter when working on industrial applications.

A fume extractor filters the smoke out of the air, trapping airborne particles. Gases are generally handled with a ventilation system.