A paint booth can carry several filtration positions, and the exact set depends on the booth design. The buyer’s drawing shows an opening; the supplier’s catalog shows media. Between those two documents, paint booth filter sizes get decided, and a mismatch surfaces months later as bypass air, fluttering media, or a panel that will not seat.
This guide is written for OEM filter orders: the drawings, dimensiones, and acceptance steps that turn paint booth filter sizes into a producible, inspectable specification. Measuring a ceiling grid for a single replacement is a different job, and our ceiling filter selection guide already covers it. Here, the unit of work is the order sheet.
Key Takeaways
- Positions come from the drawing: the Airy category lists intake pre-filtration, top media, parada de pintura del piso, and pocket products, but builds differ.
- Sizes by format: framed filters need opening, frame outside, and depth; rolls need area, ancho, length, espesor, and allowance.
- Pleated panel reference: Airy’s AR-ZK series lists 595×595×46, 595×495×46, 595×295×46 and 495×495×46 mm.
- Pocket example: the AR-WD non-woven pocket page lists 595×595×600 mm with 8 o 6 pockets; narrower footprints vary by model.
- Roll reference: paint stop media in 0.8, 1.0 y 2.0 m widths, each 20 m long.
- Acceptance chain: dimensioned drawing, approved prototype, retained sample, and matching bulk lots.
Which Booth Filter and Installation Point Are Being Specified?
Every order line names one installation point. A size without a position is not a specification.
The EPA fact sheet on spray booth filters describes the geometry that any filter order inherits. Downdraft booths draw intake air through ceiling filters and exhaust through floor or near-floor arrestors. Crossdraft booths place intake in doors or side panels and put the arrestor on the opposite wall. Many production booths add a final pocket-filter stage behind the exhaust plenum, but not every build carries one. Where the stage exists, Airy’s product overview lists the pocket line as second or third-stage filtration behind pre-panel filters.
Read the equipment drawing before matching a format to a duty. Airy’s spray booth filters and media category sells intake pre-filtration, top and wall media, parada de pintura del piso, and DPA pocket products. Each is a separate line, and a given booth may not install every one. Where the drawing does show a stage, the format conversation starts there. Before writing any number on a purchase order, state which position you are specifying and why. Our breakdown of paint booth filter types maps the usual stages to formats as a starting point, not as a promise about your build. Booth builders often standardize on two or three sizes across models so purchasing, spares inventory, and the booth manual share one list.
A supplier reading the same words may picture a different part. “Floor filter” is a duty, not a product. Write the position, the format, and the function in one sentence per order line: downdraft floor grid, fiberglass roll media, overspray arrestor duty.
Which Opening, Marco, and Actual Filter Dimensions Must Be Recorded?
Record sizes by format. Framed filters: opening, frame outside, and depth. Rollos: coverage, ancho, length, espesor, and cut allowance.
Record sizes by format, not by habit. Framed filters need three numbers: the opening, the frame outside dimension, and the depth. The opening is the interior dimension of the grid or slot where air passes. The frame outside decides whether the filter seats and seals, and the depth decides whether the door closes. Frameless roll media has no frame dimension. It is recorded by installation area, roll width, length, espesor, and cut allowance. Conflating the two lists hides which number controls the order.
Airy’s published sheets show why the distinction matters in production. El pleated pre-filter lists actual panel dimensions in millimeters, 595×595×46 down to 495×495×46 across four sizes. Inch-market buyers often order against labels such as 24×24, and Airy’s sheet publishes no inch equivalents, so do not assume a mapping. Request the nominal name, the actual outside dimensions, and the tolerance in writing, and mark which figure controls the order.
The ceiling article referenced above stops at measuring the inner frame for a replacement. An OEM order goes further: dimensions come from the assembly drawing under revision control, carry a stated tolerance, and name the controlling edge. If the drawing and a shop tape measure disagree, stop and reconcile before anything is produced. An OEM engineer should check the drawing revision, the physical housing, and the measurement location, then reissue or approve the change in writing before the sample is signed off. Roll orders follow the same caution: the approved layout drawing, not a remembered width, governs what gets ordered.
When Do Roll Media and Framed Filters Need Different Measurements?
Rolls are specified by coverage and allowance; framed filters by fit and seal. The measurement lists never interchange.
A framed panel is a part: ancho, height, profundidad, material de marco, gasket expectation, and sealing faces all appear on the drawing. A roll is a consumable: ancho, length, espesor, and how many linear meters your floor grid consumes per change-out. Order rolls by coverage area plus seam allowance, and order panels by fit against the housing.
The Airy spray booth category lists the non-woven pocket filter and the DPA paint pocket media for dry spray booth exhaust as different products. The AR-WD dimensions below illustrate how to specify a pocket pack; confirm the exact exhaust-pocket product and its dimensions for your booth. The table below reproduces the published Airy references for the three formats an OEM order sheet touches. Use it as a starting vocabulary, then confirm tolerances and test methods against your booth drawing.
| Format | Published Airy example | What the OEM must confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Pleated pre-panel, AR-ZK | 595×595×46 mm; other face sizes published | Outside dimension orientation, profundidad, marco, and installation tolerance |
| Non-woven pocket, AR-WD | 595×595×600 mm shown with 8 o 6 pockets | Outside size, pocket count, profundidad del bolsillo, and installation space |
| Fiberglass paint stop roll, Pensilvania | Page lists 0.8, 1.0, y 2.0 m widths by 20 metro | Roll width, length, espesor, and cut plan |
Product examples as listed on Airy’s pages, not a unified specification for every model or installation; confirm dimensions, tolerances, and test conditions with the supplier on the order drawing.
All three formats are published on their product pages, from the paint stop roll to the pleated panel line above. Each sheet carries the same note: other specifications can be customized according to requirements. Customization is a drawing exchange, not a catalog lookup, and that exchange is where the next sections come in.
What Sealing, Apoyo, and Airflow Details Should Be Included?
Air takes the path around a badly sealed filter. The order sheet must close that path on paper.
Frame material belongs on the sheet because it is a functional choice, not a price option. Airy lists waterproofing chipboard, aleación de aluminio, and galvanized sheet for the pleated panel line. A humid booth and a solvent-heavy booth do not ask the same question of a frame, so state which one the order carries and why engineering picked it.
Then record the seating condition: gasket or gasketless, clamping method, and the maximum acceptable gap at the frame-to-housing joint. Pocket filters need their own line: pocket count and depth give the media room to inflate, and a housing that crushes pockets starves the airflow the stage was bought for. Ask the supplier how pocket depth is measured on the data sheet, pack height or frame-to-tip, and record the answer beside the number.
Finalmente, tie every position to its airflow duty. Pleated panels carry a rated airflow per published size, de 3,200 m³/h at 595×595×46 down to 1,600 m³/h at the 295 mm variant. State the booth’s designed face velocity per position and ask the supplier to confirm the selected size reaches it. A panel that fits the slot but chokes the airflow is still a failed specification.
What Performance Requirements Belong on the Specification Sheet?
Four numbers make a filter inspectable: class, arrestance, initial resistance, and the recommended final resistance.
Airy’s sheets publish these as product facts you can copy into a purchase specification. The AR-ZK-G3 pleated panel lists 85% average arrestance at 35 Pa initial resistance; the AR-ZK-G4 lists 90% en 45 Pensilvania. Both carry a recommended final resistance of 250 Pa on the page. Quote that figure in the specification, and set the project’s actual change-out condition against the booth’s own airflow and maintenance requirements.
Write each number with its test basis, or ask the supplier to attach that basis in writing. “85% average arrestance” is only comparable to another sheet when the particle test method and rating airflow match. Where a class label appears, G3, G4 or MERV 5-8 in the pleated line’s title, keep the label and the measured percentage together on your sheet. Treat the title’s MERV range as the seller’s labeling, not a certified equivalence between test scales. Ask the supplier which test method backs each figure, and file the written answer with the specification.
Resist the urge to average. A specification that demands “efficiency ≥ 87%” invites substitutions in class and punishes nobody. Specify the class you designed around, the arrestance and resistance that document it, and the report format that proves it lot after lot.
Which Drawings, Samples, and Approvals Prevent Order Errors?
Text-only orders drift. The drawing, the photo, and the retained sample lock the same part from three directions.
Send the Drawing Set, Not a Measurement Text
Attach the dimensioned housing drawing with the filter slot called out. Add a photo of the actual opening with a scale in frame. Include the current filter or a sample of the media you run today. For rolls, add the floor-grid layout with sheet sizes and seam positions. If a competitor’s part number exists on your line, list it as a reference, not a requirement.
Approve the Prototype Against the Sheet
The first physical unit is a measurement object, not a favor. Check frame outside dimensions against the drawing, seat it in the housing, close the clamps, and log the clean-initial pressure reading at the booth’s designed airflow. Sign off in writing only when the fit and the numbers match the order sheet, and note any deviation before it becomes a habit.
Lock the Bulk Lot to the Approved Sample
Keep the approved prototype and reference it on every purchase order by date and drawing revision. Agree the acceptance items, the sampling frequency, and the required reports in the purchase order itself. Then check each incoming lot against that written list and the retained sample. Buyers who restock on a schedule are buying the sample back, not the supplier’s current mood.
Pack and Label for the Receiving Dock
OEM orders arrive in bulk, so packing is an acceptance item like any other. Agree on pallet counts, carton dimensions, and per-carton weight limits that match your dock and storage racks. Label each carton with the format, the installation position, and the controlling paint booth filter sizes. Boxes marked only “filtrar” force receiving crews to open packs before put-away, and that is how approved prototypes and bulk lots quietly drift apart.
Preguntas frecuentes
Should I send nominal or actual filter dimensions?
Send both, and mark which one controls production. A nominal label carries no manufacturing tolerance, while the actual millimeter figure is what the frame must match. Ask the supplier to confirm the nominal name, the actual outside dimensions, and the tolerance in writing, and restate the controlling number in the reply.
What drawings should an OEM buyer send to a filter manufacturer?
Send the dimensioned housing drawing with the slot called out, plus a scale-photograph of the opening. Attach the current filter or media sample, and state the format, position, and airflow duty per line. Add target quantity and packing requirements so the manufacturer prices the same object you build.
How should a custom paint booth filter sample be approved?
Measure the sample against the drawing, seat it in the real housing, and log the clean-initial pressure drop at design airflow. Sign the approval in writing, keep the physical sample under a reference number, and cite that number on every bulk purchase order.
Pensamientos finales
Paint booth filter sizes become safe to order when three things exist on paper. Name the installation point and its format, record each size by format with a stated controlling number, and attach the performance figures with their test basis. The drawing package, approved prototype, and retained sample then hold every later lot to the same object.
Send Your Booth Drawing and Specification
Submit the equipment drawing package, the controlling paint booth filter sizes, installation positions, format, and airflow targets. Ask Airy to confirm nominal names, actual outside dimensions, tolerances, and test conditions in writing before approving a sample.
Product examples across panels, pockets, and rolls are published in the Airy Filter catalog.
