I've read many sources saying PLA is safe in the home, just not by your bed. From the past week that might be ok, provided you have an air filter. I just got the H2C so as I was revisting ventilation solutions I figured I would test a few things. This is what I tested this past week, and hopefully give more concreate answers to those wondering what I was.
My setup -
Printers - X1C + H2C
Filament storage - sealed dehumidified cabinet
VOC precautions - Standard filters in the printers + Creality 3D Printer Air Purifier
Meter - Tamtop M10
Initial results - Keep in mind TVOC reading of .5 and greater is considered bad.
At this point I don't have the Air Purifier directly connected to either printer, it sits between the two printers. I do plan on putting in a T connector and tubing to each printer.
I've been printing pretty much non stop with both printers for 6 days.
The first 5 days I printed all kinds of PLA + silk wood translucent Bambu/Sunlu/Poly
The VOC hit up to .3-.4 a few times, then I turned on the Air Purifier and it dropped to about .2, sometimes lower.
Last night I had a 6 hour PETG print and the meter was around .3 I started a PLA print and shut off the Air Purifier, the meter was at 2.0 this morning. I started the Air Purifier and it's dropped to .78. I'm now sitting 20 feet away and the meter is .59 the area has not cleared out very well and is spreading. I've taken the meter outside a few times to verify and it drops to .08 within 30 seconds. So I know the meter is working, I've watched reviews on it, where it was compared to far more expensive units, so I trust it.
I have the printers set in a low traffic area so I wasn't too worried about it, now I'm going to air it out. I'm going to run a few more tests, but I found this interesting. You would think a quick PETG print would be ok, but it sits in the air forever unless you have forced ventilation. I'm not sure how I feel about .2 TVOC at a constant either. I'll have to see how it holds up with both printers venting directly to the Air Purifier. So for those that print in their home, something to really consider.
** Also to add... I put the meter in my storage cabinet and it sits around .7 as well, that is just rolls of filament sitting in a sealed cabinet. Didn't seem to affect the meter sitting by the cabinet when I opened the doors to pull out/put away filaments.
Definitely something to consider if you are sensitive to TVOCs or just really concerned, but those levels are nothing compared to what you experience getting into any car made in the last 5 years, especially during the summer.
New car interiors can off-gas over 5,000mg/m3 and even after a year were still hitting levels over 2,000/m3. During the summer when interiors get hot those numbers also increase again as the heat causes those materials to expand.
If you cook with a gas stove you're exposing yourself to TVOC rates of between 2,800 and 5,800mg/m3 per minute.
Just walking through a metropolitan area can expose you anywhere from 1,500 to upwards of 11k mg/m3 depending, and while no TVOC is good, those would be a sight more concerning then the TVOCs from PLA or PETG.
For context, .5 to 1.0 is considered marginal exposure, and 1 to 3 is considered high, but the biggest factor is what those TVOCs are. There are TVOCs that are emitted via normal processes in nature, and ones created artificially and the potential damage ranges considerably among those.
I'm not saying don't be concerned about the TVOCs that come off of a 3D printer, some people are far more sensitive to them than others and can cause headaches and even nausea. However I think it's far more important to be conscious of what TVOCs are being released. If you're printing something like ABS or nylon I would be a lot more concerned about those chemical compounds and would 100% not have those in your living space without full ventilation.
Thanks for providing this nuance!
Definitely! I used to work in the aerospace industry and we regularly were required to monitor our TVOCs levels as we worked with hot extruded titanium and steel, so I learned quite a bit about what we're actually exposed to on a daily basis.
People get really scared of this stuff, but as long as you understand what actually happens then you can protect yourself the best you can when you need to.
Any insights into resin printers?
Makes sense! Wood smoke is a lot less bad for you than cigarette smoke is—so it is natural that the type of VOC released makes a big impact on the health consideration.
Thanks for sharing!
Okay so the .5 number OP used, is that 500/m3? If I am understanding right, then why are we concerned with that when our cars are so much higher, and pretty much everything else will put out a decent number. Seems the actual content would matter more than the number, no?
It's .5 -mg/m3 Which as they pointed out could be a worthless measurement. The reason it's worth looking at, is everywhere else but by the printer it measures .02-.01. So I know its coming from the printer.
Something could give off thousands of TVOC and be fine because the particles are not harmful. The TVOC coming off a 3d printer you are looking at .5 where it becomes a concern, because those particles are harmful.
Not that I think if you are at a constant level of say .2 from 3d printing... it won't affect your health at some point, but it's considered safe.
Yeah, stuff like ABS and nylon are absolutely cause for concern. Not all materials are equal.
how many of us are sitting in our brand new cars 8+ hours per day? or cooking with gas for days on end continuously?
Well judging by OP's comment and the one you're replying to car interiors are ofgassing around 2,000-10,000x as many VOCs as a 3d printer so...I guess the question is more like how many of us are spending more than ten seconds near any of these sources.
Well, a car is an enclosed space so I would imagine if you spend half an hour in there it would be a more intense dosage than being in a 10x10 room with a printer for a significant amount of time.
A gas stove putting off that much TVOCs is a significantly higher amount than the average PLA from a 3D printer.
It's about level of exposure. How do you think workers are able to go into some radioactive areas for hours on end, but others they can only stay for minutes? Exposure rates matter.
You should look into the bento box air filter
I got the voc air purifier instead, just need to finish setting up a t connection to both printers.
I just ordered the H2D and have been researching emissions. I plan to purchase the bento box and maybe another filter. There’s a question I can’t figure out about the particle size.
It seems like HEPA filters go down to 0.3 micrometers. Has anyone done any measurements of the effectiveness for smaller particles, down to 10-100 nanometers (0.01-0.1 micrometers)?
I was reading this article that summarizes 50 published studies
Summary and derived Risk Assessment of 3D printing emission studies
where they mention
“Byrley et al. (2019) reviewed 13 publications and described mean particle diameters ranging from 14.0 nm to 108.1 nm for PLA and from 10.5 nm to 88.5 nm for ABS.”
and it seems like the smaller particles are more harmful because they penetrate lung tissue further and they can’t be smelled.
That is correct. Unfortunately I don't know of any decent monitors that read .1 particles that are in a cheap price range. I have one on its way that reads down to .3. I would already be testing with it, but it was out of stock when I started down this rabbit hole. At some point I'm sure I'll break down and pick up a nice certified monitor, but I need to recoup some cost first. Not that I run a business, but we do make/print sell some stuff that makes a dent in the purchase.
Someone made a comment about the smaller particles actually being easier to filter because of “brownian motion” but I don’t know enough to tell whether that’s true.
What VOC purifier did you get?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLPSBRBX?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
I'm not sure it's the best for that price range, but it does help quite a bit.
I've got two IKEA VOC/PM2.5 meters that both report to homeassistant. One in my living room and one in the print room.
Cooking 3 closed doors away from the printers maxes out the VOCs and spikes the PM2.5. Wiping a bed down with IPA maxes out the VOC.
Printing PLA doesn't seem to register at all.
Printing ABS and ASA shows a slight rise in VOCs and they spread to the living room through two closed doors quite quickly.
I have internal carbon or carbon and PM2.5 filters in my printers and these run when the doors are closed. I have a IKEA air filter (the cheap £30 one) modified to have a big carbon filter running in the print room, it doesn't seem to dent the VOC spikes much but it does deal with the ABS smell, so I'm inclined to say that the unpleasant (butanoic acid?) smells of ABS are in very low concentrations compared to frying or an IPA wipe.
Yeah until the monitors TVOC jumped to 2.0, the PM 2.5 was at 1.
Not all VOC’a are equal tho.
I have the mentality that just because something isnt toxic does not mean it can't have health effects. We always hear these studies finding out about things like this....20 years later.
I have my printing room in the basement with a constant negative air environment exhausting out the window, even in winter. Yeah my furnace runs more, but that's the cost of peace mind, imo.
This is what I might be doing, might be hooking a vent hose to the bathroom vent instead of a window though. Atm it's a small hallway that has little use.
Important to remember that only Carbon filtration helps with VOCs - and a small 3d printer purifier isn't going to do much.
So, one thing is that many minimalizing posts state that PLA puts out no VOCs, however most filaments are not 100% pure PLA and thus the custom additives start to come into play.
Second are those numbers the particulate values or the VOC ones?
Third... I wonder how complete the coverage of that meter is. Are there certain compounds it doesn't measure, etc.
Bottom line, though, is that info does seem to say time to be sure you have things venting out a window (and time for me to check my ducts and fans)
It is the TVOC reading... I wanted to get another monitor as well for PM .3-10 but it was sold out. But is on it's way now.
Yeah, there are two key problems with measuring VOCs. Not all sensors measure the concerning emissions from printers. The other being that calibration can be a problem, as well as drift. During normal operation, a merger can suddenly spike like crazy for no reason.
For particulates, PM2.5 is a common gauge, but possible emissions can be as small as 0.1-0.3. Anything 0.3 and smaller can get into the bloodstream and I don't think I've ever seen an affordable meter make below 0.1 (home made with iffy accuracy).
So it's hard to get good conclusive results.
This one here appears to be a cheap option.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B9S7857S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
This guy tested it along side more expensive monitors in a few of his videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y719B4g0Ylc
The sensor I have in my monitor is a pms7003, same family, a bit more finicky. It measures down to 0.3, but not below. And there's a pretty wide margin for accuracy as well, whereas 0.5 and higher has a pretty narrow margin for accuracy. It's still a useful metric, especially since those counts tend to be very low. But a lot of air quality monitors out there typically only measure down to 2.5 and don't even approach the 0.3 range. Interesting that the meter you linked is a very obvious DIY style build. It has the pms5003 and a DHTxx to measure temp and humidity. Nothing for VOCs that I'm seeing. But for particulates, it is probably as accurate as anyone can affordably get for home use.
That is what I figured... cheap enough to get an idea how much more precaution I needed to take. I'm sure I'll end up with a decent monitor to get to 0.1 at some point, but getting the H2C drained the coffers enough for now.
Pretty much every hobby in the world... Costs no one told you would sneak up on you. Good luck. 😅
Interesting,
Thank you.
What made you pick the Temtop M10? I've been researching a quality AQM and it looked like the Temtop only handled P2.5+. 3d printers produce a ton of P.1 to P.5, which is where I thought the danger zone was (things like CF, the nasty ABS VOCs, etc.).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y719B4g0Ylc This guy. He has quite a few videos. I was going to pick up a Hotkrem that breaks them down, but they were sold at the time. Looks like they are in stock now.
I also just bought a monitor to do some tests with’ I have an air purifier with a hepa and a charcoal filter so we will see how that performs!
Bento box does wonders on my machines
Filament in storage is pretty safe. It's specifically heating the plastic that tends to cause particulate, etc. I mean, sure, seal it in storage for reasons of avoiding moisture, but from a safety perspective, that's no biggie. If you are getting high numbers near filament that is just sitting there, I would look for other sources of contamination.
Do keep in mind that different things in the filament might change results. For instance, I would be more concerned over carbon fiber PLA than I would be PLA alone. The potential for small carbon fiber particles adds a potential risk.
And, of course, more printers multiplies what is there. In addition to the standard internal filtration on the Bambus, I run dual external air filters near them because I have a number of machines. There is an additional air filter in both my bedroom and the kid's bedroom, even though neither are close to the machines.
The tvoc particles the monitor is picking up might not be harmful, but it is concerning. Much like flooring wood/vinyl that can give off VOCs. A few years ago California passed laws on flooring imported from China which caused them to change the processing chemicals that were causing harmful VOCs. Do you know for sure that the VOCs emanating from standing filament is safe?
You are assuming that the filament, specifically, is the source. You may be measuring VOCs from another source.
True. It's a metal cabinet... full of PLA 1 spool of TPU in a ziplock and 10 rolls of PETG... and the dehumidifier. But I don't get the reading sitting on top of the metal or at the back where the dehumidifier is. It's very likely it's the filament... that and the odor of it when you open the cabinet.
The way I take care of my lungs is with an enclosure that is well sealed and a recirculating heating/charcoal filter system inside the enclosure. Like night and day since implemented that.
I planned on doing that for sure when I get a resin printer... in the far corner of the garage. So much information out there that says you don't need to bother with it on a FDM printer. The way I look at it is... they said smoking wasn't bad for you either... so I don't plan on waiting 20 years to find out it is :)
Oh, the fumes are bad. The key is to either vent outside, or trap the VOCs.
I learned this by first attempting to print ABS without so much as an enclosure. Then a heated enclosure. And finally a heated, recirculating carbon filter enclosure. My lungs used to be very upset with me and now they are happy.
Melting plastic is never going to be safe.
Nothing but pure air belongs in your lungs.
You can try and sugercoat it but that doesn't change reality.
Why take any risk? Vent your printer to the outside. You can get a cheap grow box, flexible hose and a fan for 50 bucks. How come yall are so creative when it comes to designing and printing models but not when it comes to potential negative health impacts?
Going through an voc air purifier atm, but I agree, I do plan on moving the printers where I can vent outside.
Out of curiosity when was your meter last calibrated?
Last week when I got it. I have been wondering about it being correct as well, but it responds well by changing environments, so I've taken that as a sign of it working properly.
I just closed up the area after venting it... recalibrated and is now showing .02 was .01 outside. Going for a 2.5 hr PETG print job.
Anyone interested in this can search "3D printing VOCs" on YouTube and find all sorts of information on there
The problem is those videos go from - it's safe to huff fumes right off the hot end - to - OMG you need to wear a hazmat suit and a cave 100 miles from civilization.
I wonder if my activated carbon could help. I’d be interested in a collab