Keeping welding fumes to a minimum in the shop is essential for protecting people, property and productivity. Assuming you have some type of collection/extraction system in place to capture weld fumes, one or more of the following conditions will signal that this equipment is not doing an adequate job.
1. Visible fume and dust emissions: Some degree of visible fumes is inevitable during welding; but with a properly functioning extraction system, you should only see fairly light fumes through most of the shift. For example, in an ambient system that filters all the air in the shop, a light cloud may be visible during working hours but dissipate during break times or lunch when work ceases. If the cloud grows denser and denser throughout the day, there is probably an issue. It may be that you’ve outgrown the fume extraction system because of increased production, that it was improperly sized at the original time of installation, or that the equipment is malfunctioning.