I am responsible for a 10 position indoor shooting range at a local 800+ member Fish and Game club. The range is used year round. Events include unscheduled open practice time using handguns of most calibers, NRA 3Gun competitions, and International Style shooting. (As an aside we have a fantastic fully automated automatic target turning system with recorded voice commands for Int'l Rapid Fire.) So you can imagine we need modern air cleaning equipment to ensure member comfort, health and safety.
Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters and exhaust it from behind the target line. No air is filtered or recirculated. We had a study done about 12 years ago by an independent consulting company which concluded that we met the then standards for occupational exposure set by OSHA. (Not that we are required to meet this standard-it was for info only.) Testing was very precise, done with little suction devices worn on the belts of shooters which had their intakes pinned to collars so as to be near shooters' mouths.
Testing was done while simulating a 10 shooter centerfire match which we figured to be about the worst case scenario. Sample data was extrapolated to simulate working 8 hour days for a year in this atmosphere. We met the standard for AIRBORNE lead exposure. Notice I am not talking about lead on surfaces.
Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up, in fact on occasion it gets so cold shooters can see their breath. CO2 pistols won't fire when the trigger is pulled unless you stand there until springtime and the charge thaws out. Well the part about seeing your breath is true anyway.
I'd be happy to hear from anyone having experience in this area, and any referrals would be investigated.
Thanks, Roly
rolyf-at-aol.com.43651.0
Shooting Range Air Cleaning & Filtration
Moderators: rexifelis, pilkguns
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W. Young
Re: Shooting Range Air Cleaning & Filtration
: I am responsible for a 10 position indoor shooting range at a local 800+ member Fish and Game club. The range is used year round. Events include unscheduled open practice time using handguns of most calibers, NRA 3Gun competitions, and International Style shooting. (As an aside we have a fantastic fully automated automatic target turning system with recorded voice commands for Int'l Rapid Fire.) So you can imagine we need modern air cleaning equipment to ensure member comfort, health and safety.
: Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters and exhaust it from behind the target line. No air is filtered or recirculated. We had a study done about 12 years ago by an independent consulting company which concluded that we met the then standards for occupational exposure set by OSHA. (Not that we are required to meet this standard-it was for info only.) Testing was very precise, done with little suction devices worn on the belts of shooters which had their intakes pinned to collars so as to be near shooters' mouths.
: Testing was done while simulating a 10 shooter centerfire match which we figured to be about the worst case scenario. Sample data was extrapolated to simulate working 8 hour days for a year in this atmosphere. We met the standard for AIRBORNE lead exposure. Notice I am not talking about lead on surfaces.
: Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up, in fact on occasion it gets so cold shooters can see their breath. CO2 pistols won't fire when the trigger is pulled unless you stand there until springtime and the charge thaws out. Well the part about seeing your breath is true anyway.
: I'd be happy to hear from anyone having experience in this area, and any referrals would be investigated.
: Thanks, Roly
.43653.43651
: Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters and exhaust it from behind the target line. No air is filtered or recirculated. We had a study done about 12 years ago by an independent consulting company which concluded that we met the then standards for occupational exposure set by OSHA. (Not that we are required to meet this standard-it was for info only.) Testing was very precise, done with little suction devices worn on the belts of shooters which had their intakes pinned to collars so as to be near shooters' mouths.
: Testing was done while simulating a 10 shooter centerfire match which we figured to be about the worst case scenario. Sample data was extrapolated to simulate working 8 hour days for a year in this atmosphere. We met the standard for AIRBORNE lead exposure. Notice I am not talking about lead on surfaces.
: Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up, in fact on occasion it gets so cold shooters can see their breath. CO2 pistols won't fire when the trigger is pulled unless you stand there until springtime and the charge thaws out. Well the part about seeing your breath is true anyway.
: I'd be happy to hear from anyone having experience in this area, and any referrals would be investigated.
: Thanks, Roly
.43653.43651
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W. Young
Re: Shooting Range Air Cleaning & Filtration
Since you are in New England, you might try calling the Woburn Sportsman's Assoc. in Woburn MA. They have a fancy system, but expensive. It might be more economical to just get a bigger furnace.
wallyis-at-budweiser.com.43654.43651
wallyis-at-budweiser.com.43654.43651
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Dave
Re: Shooting Range Air Cleaning & Filtration
We have similar problems at our ( New England )Club. Our bigger problem is that nobody want's to fix it as these swamp yankees are a) cheap b) primarily shotgun/ outdoor shooters, c) cheap. In researching the problem though, I learned that the NRA can offer range design expertise. Also, if a more direct route is to your liking, it sounds like everything is working fine but the fact that you are inputting cold air. A HVAC contractor might be able to fix your problem with some re-routeing and or heating in the inletts.
I am responsible for a 10 position indoor shooting range at a local 800+ member Fish and Game club. The range is used year round. Events include unscheduled open practice time using handguns of most calibers, NRA 3Gun competitions, and International Style shooting. (As an aside we have a fantastic fully automated automatic target turning system with recorded voice commands for Int'l Rapid Fire.) So you can imagine we need modern air cleaning equipment to ensure member comfort, health and safety.
: : Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters and exhaust it from behind the target line. No air is filtered or recirculated. We had a study done about 12 years ago by an independent consulting company which concluded that we met the then standards for occupational exposure set by OSHA. (Not that we are required to meet this standard-it was for info only.) Testing was very precise, done with little suction devices worn on the belts of shooters which had their intakes pinned to collars so as to be near shooters' mouths.
: : Testing was done while simulating a 10 shooter centerfire match which we figured to be about the worst case scenario. Sample data was extrapolated to simulate working 8 hour days for a year in this atmosphere. We met the standard for AIRBORNE lead exposure. Notice I am not talking about lead on surfaces.
: : Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up, in fact on occasion it gets so cold shooters can see their breath. CO2 pistols won't fire when the trigger is pulled unless you stand there until springtime and the charge thaws out. Well the part about seeing your breath is true anyway.
: : I'd be happy to hear from anyone having experience in this area, and any referrals would be investigated.
: : Thanks, Roly
.43677.43653
I am responsible for a 10 position indoor shooting range at a local 800+ member Fish and Game club. The range is used year round. Events include unscheduled open practice time using handguns of most calibers, NRA 3Gun competitions, and International Style shooting. (As an aside we have a fantastic fully automated automatic target turning system with recorded voice commands for Int'l Rapid Fire.) So you can imagine we need modern air cleaning equipment to ensure member comfort, health and safety.
: : Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters and exhaust it from behind the target line. No air is filtered or recirculated. We had a study done about 12 years ago by an independent consulting company which concluded that we met the then standards for occupational exposure set by OSHA. (Not that we are required to meet this standard-it was for info only.) Testing was very precise, done with little suction devices worn on the belts of shooters which had their intakes pinned to collars so as to be near shooters' mouths.
: : Testing was done while simulating a 10 shooter centerfire match which we figured to be about the worst case scenario. Sample data was extrapolated to simulate working 8 hour days for a year in this atmosphere. We met the standard for AIRBORNE lead exposure. Notice I am not talking about lead on surfaces.
: : Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up, in fact on occasion it gets so cold shooters can see their breath. CO2 pistols won't fire when the trigger is pulled unless you stand there until springtime and the charge thaws out. Well the part about seeing your breath is true anyway.
: : I'd be happy to hear from anyone having experience in this area, and any referrals would be investigated.
: : Thanks, Roly
.43677.43653
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pdeal
Re: Shooting Range Air Cleaning & Filtration
I don't specifically have experience with HVAC in ranges. I am an engineer in the pharmaceutical industry though and have quite a bit of experience with filtration systems. I suspect that with filtering and reusing the air you'd get into quite a bit more expense than with simply heating your incoming air. Also you'd likely wind up with a hazardous waste problem in disposing of filters. If you go the route of heating your incoming air you could minimize operating cost by putting some controls on the system to minimize its use.
pdeal-at-mylanlabs.com.43684.43651
pdeal-at-mylanlabs.com.43684.43651
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L
Re: Shooting Range Air Cleaning & Filtration
i for one can tell you i dont like how it sounds is there really that much lead? wonder how the range i shoot at will fare its an enclosed area fitted with air cons. as far as i know some of them recirculate the air.
: I am responsible for a 10 position indoor shooting range at a local 800+ member Fish and Game club. The range is used year round. Events include unscheduled open practice time using handguns of most calibers, NRA 3Gun competitions, and International Style shooting. (As an aside we have a fantastic fully automated automatic target turning system with recorded voice commands for Int'l Rapid Fire.) So you can imagine we need modern air cleaning equipment to ensure member comfort, health and safety.
: Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters and exhaust it from behind the target line. No air is filtered or recirculated. We had a study done about 12 years ago by an independent consulting company which concluded that we met the then standards for occupational exposure set by OSHA. (Not that we are required to meet this standard-it was for info only.) Testing was very precise, done with little suction devices worn on the belts of shooters which had their intakes pinned to collars so as to be near shooters' mouths.
: Testing was done while simulating a 10 shooter centerfire match which we figured to be about the worst case scenario. Sample data was extrapolated to simulate working 8 hour days for a year in this atmosphere. We met the standard for AIRBORNE lead exposure. Notice I am not talking about lead on surfaces.
: Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up, in fact on occasion it gets so cold shooters can see their breath. CO2 pistols won't fire when the trigger is pulled unless you stand there until springtime and the charge thaws out. Well the part about seeing your breath is true anyway.
: I'd be happy to hear from anyone having experience in this area, and any referrals would be investigated.
: Thanks, Roly
.43714.43651
: I am responsible for a 10 position indoor shooting range at a local 800+ member Fish and Game club. The range is used year round. Events include unscheduled open practice time using handguns of most calibers, NRA 3Gun competitions, and International Style shooting. (As an aside we have a fantastic fully automated automatic target turning system with recorded voice commands for Int'l Rapid Fire.) So you can imagine we need modern air cleaning equipment to ensure member comfort, health and safety.
: Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters and exhaust it from behind the target line. No air is filtered or recirculated. We had a study done about 12 years ago by an independent consulting company which concluded that we met the then standards for occupational exposure set by OSHA. (Not that we are required to meet this standard-it was for info only.) Testing was very precise, done with little suction devices worn on the belts of shooters which had their intakes pinned to collars so as to be near shooters' mouths.
: Testing was done while simulating a 10 shooter centerfire match which we figured to be about the worst case scenario. Sample data was extrapolated to simulate working 8 hour days for a year in this atmosphere. We met the standard for AIRBORNE lead exposure. Notice I am not talking about lead on surfaces.
: Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up, in fact on occasion it gets so cold shooters can see their breath. CO2 pistols won't fire when the trigger is pulled unless you stand there until springtime and the charge thaws out. Well the part about seeing your breath is true anyway.
: I'd be happy to hear from anyone having experience in this area, and any referrals would be investigated.
: Thanks, Roly
.43714.43651
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Joe Matusic, MD
few answers and other issues
On the question of how much lead.. Answer = LOTS. Lead is produced by the percussion cap, by abrasion of the projectile on the barrel and downrange during impact. The lead in the air is probably more from the percussion caps. All of these lead particulates will settle to the floor eventually. I would be very concerned that the person cleaning the floors follows proper lead abatement techniques (in short, wet the dust and hose it out or wet the dust and remove while wet to prevent stirring up inhaling the dust, and ear a mask).
There should be plenty on the NRA site or OSHA site regarding lead safety in indoor ranges. You might also try your local police department as they probably have an indoor range. If you do filter and recirculate the air, you would want a filter capable of filtering out airborne lead and then have a program to monitor the air quality to know how often to change the filters. If all else fails, do what you can afford and tests the guys who use spend the most time in the range. If their lead level rises, time to re-evaluate. Just remember that kids are much more severely affect than adults by lead poisoning.
You might consider reading the lead safety article on my web page too. Its mainly for airgunners, but addresses many of your concerns.
Joe.Matusic-at-Camc.org.43724.43714
There should be plenty on the NRA site or OSHA site regarding lead safety in indoor ranges. You might also try your local police department as they probably have an indoor range. If you do filter and recirculate the air, you would want a filter capable of filtering out airborne lead and then have a program to monitor the air quality to know how often to change the filters. If all else fails, do what you can afford and tests the guys who use spend the most time in the range. If their lead level rises, time to re-evaluate. Just remember that kids are much more severely affect than adults by lead poisoning.
You might consider reading the lead safety article on my web page too. Its mainly for airgunners, but addresses many of your concerns.
Joe.Matusic-at-Camc.org.43724.43714
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C.S. Richardson
Re: Shooting Range Air Cleaning & Filtration
: Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters... Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up...
Check with an HVAC contractor on using heat pipes or "run-arounds" to reclaim the heat you are pumping out in your exhaust air and using it to warm the incoming (make-up)air ahead of the furnace.
These devices do not recirculate the air, but recirculate the heat - a purpose built heat exchanger. I can't hazard a guess on the cost, which will be largely dependent upon your building arrangement and the local codes, etc.
Heat Pipes use no power to operate, run-arounds only use a small pump to recirculate the medium (usually anti-freeze) from the exhaust air heat exchanger to the make-up air heat exchanger.
A run-around is basically two radiators with a recirc pump between them, one in the exhaust flow to be warmed by the "bad air", one in the make-up flow to warm up the "good air".
Heat pipes are technologically more sophisticated and generally must be designed into the system from the git-go, but are powered by the laws of thermodynamics and gravity.
These are sometimes used in the deep south to cool the make-up or return (recirculated) air into an air conditioning system to increase humidity removal, but the process works either direction.
If the engineering and codes don't add to the cost too much they should be very cost effective and have a very short ROI given the cost of heating oil and gas. They will improve the comfort of the building during their use.
If there are more rooms in the building, you must also do a "test and balance" to make sure that the dirty air is not being pumped into those other rooms rather than being exhausted.
FWIW, YMMV, EIEIO
C.S. Richardson
no longer a Certified Energy Manager
mimmp-at-castlegate.net.43791.43651
Check with an HVAC contractor on using heat pipes or "run-arounds" to reclaim the heat you are pumping out in your exhaust air and using it to warm the incoming (make-up)air ahead of the furnace.
These devices do not recirculate the air, but recirculate the heat - a purpose built heat exchanger. I can't hazard a guess on the cost, which will be largely dependent upon your building arrangement and the local codes, etc.
Heat Pipes use no power to operate, run-arounds only use a small pump to recirculate the medium (usually anti-freeze) from the exhaust air heat exchanger to the make-up air heat exchanger.
A run-around is basically two radiators with a recirc pump between them, one in the exhaust flow to be warmed by the "bad air", one in the make-up flow to warm up the "good air".
Heat pipes are technologically more sophisticated and generally must be designed into the system from the git-go, but are powered by the laws of thermodynamics and gravity.
These are sometimes used in the deep south to cool the make-up or return (recirculated) air into an air conditioning system to increase humidity removal, but the process works either direction.
If the engineering and codes don't add to the cost too much they should be very cost effective and have a very short ROI given the cost of heating oil and gas. They will improve the comfort of the building during their use.
If there are more rooms in the building, you must also do a "test and balance" to make sure that the dirty air is not being pumped into those other rooms rather than being exhausted.
FWIW, YMMV, EIEIO
C.S. Richardson
no longer a Certified Energy Manager
mimmp-at-castlegate.net.43791.43651
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Roly
Thanks guys, am following up over next two months.. nt
: I am responsible for a 10 position indoor shooting range at a local 800+ member Fish and Game club. The range is used year round. Events include unscheduled open practice time using handguns of most calibers, NRA 3Gun competitions, and International Style shooting. (As an aside we have a fantastic fully automated automatic target turning system with recorded voice commands for Int'l Rapid Fire.) So you can imagine we need modern air cleaning equipment to ensure member comfort, health and safety.
: Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters and exhaust it from behind the target line. No air is filtered or recirculated. We had a study done about 12 years ago by an independent consulting company which concluded that we met the then standards for occupational exposure set by OSHA. (Not that we are required to meet this standard-it was for info only.) Testing was very precise, done with little suction devices worn on the belts of shooters which had their intakes pinned to collars so as to be near shooters' mouths.
: Testing was done while simulating a 10 shooter centerfire match which we figured to be about the worst case scenario. Sample data was extrapolated to simulate working 8 hour days for a year in this atmosphere. We met the standard for AIRBORNE lead exposure. Notice I am not talking about lead on surfaces.
: Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up, in fact on occasion it gets so cold shooters can see their breath. CO2 pistols won't fire when the trigger is pulled unless you stand there until springtime and the charge thaws out. Well the part about seeing your breath is true anyway.
: I'd be happy to hear from anyone having experience in this area, and any referrals would be investigated.
: Thanks, Roly
.43793.43651
: Our current system is basically to blow in fresh unheated air behind the shooters and exhaust it from behind the target line. No air is filtered or recirculated. We had a study done about 12 years ago by an independent consulting company which concluded that we met the then standards for occupational exposure set by OSHA. (Not that we are required to meet this standard-it was for info only.) Testing was very precise, done with little suction devices worn on the belts of shooters which had their intakes pinned to collars so as to be near shooters' mouths.
: Testing was done while simulating a 10 shooter centerfire match which we figured to be about the worst case scenario. Sample data was extrapolated to simulate working 8 hour days for a year in this atmosphere. We met the standard for AIRBORNE lead exposure. Notice I am not talking about lead on surfaces.
: Unfortunately this system is brutal in a New England Winter. Our furnace can barely keep up, in fact on occasion it gets so cold shooters can see their breath. CO2 pistols won't fire when the trigger is pulled unless you stand there until springtime and the charge thaws out. Well the part about seeing your breath is true anyway.
: I'd be happy to hear from anyone having experience in this area, and any referrals would be investigated.
: Thanks, Roly
.43793.43651
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James Davis
Re: Shooting Range Air Cleaning & Filtration
Hi Roly:
You may consider contacting John Joines, the Range Technical Team Leader, at NRA's HQ (703.267.1278). He directs a program to provide shooting range evaluations and analyses throughout the US, which includes all aspects of range design, operation, and safety. If he can't get you specific answers to your questions, then he can refer you to other experts who can. His group is a valuable, but possibly little known, resource to the shooting community.
Regards,
James
james-at-pacificwest.com.44016.43651
You may consider contacting John Joines, the Range Technical Team Leader, at NRA's HQ (703.267.1278). He directs a program to provide shooting range evaluations and analyses throughout the US, which includes all aspects of range design, operation, and safety. If he can't get you specific answers to your questions, then he can refer you to other experts who can. His group is a valuable, but possibly little known, resource to the shooting community.
Regards,
James
james-at-pacificwest.com.44016.43651