Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Movin' On Up

WNYBAC is a perpetual work in progress, and we're always improving, but we've been making some great advances lately. Most notably, our successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign allowed us to install much needed professional heating and ventilation in the Print Shop.
For those of you who are interested, we had a 70,000 BTU Payne Closed Combustion furnace installed; it's a high-efficiency unit capable of heating the space in a few short minutes. The closed combustion unit ensures that the fumes from the ink and solvents won't corrode the burners. It's already been an amazing help during open studios and workshops (where our members are welcoming a reprieve from the biting cold).
For ventilation purposes, we had 12" duct work installed with a 800 cubic ft/minute Fantech Inline fan, capable of an air change in the room once every 5-10minutes. The fume hood is mounted at about 2' high in the center of the room on the East wall near our line of Vandercook presses; it's situated low because the fumes from solvents are heavier than air. It's been working amazingly well - we no longer come home with our clothes and hair smelling like One-Step Type Wash, we no longer feel dizzy or crampy, and we feel perfectly secure ensuring the health of all of visitors, students, artists, and staff alike.
Again, to all those who donated money or who have helped support us, THANK YOU! Stop down and visit any time you'd like to see the space and what we've been doing to enhance it! As WNYBAC continues to improve, the community of cultural workers in the city of Buffalo will strengthen as well, so remember - we're not just trying to refine the building, the print shop, or the gallery - we're doing our best to improve Buffalo as a whole!

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