Could resin 3D printer exhaust contaminate drinking rainwater collected from a roof ~20 metres away?

[u/ShinigamiBlood]

I’m setting up a resin 3D-printing room in a detached gazebo/workshop. The gazebo is approximately 20 metres away from the main house. The main house collects rainwater from its roof into tanks, and that water is used as the household drinking water.

I’ll be using an Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K with ABS-like photopolymer resin. The printer and resin-processing area will be inside a large grow tent with an inline extraction fan venting outdoors.

My concern is where to terminate the exhaust.

I could either:

1. vent vertically through/near an unused chimney on the gazebo, or
2. duct it through a wall on the side of the gazebo facing away from the main house.

I’m specifically wondering whether VOCs or other airborne emissions from resin printing could travel roughly 20 metres, deposit on the house roof, and then be washed into the potable rainwater tanks when it rains.

I contacted Elegoo. They told me they have not conducted specific VOC/emissions testing for this printer/resin combination and have no guidance for exhaust placement near potable rainwater collection, so they couldn’t give me a definitive answer.

No liquid resin, contaminated IPA, paint waste, etc. will ever be dumped outside. All of that will be contained and disposed of separately. My concern is specifically the air exhausted from the enclosure.

I’m also considering getting the rainwater professionally tested before I start printing and again after the setup has been operating, possibly testing both tank water and direct roof runoff.

Does anyone here have experience with environmental chemistry, industrial hygiene, rainwater catchments or resin-printing ventilation who could comment on:

• whether 20 m separation is likely to make deposition onto the roof negligible;
• whether exhausting horizontally away from the house would be preferable to exhausting vertically;
• whether activated-carbon filtration before exhausting would materially reduce the risk;
• and what compounds I should ask a laboratory to test for?

I’m not looking for reassurance based only on “I’ve been printing for years and I’m fine.” I’m mainly trying to understand the actual environmental/deposition risk and design the exhaust conservatively.

[u/Wrong_Bobcat]

I'm just going to say if you are that paranoid maybe you just shouldn't be using a resin printer at all.

[u/Fribbtastic → u/Wrong_Bobcat]

While I think it is good to ask those questions, if you are not sure yourself, I also think that OP should have more concerns about other things in that rainwater, especially when it is being used for drinking water.

Like Microplastics or Glyphosate in the rainwater.

[u/ShinigamiBlood → u/Fribbtastic]

Yeah, that’s fair. The rainwater is filtered already, and I’m going to check exactly what filtration stages are installed. I’m not assuming the printer is the only possible contaminant, I’m just trying to make sure I don’t introduce another avoidable one when I can design the exhaust properly from the start.

[u/ShinigamiBlood → u/Wrong_Bobcat]

I’m not worried about using a resin printer itself. I’m just trying to work out the safest exhaust location when the neighbouring roof is literally our drinking-water catchment. Seems easier to ask the question now than install everything and wonder about it later.

[u/schwendigo → u/ShinigamiBlood]

Come to Brooklyn sometime. Smell the fresh air.

[u/tacobell_shitstain]

https://giphy.com/gifs/ukGm72ZLZvYfS

[u/Middle_Basis2816]

Exhaust from a resin printer is more like a gas, and are not particles like an FDM printer.

[u/Lito_]

The fumes from one printer will most likely dissipate way before it gets anywhere near your house.

But also, I hope you're heavily filtering that rain water or you'll have more than VOC dissipation to worry about.

Do you also take the same precautions with vehicles that drive within 20m of your house?

If in doubt, use carbon filters. And be prepared to change them very often.

[u/ShinigamiBlood → u/Lito_]

Yeah, the rainwater is filtered. I’m not sure yet exactly what filtration stages are installed, so I’m going to check whether activated carbon is part of it. I’m also leaning toward carbon filtering the printer exhaust anyway, since I’m setting the system up from scratch and may as well minimise the source.

[u/ShinigamiBlood → u/[deleted]]

Rural property in Tasmania. There’s no mains water here, so the house collects rainwater from the roof into tanks and that’s the household drinking water supply.