Agitation controls what happens at the part surface, deposit uniformity, burning and gas pitting all trace back to it. Ventilation controls what happens to everyone else in the building.
Agitation and extraction share a tank rim, and getting one specified without the other is how shops end up with a sparge header blowing mist straight past a lip exhaust that cannot catch it.
Oil-free low-pressure air for agitation. Oil-free matters, a lubricated compressor will eventually put oil into the bath.
PVC or CPVC headers drilled for your tank width and immersion depth, with hold-downs so they stay put when the air comes on.
Nozzles that entrain surrounding solution to multiply pumped flow, giving strong directed movement without air, the usual answer where air agitation is not wanted.
Mechanical work movement for baths where the finish improves with the part moving rather than the solution.
Slot hoods along the tank rim, or push-pull across wide tanks, sized to pull the fume off the surface before it reaches the operator.
Packed-bed scrubbers and mist eliminators to treat the extracted air before discharge, with ducting and fans in materials that survive it.
Solution movement and air handling, blowers, sparging and eductors below the surface, scrubbers and exhaust above it.
Oil-free regenerative blowers for air agitation, quiet, continuous low-pressure air without introducing oil into the bath.
Regenerative blower pre-plumbed on a stainless stand with the rigid drop pipe that feeds your sparger, one assembly, ready to set beside the tank.
PVC/CPVC sparge headers drilled for your tank, and eductor systems that multiply pump flow for strong, even solution movement.
Packed-bed scrubbers that strip acid and caustic fumes from exhaust air before discharge.
Every quote includes the exact price and the honest lead time, if it's a ten-week build, we say ten weeks before you order. Configurations shown are representative; we spec each order to your line.
A starting orientation. Some chemistries rule out air agitation entirely, and that decision comes first, we confirm against your bath before quoting.
| Method | Suits | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Air sparge | Most acid and alkaline plating baths, cleaners and pickles. | Simple and effective. Not for baths that oxidise or foam badly with air. |
| Eductor circulation | Baths where air is unwanted, and any bath needing strong directed flow. | Multiplies pump flow substantially and runs off the filter loop. |
| Cathode rod agitation | Rack work where moving the part beats moving the solution. | Mechanical, so it adds a maintenance item, but it is gentle on the bath. |
| Lip exhaust | Open tanks of most widths. | Slot velocity and hood placement matter more than raw fan size. |
| Push-pull ventilation | Wide tanks where one-sided extraction cannot reach across. | A low-velocity air jet carries fume across to the exhaust side. |
| Packed-bed scrubbing | Acid and caustic exhaust before discharge. | Sized by exhaust CFM and by the chemistry being captured. |
Send what you have and we will fill the gaps with you, nobody gets turned away for an incomplete spec. These are simply the answers that let us quote without a round of questions first.
Surface area drives extraction; depth drives the pressure a blower has to overcome.
Decides whether air agitation is suitable at all, and what the ducting, hood and scrubber have to be made from.
Uneven deposit, burning, gas pitting, a mist problem in the room or an air permit condition, the answer differs sharply.
If there is a system in place, its size and condition often decides whether you extend it or start again.
Voltage and phase for the blower or fan, and where the equipment can physically go.
It scales with the solution surface area and the depth the air is released at, a deeper tank needs more pressure for the same visible movement. Give us the tank dimensions and the depth of the header and we will size the blower against it rather than guessing from tank volume alone.
Air is simpler and cheaper and suits most baths. Eductors go where air is unwanted, chemistry that oxidises or foams, or where you want strong directional flow past the work. Eductors also run off the filtration loop you already have, which is often the deciding factor.
A lubricated compressor carries oil mist in its air stream. Blown into a plating bath, that oil becomes an organic contaminant you then pay to remove with carbon. Regenerative blowers are oil-free by design, which is why they are the standard for this duty.
The practical signals are mist visible above the tank, condensate and corrosion on nearby structures, and operators reporting irritation. The formal answer comes from industrial hygiene measurement against your applicable exposure limits, we supply the equipment, and we will tell you plainly when the question you are asking is one for a hygienist rather than a supplier.
That depends on your chemistry and your local air permit, not on the size of your shop. Where acid or caustic mist is being extracted, treatment before discharge is usually expected. Tell us what you are capturing and the exhaust volume and we will size it.
Answer what you know and skip the rest, a person who knows plating reads every RFQ and comes back with a price and an honest lead time, usually the same business day. Attach drawings or a photo of the old part and we'll work from that.
