iDEAL CPI / Rammstein Air RS-1001 Direct Fired Air Makeup Unit

A spray booth is an exhaust machine. It throws conditioned shop air out of the building at a great rate, and something has to put that air back — that something is an air makeup unit, and in January it is the difference between a booth you can spray in and a booth that is cold, slow to flash off, and pulling freezing air in through every gap in the building. The RS-1001 is the direct-fired AMU built to sit on top of that job.

It is designed to work with Side Down Draft and Semi Down Draft booths, and it is worth being blunt about the condition attached to that: a plenum or canopy is required. This is not an appliance you bolt to any booth. If your booth does not already have the plenum or canopy for it, that part is a separate item and it needs to be on the order.

One electrical connection, and a panel you can put where you want it

The control panel is listed by ETL — a third-party electrical safety listing that applies to the panel, which is the part of a heater assembly an electrical inspector is most likely to want documentation on. It is worth reading that precisely: the listing named in this product's data attaches to the control panel, and we are not going to stretch it into a claim about the whole appliance.

Installation is by single point connection, with the exhaust variable frequency drive already fused and wired. On equipment of this kind, factory-wired and factory-fused is the difference between an electrician landing one feed and an electrician spending a day building out a control enclosure on site. The 30' umbilical then lets the panel live where the operator actually stands rather than wherever the unit happened to be craned into position.

Truly variable air flow

A VFD on the exhaust means the fan speed is genuinely adjustable rather than switched between two fixed states. That matters for two reasons. First, balance: an air makeup unit's job is to match what the booth is throwing out, and a booth's demand changes with filter loading, with the doors, and with what is being sprayed. Second, running cost — moving and heating more air than the job needs is the single largest waste in a paint operation, and a fixed-speed fan cannot do anything about it.

Airflow is rated at CFM 13,000. The unit is configured for vertical or side discharge, so it can be positioned to suit the building rather than forcing the ducting to solve the problem.

Instrumentation you will actually use

The control panel reports messages in plain terms, shows cycle time and elapsed time on a time display, carries interlock status indicator lights, and logs running time on an hour meter. Interlock status lights deserve a mention on their own: an AMU is interlocked with the booth for a reason, and when a booth will not start, the fastest question to answer is which interlock is open. A light answers it. Without one, someone spends an hour with a meter.

The hour meter is the maintenance record. Filter and burner service intervals on this equipment are measured in running hours, not calendar months, and a shop that services on hours does not either over-service or run a dirty burner for a season.

Will It Fit?

• Fuel. Natural gas or LP. Specify which when you order — the unit is configured for the fuel, this is not a field setting you change on a whim.
• Gas supply. The gas train is 1". Your gas fitter needs to confirm the supply can actually deliver against the unit's rated input, which is a question about pipe sizing and meter capacity, not just thread size.
• Heat input. 1.2M BTUH.
• Electrical service. See the note below before you commission an electrician — this is the one specification on the sheet that needs confirming.
• The booth. Side Down Draft and Semi Down Draft models, with a plenum or canopy required.
• Rigging. 1,395 lbs on the shipping scale. Plan the lift into position before delivery day, not on it.
• Code. A direct-fired gas appliance is installed by a qualified gas installer to your local code, with the permits your jurisdiction requires. That is the buyer's responsibility and it is not a formality.

Confirm the electrical phase in writing before you order

Published electrical figures for this unit differ: the specification sheet heading describes the model line as 1 Phase, while the same sheet lists the intake motor and the exhaust drive as 230V - 10HP - 3 PH. Single-phase against three-phase is not a detail — it determines the service you have to run to the unit, and it can be the most expensive line on the installation quote.

Ask us to confirm the electrical configuration in writing before you order, and give the answer to your electrician before any conduit goes in. We will get it straight from iDEAL so the figure you plan around is the current one.

Perfect For

• Collision and refinish shops in cold climates, where booth temperature in winter decides throughput.
• Any operator adding a heater to an existing Side Down or Semi Down Draft booth — subject to the plenum or canopy requirement.
• Shops fighting negative pressure: doors that are hard to open and drafts through the building are usually an air-makeup problem, not a booth problem.
• Production paint operations where flash and cure times are the constraint on how many jobs go through in a day.

What's in the Box

The AMU with its white powder coat finish, the ETL listed control panel with the exhaust VFD fused and wired, the hour meter, the time display, the interlock status indicator lights and the 30' umbilical. The plenum or canopy required to mate the unit to a booth is not part of this listing, and neither is the ducting, the gas train pipework beyond the unit's own connection, or the electrical service.

Specifications

Shipping and Delivery

This is a freight shipment to the lower 48 and the cost is quoted live at checkout for your delivery address; we do not print a figure, because freight pricing moves and a stale number becomes a dispute later. Warehouse pickup from our Valor, Tuxedo and iDeal locations is available if you would rather collect.

At 1,395 lbs you need equipment and people ready to take it off the truck, or a terminal pickup arranged instead — and you need to know where it is going before it lands, because an AMU generally ends up on a roof, a mezzanine or a structural mount rather than on the shop floor. Inspect the crate before you sign and write any damage onto the delivery receipt while the driver is there; a note on that receipt is the basis of a freight claim, and a call the following day usually is not.

Warranty

No warranty term is published on this listing, so none is quoted here. Ask us for the current written terms before you order — with a gas appliance the question of what is covered, and what depends on the installation being done by a qualified installer, is worth settling in advance. Our claims process is on the warranty claims page. If the unit faults, do not open the burner assembly or the control panel before a claim is raised: on gas equipment, disassembly before a claim can end both the claim and the listing that panel carries.