Ductless Fume Hoods - Use With Great Care

2007-03-08 10:33:40

( Automobiles )



Fumes may be all around you, although you will not always be aware of their presence. You can detect diesel fumes easily, because they have a characteristic sting on the nose. Teflon fumes are harder to detect, and many people have suffered polymer fume fever due to Teflon fumes from heated Teflon products.

If you work in an environment that potentially harbors plenty of fumes, such as a chemical laboratory or a school laboratory, you will want these chemicals to be handled separately to avoid fumes from contaminating the air you breathe. Your laboratory probably uses fume hoods for this purpose.

Fume hoods are of two types: ductless fume hoods and ducted fume hoods. Ductless fume hoods are ventilated chambers equipped with their own fans, which move air out of the chambers and drive it through filters, and ultimately returns the air back into the laboratory. The hoods use activated carbon filters to capture the vapors. Unlike ducted fume hoods, you do not use exhaust ducting for ductless fume hoods, hence the name.

You should know that ductless fume hoods can be utilized only under limited conditions, and preferably should be used only with non-toxic chemicals. If your laboratory operations require handling of volatile chemicals, you should make sure that ductless fume hoods are not in use.

If you use ductless fume hoods anyway, regularly determine if the activated carbon filters are still functioning effectively or need changing. Ascertain that the hazard level is low for the lab tests to be conducted, if your laboratory is using ductless fume hoods. Make sure that they are properly located in your laboratory. You should set them apart from the movement of people and equipment because movements create eddy air currents, which decrease efficiency of the fume hood. You should locate them away from doors because doors can also create eddy currents.


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