This is part 2 of this article, if you want to read part 1 see achives.

• Never use you fume hood for any function it was not designed for, examples are  radioisotopes, Perchloric Acid, etc. Radioisotopes require special fume hoods designed for radiation safety. Perchloric acid requires a hood with a wash down system due to the generation of acid vapors. Check requirements for the chemicals you plan to use.
• Always wear the proper protective gear required for the job you are doing. Fume hoods do not prevent chemical spills, splashed, or accidents.
• Always place heat generating equiptment to the back of the hood, this type of equiptment produces convection currents which may interfer with air flow.
• Fume hood side panels should not be removed, this will interfere with proper air flow in the hood.
• The fume hood sash should always be closed when unattended, this will reduce the risk of fire or exlosion and should it occure will help with containment.
• Your facility should preform regular maintenance checks on hoods to ensure proper functionality. All seals and closures should be inpected and face velocities should be checked. Other maintenance requirements should be found in your operations manual.
• If air flow in your hood stops you should, Follow the procedures specified by your safety coordinator or supervisor. these are a few sugested guidelines for this, shut down experiments, turn off heat sources, releive any pressure, seal all containers, remove gas cylinders from hood, note pressure guage reading if provided, ensure no equiptment is vented into hood, place a "Do not use hood" sign on front untill repaired.
• other safety procedures should be determined and understood by all personell prior to using any hood.

I truly hope this information is helpful.

Rodney Brown, Indoff Inc.

 

Proper use and precautions while using fume hoods is crucial to to the health and saftey of your personel and facilities, these are some basic guide lines to follow:

• Operate hood at proper sash height, this is determined by the hood manufacturer for maximum effectivness
• Minimize personel traffic in hood working zone, personel should have easy access to other areas without having to continuously pass through hood working zone.
• Minimize cross drafts,  entry door possitioning and traffic patterns should be taken into consideration prior to fume hood placement to minimize cross drafts which may effect hood preformance. Also take into consideration the possitioning of fans and airconditioners to prevent cross drafts to hood.
• Storage, fume hoods should never be used as storage cabinets for chemicals or lab equipment,  equipment and chemicals should only be placed inside hood while in use and should be properly stored at all other times.
• Clean, always keep the sash face clean and clean up any spills or contamination created during hood use. This will ensure proper visual reference and prevent unsafe or unwanted chemical reactions.
• Bulky equipment, keep all bulky items away from side wall to prevent airflow disruption. also possition bulky equipment to rear of hood but not against rear wall (this will block rear air flow), and raise about 2" on blocks to allow flow around equipment.
• Airfoil, never block airfoil it provides the airflow across the floor of the hood
• Work possitioning, always work as far inside hood area as possible, and maitain a minimum of 4-6" in from from edge, and always keep sash face between you and your task. equipment should always be minimum of 9-12" away from sash face.

This article is part 1 and more information will follow soon:

 

Welcome to our site I truly hope that the information you access here will be of benifit to you in your research or purchasing of fume hood products and accessaries.