How To Operate Laboratory Fume Hood

A chemical fume hood protects the user while a biosafety cabinet protects the user, the environment and the material. Make sure, fume hoods and biological safety cabinets are not interchangeable because they have different functions and technologies. Basically fume hoods are used to remove chemical fumes away from the work area.
A chemical fume hood protects the user while the biosafety cabinet protects the user, the environment and the material. Biosafety cabinets have the high efficiency particular air filters while chemical fume hoods or not. A chemical fume hood is designed to remove chemical fumes and aerosols from the work area while a biosafety cabinet is designed to provide both the protection for employees as well as for the cleaning purpose. Basically these are the specialized types of laboratory equipments which have some special appeal of its own and now day’s different technologies are coming in the foreign countries which help to do the work much easier and beneficial as well.

Although these the fume hoods should have some safety security purposes for using these two equipments and this is also the operating procedures of fume hoods-

• To protect these twos, do not install the fume hood directly opposite to the workstations.
• Try to install fume hoods to allow access to their supply and exhaust filters for annual certification testing and HEPA filter changes. The top of the cabinet must be at least 18’ below the ceiling to field test exhaust flow according to NSF standard 49.
• To avoid disturbing the airflow that protects the worker, locate fume hoods so lab personnel existing and entering the lab do not pass in front of them.
• A laboratory fume hood is a workspace designated for containment of hazardous reagents used in experiments or assays, or toxic fumes that result from reactions or experiments. Found in all types of labs, the primary goal of the hood is to protect the user from these reagents, and to protect other laboratory staff, animals and/or experiments from contamination.
• Application will determine the type of fume hood needed, for example specially designed units are designed to protect users from radioisotopes, and units with a wash-down system of water spray nozzles dispersed throughout the hood are required for work with perchloric acid. When choosing an appropriate hood for your lab, consider special application requirements, energy consumption, available space and types of filters needed. Air is pulled away from the user and filtered or released to the external environment.

 Fume hoods are found in a variety of shapes and sizes- small bench top units are available for space challenged labs, and larger cabinet-type units are available for storage and space demanding experiments. Fume hoods are generally set back against the walls and are often fitted with in fills above, to cover up the exhaust ductwork. Because of their recessed shape they are generally poorly illuminated by general room lighting, so many have internal lights with vapor-proof covers. The front is a sash window, usually in glass, able to move up and down on a Counterbalance  mechanism.