When to recommend a portable, ductless fume hood

By Devon Cooke, Advertising Specialist

On July 13, 2020 in Articles

You need a new fume hood. Your lab cannot feasibly support adding additional ductwork for another traditional ducted hood, so you need to consider a ductless hood to avoid adding additional ductwork. A ductless hood will offer energy savings and installation cost-savings as well, a win-win. Now you want to know – what ductless fume hood is best for your application?

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all for portable fume hoods as there are so many unique variations of applications in the scientific world. To recommend the best ductless fume hood for a lab requires an overview of the chemical application and what problems the ductless fume hood is expected to solve.

Narrowing the selection

The overview of the chemical application requires answering three important question:

1. Will a carbon filter be effective to filter the chemicals?
2. What volume of chemicals are being used?
3. How frequently will the hood be exposed to the chemicals?

The answers to these questions can drastically change what type of fume hood your lab will need. For instance, if your application requires boiling acids, then a ductless fume hood should not be used at all. If volumes of certain chemicals are too large, or the chemical is used too frequently, the filters in a carbon filtered enclosure will need to be replaced too often to be economical. For more detailed information, see our article on 4 Things to consider before choosing a ductless fume hood

Assessing a chemical application

Seek expert advice on the safety and viability of your application by filling out a chemical assessment request. Your request will be reviewed by an application specialist who can address your application’s parameters to ensure that all are suitable for use in a ductless fume hood. The chemical assessment form requires detailed information such as:

• The chemicals to be used
• Exposure time of the chemicals
• How often they will be handled per month
• Temperature of chemicals handled
• Descriptions of the processes to be carried out

It’s important to be as accurate as possible on the chemical assessment form, as the more information the application specialist has, the more precise their recommendation will be. It will also save time by avoiding follow-up questions. When the application specialist has reviewed your chemical assessment request, they will provide hood and filter recommendations, along with any necessary precautions to help you make an informed decision about what hood to use.