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Previous by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Fume Hoods Date: January 26, 2012 3:46:04 PM EST Author: "Peifer, Patricia"

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As can easily be demonstrated with a simple smoke generator (or evaporating dry ice) a linear velocity of 150 f/m usually causes excessive turbulence/eddy currents that can cause escape of vapors from the hood to the user's breathing zone. Here are some examples of standards established by others. I choose these because they are information-rich with respect to explanations of different types of hoods (and their components), and the standard conditions under which linear velocity is measured.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/EHS/prod/mainrencon/Labdesign/Section_1-1_Ventilation.pdf See comprehensive bibliography of regulations & stnds. Average 100 lfmp.

http://ehs.columbia.edu/fhPolicy.html 80-120 lfpm120

http://www.colorado.edu/ehs/pdf/ECIH.FumeHoodQandA11_08.pdf 80-120 lfpm

http://www.usg.edu/ehs/guidelines/lab_design/v.phtml 80-120 lfpm

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/labsafetymanual/sec6b.htm#performance >100 lfpm

http://www4.uwm.edu/usa/safety/laboratory_safety/fumehoods.cfm > 100 lfpm

David Haugen (retired)

From: "Patricia Peifer"
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 2:46:04 PM
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Fume Hoods

I am not currently the person who is responsible for our lab fume hood testing, our metrology department does that. They wrote a procedure for this task but did not include an upper limit for face velocity. I was cited for this when we had an outside safety audit done, with the recommendation being that we have a upper limit for fpm of 150.

This made sense to me, my understanding was that an upper limit of 150 fpm (or even 120) was generally standard. I would like to learn more about ventilation and take over responsibility of the fume hood testing at my facility.

My question is:
• Is training highly recommended or even required to test chemical fume hoods?
• Does anyone have a recommendation for training?
• Should I indeed be looking at 150 fpm as an upper limit? I have looked at ANSI, NRC, etc., but have not purchased the actual documents.

Thanks you,
Pat

Pat Peifer, CHO
Safety and Chemical Hygiene Specialist
West Pharmaceutical Services
101 Gordon Drive
Lionville, PA 19341

Find West on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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