Question: Are ductless fume hoods a good alternative to traditional fume hoods?
Since the summer, we’ve been taking an inventory of the fume hoods in our secondary schools and sending in an inspector to look at them. We’ve found a few schools with no working hoods. Given the infrastructure and energy demands of the built-in ones, we were thinking of purchasing ductless ones, like those outlined in the attached brochure.
Our Health and Safety department is concerned that these may be in violation of some of our codes (see below). Has STAO come across any of these ductless hoods in Ontario schools and/or have any thoughts of their effectiveness?
Answer: I have read through a 2006 safety review regarding ductless fume hoods. The review was conducted by a committee at the National Institute of Health (NIH), and referenced a previous study by the Occupational Health and Safety Branch (DOHS) 1998. I have also consulted two other sources, Princeton University website and the reference textbook, Prudent Practices in the Laboratory (2011).
Click here to read the NIH review!