Australia's Science Forum

Hi Everyone,

Is it required that we keep the exhaust fan in our Chemical Store Rooms on at all times?

Or do we just turn it on if we enter the room? And then off again as we leave.

What is "the Rule" that we should be following?

Thanks

Leave it on 24/7

If you just turn it on when you go in and out - it wont have time to clear the air for you to go in.

As I do not go in there every day, I only turn fan on a few minutes before going in. I do have cross ventilation, but I always turn the fan on.
Lada

Keep it going 24/7. When mine was installed a long time ago, it was supposed to go from about 8-4 each day. But as Narelle01 said the air hadn't always cleared before I went in, and when we had blackouts I had to go quite a distance to an electrical cupboard and reset the timer. In the end I got sick of resetting it and figured it was my health anyway so I removed the timer. I have been told that fans only cost about 1c an hour to run, so don't worry about the cost. Your health is more important.

I have an extraction fan on 24/7 in my chem store on the senior campus. I also have extraction fans running 24/7 for two under the bench cupboards for flammables and corrosives. Those are in the middle school prep room.

If you have chemicals that are bad for your health you really need to leave the extraction system on 24/7.

Lyn.

YES 24/7

YES 24/7 all year around

24/7 here

24/7 here as well!

all the time until the motor blows up.

And when the motor packs it in, it just becomes a WHS issue to have it fixed. Funny how those three letters have an impact on getting things done in a reasonable time frame.

Asked fume cupboard service guy to check chem store fan and he smoked the outside of door to make sure air was being drawn in, so don't forget the possibility of fumes leaking out from under door if fan is turned off. I always keep mine on.

bunsen wrote:Asked fume cupboard service guy to check chem store fan and he smoked the outside of door to make sure air was being drawn in, so don't forget the possibility of fumes leaking out from under door if fan is turned off. I always keep mine on.

Mine had to be ducted from outside ground level sucking in every dust partical then sucked up through the ceiling (impossible to keep clean). They wouldn't duct from inside (pretty well sealed under doors) apparently because if there is a fire it would be drawn into the chemical rooms.

I'm trying to get the maintenance men to put filters on the outside vents to stop the dust (if anyone knows any WHS reason why I wouldn't be allowed to please let me know). In some cases the dust is settling on bottles and becoming very moist/oily. I start itching after I've been in there for any length of time, not sure if I've become more sensitive to chemicals over time or it's mind over matter. i have 2 chemical rooms side by side one for mostly diluted the other also has the flammables cupboard in it. Both rooms are ducted into the one large exhaust fan thats 24/7.

Does anyone have the regulations that state that the chem store has to have exhaust fan on 24/7?

try my principal my bizz it is law

The Australian standard give the minimum purge time. From memory it is around 5 minutes. In my old labs the exhaust would come on when the door opened and when it closed would stay on for 5 minutes. It also had a cycle for if the door wasn't opened in a period of time (like overnight and weekends) and would purge periodically. My new school it is attached to the light being turned on and off. Again it purges after the light is turned off but I tend to turn the light on well before I want to enter and, depending on what I have out on my prac trolley (at the moment it is includes organic waste) I will leave it on during my work time as I am going in and out all day.

This is 2 years old - but we did an internal audit 18 months ago and off the back of another schools audit - our exhaust was changed from mechanical - and it is always spinning ... I also keep the chem store door open during the day which allows ventilation in ...
https://assist.asta.edu.au/print/2666

HA! My exhaust fan has been broken for months!!
I have repeatedly put it on Sentral, brought it to the attention of the WHS committee, and then escalated it to the principal.....................
Waiting, waiting.................

Ours is setup like linotas , fan comes on when light operates followed by a purge time when the lights off .
I do same as linotas and turn the light on for a while before entering .But strangely you have to open the door as the switch is inside the door

Our labs are circa 2000 .I would have thought that it would have had the exhaust permanently wired to run 24/7 if this was the rule ...unless this 24/7 Rule is a fairly recent thing .
If it is the Rule then why has the department not gone around and converted all Chem stores ?

In some instances some are best practice and others are mandatory aka requires retro fit ...