Why do we need portable exhaust hoods?

Properly disposing off the chemicals is one of the most important factors of any laboratory. This also goes for the chemical fumes and the noxious gases that are released. Hence, every laboratory must have an exhaust hood through which scientists and lab experts can safely get rid of these gases.
But installing a hood with a duct is a costly affair and not every laboratory is big enough to afford it. In such a case, opting for exhaust hoods that do not require ducts and are portable in nature can be a highly suitable idea.

These hoods would be low on cost when it comes to their installation. There would be no use of breaking the building and making proper exhaust outlets. Further they would be portable, so you can shift them wherever you want. If your laboratory keeps shifting, then having a portable exhaust hood is much more desirable than installing ducted exhaust hoods everywhere.

But, there are certain caveats to it. Let us look at some of them.

Do you need a portable exhaust hood?

You would have to decide if portable exhaust hoods are right for you. These enclosures are not built for extreme heavy-duty work as their ducted counterparts. They might not be able to handle filtering the fumes of dangerous substances or burning of chemicals in large quantities.

Every portable hood comes with its own guidelines and limits. How much it can filter, what are the gases that it can filter etc., they all differ between different hoods. So you would have to decide if the portable exhaust hood would be sufficient.

Can you handle the maintenance?

These hoods require some maintenance. These enclosures work on a filtration basis which require filters. And these filters would have to be replaced and the frequency of their replacement would depend upon the filtration strength of these filters and the amount of work that you would be doing with them.

Depending upon those conditions, you might have to frequently order and replace the filters. Although doing this wouldn’t be as expensive as installing a ducted exhaust hood, but if your work entails long time working with heavy duty chemicals, then it is perhaps best to invest on a duct based exhaust hoods.

So the benefits of owning a portable hood would be that: 

1. It would be cheaper than installing a ducted hood. So, if you are looking for an option for buying a hood for a small laboratory or for your home laboratory, then portable hoods would be a great option.
2. They are extremely versatile to use. Shifting them from one place to another would be much more easier.
3. Cleaning them would be simpler. Changing their filters is not as hard or dirty as cleaning the exhausts of the ducted hoods. So, it can be done by relatively anyone.

But there are negative aspects of the portable hood as well, such as:

1. They are not built to handle heavy quantity of work or dangerous chemicals.
2. Changing their filters can be easy, but they can also be dangerous. Those filters would contain all the harmful gases that were filtered, so they can pose a serious threat to a person’s health if they are not careful.
3. Anyone who wants to work with the hood would have to learn about properly using and maintaining it. As such, there is a bit of a learning curve involved as their maintenance is fundamental.

So, before going ahead and opting for a portable ductless fume hood, make sure that it is what you actually need and that you can work with it.