Installation of a flow hood in your workshop is a safety measure that must be taken by all business owners. You may work in a small workshop that attaches to your home, or you may manage a large facility. Every building that sees industrial work every day must have laminar flow hoods in every room. The hoods you install will help you remove dirty air from the space, and the hoods help protect the lungs of you and your employees. Installation protocols are different for every building, but a simple plan will help you complete an installation that makes sense for your business.
#1: Where Do The Hoods Go?
Flow hoods must be installed directly over workstations in your building. Your home workshop may feature a flow bench that allows you to remove dirty air from the room as you work, and the hood is designed as part of the bench. A larger workshop may have hoods over every table, and a massive factory may have several hoods hanging from the ceiling. You must decide how to install your hoods based on the size of your building.
#2: How Do The Hoods Work?
The hoods use fans that suck air out of the room into an attached hose or pipe. The hose or pipe may go to a duct that leads outside, or the air may be sent to an incinerator that burns off any fumes that are flammable. You must attach your hoods to pipes that take the air away from your workers, and there may be a building code in your area that addresses such installations. Ensure that you have installed each hose or pipe correctly once the hoods are installed.
#3: Power Sources
The power source for your hood must be the wiring in your building. You tap into the electrical outlets for each room, and you may place the control panel where the outlet once stood. Your hoods will turn on and off using a simple switch, but you are not plugging in a socket. The hoods work best when they are hard-wired into your building’s electrical circuitry.
The power switch comes with a knob that allows you to control the speed of the fan. Every fan must be set to accommodate the amount of gas in the room, and your employees may turn up the fan at any time. Combining the hood with a gas sensor will help your employees understand what setting to use, and your building will be much safer as a result.
#4: How Long Do The Hoods Last?
A laminar flow hood will last for years on end when it is cleaned properly. You must hire a local service to clean your hoods once or twice a year. A complete cleaning and inspection will reveal any problems with the hood, and the technician can repair those problems during the visit. Dirty hoods will allow debris to get back into each room, and flammable gases or debris may ignite inside the hoods. You may keep your hoods for decades, but the hoods must be perfectly clean all the time.
A hood or flow bench helps everyone in a workshop remain safe during production. Industrial materials and tools create gases and debris that must be pulled out of the room, and your hoods will keep the air clean inside the space. Your employees are counting on the hoods to keep the air clean, and you must keep the hoods in good condition for the safety of your staff. A proper workshop or factory is not truly safe until every workstation is covered by a hood fan.