Distillation Fume Hoods

At Genie Scientific, we offer multiple fume hood designs tailored to use. For this article, Genie Scientific’s Vice President of Operations, Garrett LeVan, discusses the distillation fume hood building process and how to make sure the right aspects properly suit the needs of your lab.

How can clients get started in deciding which fume hood is right for their lab?

One of the main starting points when building a fume hood is the client’s interior working dimensions and the specific experiments needs, what the hood will be used for. From there we choose between a range of our custom or standard fume hoods.

What are the specific offerings of a distillation fume hood?

Our distillation fume hoods mounts on our Spillsafe™ top and low height base units. There is also extra interior height to accommodate a tall apparatus, most commonly distillation racks. Below are a few specifications found in our distillation fume hoods:

  1. StillSafe ™ Horizontal sliding doors that hang from a heavy duty iBeam via rugged jump proof carriers for enhanced ease of use and safety. This significantly reduces the worry of broken or gunked-up lower track wheels.
  2. Powerlink™ A robust chain and sprocket sash counter balance system that we guarantee will never fail.
  3. SpillSafe™ Fume hood work surfaces are dished to safely contain spills inside the hood.
  4. AirDirect™ Distillation hoods are fitted with an aerodynamic airfoil to direct air across the work surface ensuring floor sweep for a safer operation.
  5. DirectConnect™ All of our hoods are fitted with a simple round exhaust collar for connection to building HVAC. There’s no complicated or expensive ductwork transition pieces needed, just a simple round connection.

Does Genie offer different size options for a distillation fume hood?

We offer our distillation fume hoods in five standard widths and four standard depths, so it gives the client a lot of flexibility even within our standard product. You can find a link to our specific sizing here.

What is the most common sash type for a distillation fume hood?

For distillation fume hoods, the two most commons sash types could be said as the vertical rising sash and the combination sash. The vertical rising sash is driven by Powerlink™ and it has dual framed pieces of laminated safety glass that move up and down. This type of sash allows for a threshold free access. The combination sash is also driven by Powerlink™ and consists of dual framed, vertical rising sash that also have horizontal sliding panes of safety glass. While our clients are able to choose from up to seven standard sash styles, we also offer customizable sizing and designs.

What is the next step after deciding on sash style?

After you pick your sash style, the next step is the interior liner material. This is the inside lining of the fume hood that comes in direct contact with the chemicals, vapors, fumes etc. that you’re working with during your experiment. Our standard liner material is our chemical tough fume hood liner. It’s a superior general purpose liner with phenolic resin and has excellent resistance to a broad range of chemicals; it’s also fire safety rated. This liner is structurally sound, so you can screw things directly into it and you don’t need to worry about damaging the hood.

Is there a common liner for a distillation fume hood?

No. The interior liner has to do with the type of experiment being performed and the chemicals that will be used, not the design of the fume hood. For a complete list of our liners, contact us today.

 

What other variants do you need to take into account when creating the distillation hood?

As with the other fume hoods, airflow is very critical. You must identify airflow requirements of the experiment, exhaust and the bypass type needed. We also ask our clients, no matter what kind of fume hood they are purchasing, to double check the maximum opening requirements. This is the unit measurement of whatever equipment is needed inside the fume hood. The set up position of your fume hood is when the horizontal sash is fully open, and the maximum opening measurement must match the measurement of whatever equipment will be needed for the experiment.

Depending on your airflow needs and operating position, you then choose from two bypass types on your fume hood. There is the option of open bypass constant volume exhaust system, which is the most common for labs. The other option is a restricted bypass that goes with a variable air volume exhaustive system. A VAV (variable air volume) is an exhaustive system that typically maintains fume hood face velocity by adjusting lower motor speeds, in response to changes in sash position. This type is normally used when there is a multitude of hoods at a facility, as it becomes expensive to run on a singular fume hood. These above factors don’t necessarily depend on the style of the fume hood, so can be used on any of our standard fume hoods.

What aspects affect the cost of the distillation hood the most?

Since a distillation fume hood doesn’t sit on any objects, we can remove the cabinet accessories from the equations and move straight to plumbing and electrical necessities. Plumbing is very specific to the needs of your experiment and the location of your fume hood in the lab. You can read more about different service fixtures for all of our fume hoods here.

As for electrical, we offer a standard package with all of our fume hoods. This includes a blower switch, a light switch, 220 volt GFI duplex, vapor proof T8 florescent light fixtures and an airflow alarm. This comes standard with all floor-mounted fume hoods and can wire to any junction box. We also offer explosion proof fixtures for class 1 division 1 environments.

After all these decisions have been made based on the clients needs, the information is handed to our estimator team where a quote will be built and given to the client.

Building Your Walk-in Fume Hood

One of our most desired fume hood is the floor-mounted, walk-in hood. Below our VP of Operations, Garrett LeVan talks specifications such as StillSafe, Powerlink, and DirectConnect, while shedding light on other variants that are important to take into account when designing the best possible walk-in fume hood for your lab.

What’s the first thing a client should consider when designing a fume hood?

Walk-in hoods are characterized by a tall and deep chambers, and meant to contain large equipment. As with other hoods, the main starting point is identifying the clients working dimensions: height, width, and depth needed to safely perform the experiment. We take that and source materials to safely conduct the experiment, such as what kind of sash will work best. Finally decide on electric, plumbing, and accessories needed.

What are the specific offerings of a walk-in (floor-mounted) fume hood?

Our floor-mounted fume hoods sit directly on the floor and are designed for large apparatus set ups and roll in equipment. Building extra large and custom walk-in hoods is a specialty of Genie. Below are a few specifications found in our walk-in, floor mounted fume hoods.

  1. StillSafe ™ Horizontal sliding doors that hang from a heavy duty iBeam via rugged jump proof carriers for enhanced ease of use and safety. This significantly reduces the worry of broken or gunked-up lower track wheels.
  2. Powerlink™ A robust chain and sprocket sash counter balance system that we guarantee will never fail.
  3. DirectConnect™ All of our hoods are fitted with a simple round exhaust collar for connection to building HVAC. There’s no complicated or expensive ductwork transition pieces needed, just a simple round connection.

Does Genie offer different sizing options for a floor-mounted fume hood?

Yes, we offer our floor-mounted fume hoods in six standard widths and four standard depths. This allows our clients the ability to stay within a standard product, instead of a custom item at a higher cost.

What is the most common sash type for a floor-mounted fume hood?

Our Slidesafe ™ Horizontal sash is most common for these types of hoods. With them we have horizontal sliding doors that hang from a heavy duty iBeam via a rugged jump-proof carrier.

What is the next step after deciding on sash style? 

What other variants do you need to take into account when creating the walk-in fume hood?

As with the other fume hoods, airflow is very critical. You must identify airflow requirements of the experiment, exhaust and the bypass type needed. We also ask our clients, no matter what kind of fume hood they are purchasing, to double check the maximum opening requirements. This is the unit measurement of whatever equipment is needed inside the fume hood. The set up position of your fume hood is when the horizontal sash is fully open and the maximum opening measurement must match the measurement of whatever equipment will be needed for the experiment.

After deciding on the sash style for your floor-mounted fume hood we need to look at the liner material. All of our fume hoods are powder coated and superstructure galvanized, while the interior of the fume hood is lined with a material that’s dependent on your experiments needs. These aren’t specific to fume hood style, necessarily, but more so the chemistry within the fume hood.

Depending on your airflow needs and operating position, you then choose from two bypass types on your fume hood. There is the option of open bypass constant volume exhaust system, which is the most common for labs. The other option is a restricted bypass that goes with a variable air volume exhaustive system. A VAV (variable air volume) is an exhaustive system that typically maintains fume hood face velocity by adjusting lower motor speeds, in response to changes in sash position. This type is normally used when there is a multitude of hoods at a facility, as it becomes expensive to run on a singular fume hood.

What aspects affect the cost of the walk-in hood the most?

Since a walk-in fume hood doesn’t sit on any objects, we can remove the cabinet accessories from the equations and move straight to plumbing and electrical necessities. Plumbing is very specific to the needs of your experiment and the location of your fume hood.

As for electrical, we offer a standard package with all of our fume hoods. This includes a blower switch, a light switch, 220 volt GFI duplex, vapor proof T8 florescent light fixtures and an airflow alarm. This comes standard with all floor-mounted fume hoods and can wire to any junction box. We also offer explosion proof fixtures for class 1 division 1 environments.

After all these decisions have been made based on the clients needs, the information is handed to our estimator team where a quote will be built and given to the client.

Building Your Bench Top Fume Hood

When building your lab, you want to make sure you choose the right equipment that is best suited for your needs. At Genie Scientific, we offer multiple fume hood designs tailored to use. In this article we examine one of our most sought after fume hoods, the bench top fume hood. Genie Scientific’s Vice President of Operations, Garrett LeVan, addresses how to choose the correct fume hood, while walking us through the building and pricing process.

How can clients get started in deciding which fume hood is right for their lab?

One of the main starting points when determining what fume hood is right for the customer is their required interior working dimensions. What is the internal height, width, and depth you need to safely perform the experiment inside the fume hood?  Measure out the footprint of your equipment and apparatus that will be going in the hood.  You also want to keep in mind any plans for the future, you want to have the flexibility to expand without overloading the hood.

Does Genie offer different size options for a bench top fume hood?

We offer our bench top fume hoods in six standard widths and three standard depths, so it gives the client a lot of flexibility even within our standard product line. You can find a link to our specific sizing here.

What is the most common sash type for a bench top fume hood?

A vertical rising sash is the most commonly ordered for bench top fume hoods. It is less expensive than other styles due its simplicity.  Our Vertical Sash is driven by our PowerLink™ chain and sprocket counter balance system back by a never-fail LifeTime Warranty.

What is the next step after deciding on sash style?

After you pick your sash style, we want to talk about the interior liner. This is the inside lining of the fume hood that comes in direct contact with the chemicals, vapors, fumes etc. that you’re working with during your experiment. Our standard liner material is our ChemTough™  fume hood liner. It is a superior general-purpose liner made from phenolic resin and has excellent resistance to a broad range of chemicals; it is also fire rated. This liner is structurally sound, so you can screw things directly into it and you don’t need to worry about damaging the hood.

Do you offer any other types of liners?

We offer stainless steel, polypropylene, and more. 

What other variants do you need to take into account when creating the fume hood?

Airflow requirements are the most critical. You must identify what type of airflow requirements, as well as the exhaust and bypass type you want in your fume hood. There’s two distinct positions on a fume hood. The first is when the vertical sash is fully open– that’s called set up position. This becomes the maximum opening to allow the loading of the fume hood. (It’s important to double check this measurement and make sure your equipment is not greater than the opening measurement, so you can load your items properly.) The second is the operating position, that is the position of the sash when the experiment is being performed.

Depending on your airflow needs and operating position, you then choose from two bypass types on your fume hood. There is the option of open bypass constant volume exhaust system, which is the most common for labs. The other option is a restricted bypass that goes with a variable air volume exhaustive system. A VAV (variable air volume) is an exhaustive system that typically maintains fume hood face velocity by adjusting lower motor speeds, in response to changes in sash position. This type is normally used when there is a multitude of hoods at a facility, as it becomes expensive to run on a singular fume hood.

 

What aspects affect the cost of the fume hood the most?

The items that can have the greatest cost impact are the fume hood accessories.  There are many options for electrical, plumbing,

A bench top fume hood sits directly on top of base cabinet.  You can select from a simple welded table frame to specialty storage cabinets for acids or flammable solvent storage with self-closing doors.

  • Table Frame – A welded 4 leg tube table
  • Standard Base Cabinets – Steel cabinets with 2 doors and a shelf
  • Corrosive Storage – Steel cabinet with a molded one-piece polyethylene liner so safety store Acid or Bases.  Cabinet can be vented into the fume hood if desired
  • Vacuum Pump Cabinet – Steel cabinet designed to house a vacuum pump. The unit is sound deadened and has outlets to power the pump
  • Flammable Cabinet – Double wall steel cabinet with self-closing doors to protect flammable chemicals from a fire in the lab

You can read more about our bench top options here.

 

Next, we look at plumbing options. Fixtures are factory mounted on the hood and plumbed with hard copper pipe so the plumber in the field can make a quick and easy final connection.  Standard fixtures are for compress air, gas, nitrogen and cold water.  Specialty fixtures for pure water and steam are available with a variety of outlets.

 The standard electrical package for our hood comes with:

  • (2) 120V-20AMP GFI Duplex Outlets
  • (1) Light Switch wired to vapor proof T8 florescent light fixtures
  • (1) Blower Switch with illumination pilot light
  • (1) Analog Airflow Monitor

All items are prewired to a junction box on top of the hood making life easy for the electrician to make the final connection to the building power. We can install any type of electrical on the fume hood and wire it to a junction box. We also offer explosion proof fixtures for class 1 division 1 environments.

After all these decisions have been made based on the clients needs, the information is handed to our estimator team where a quote will be built and given to the client.

 

Pricing Your Lab Furniture & Fume Hood

Genie Scientific offers a wide range of standard items, but also excels in customizing materials for your lab. With the backbone of skilled craftsmanship and the daily exciting to push beyond our comfort zone, Genie can build your lab to suit the exact specifications you desire. Made-to-order designs, like anything else have a pricing process enabling you full transparency with your purchase. Below a Genie Scientific estimator, James DiLorenzo has answered several questions about our pricing process at Genie.

How does the process begin?

It starts with a sales lead from our team. They determine what the customer is looking for,  i.e. something custom or not. We chart all of our sales activity, then I generate a price to give the customer so they can decide whether or not they want to do business with us.

Next, we start something called “the take off”. The customer will write out all the equipment or we’ll look at drawings the customer provided and get dimensions.  Based on what they want, we start filling in the blank with items they desire. Here we’re using our expertise to ascertain what items fit within the confines of the room and we write out what they want. From there I enter this information into our accounting software and pull prices, or make custom prices based on if something is normal or niche. I dial in the pricing worksheet and include margins based on engineering, if it’s outsources or in-house, the quantity, as well as lingering details like freight/crating . These details get added up to a final price that the customer can act on.

Are there any other variants that you take into account when pricing steel designs?

Before tax, everything is material and labor. Say it’s a standard cabinet, we have a built in price for that since we make it often. But if its something with specific dimensions, I go in and find price materials and add our standardized labor rate and overhead. Once we add material and labor, we add our markup and tax. Then we need to account for consultations, architectural drawings and submittals, engineering, crating and securing of the product for delivery, freight, and depending on the project size we charge for site visits.

Tell me more about estimating cost for fume hoods–

A lot of the time, customers will ask for one of two types of fume hoods: bench top and walk-in fume hoods. We have standardized lines for both and often customers request fume hoods that meet these parameters. We have 3-8ft bench top and walk-in fume hoods.

At what point does a fume hood become a custom project?

If the project is not within our standardized height and depth or requires different materials, it becomes a  custom item. If it’s explosion proof, if they want certain types of doors, if they want certain types of electrical plumbing fixtures, we design it.  I should also mention that if someone is buying a bench top fume hood, we provide base cabinets at a cheaper cost.

Other custom designs include a variety of saches. The sache is the door or opening for the fume hood. We offer vertical sliding or horizontal rising saches and we offer combination saches that have sliding glass windows on a vertical rising window. We do different types of liners, steel and resin, chemical and heat resistant, based on what the customer is working with. We also offer electrical fixtures that we can prewire into the hood. Plugs, light switches, plumbing lines for water, air, and different gases.

Any other information you’d like to share about Genie?

Just to advise prospective clients that we may not be as big as companies in the Midwest, but because of that we have a more hands on approach to our projects and are fortunate enough to work with an incredibly skilled team. We are used to creating things that are outside of our comfort zone, so no project is too small or too big for us to tackle.

Comparing Steel vs Plastic Casework For Your Lab

As with any design or structural element of your laboratory, intended use is the focal point of the equipment you source. Consider what are you are going to be using your equipment for and how the surrounding environment might affect this chosen or required placement. The two most common types of lab casework are metal and plastic laminate. In the following article we will discuss the pros and cons of each type for your lab.

Steel Casework – When choosing steel casework for your lab, there are two common materials to choose from: carbon cold-rolled steel with a powder coated finish and stainless steel.

Cold-rolled steel is less expensive than stainless and is most common in the industry. The cold-rolled steel sheet production process is referred to as the cold plate. Its sheet thickness is usually between 0.1 and 8.0mm, most commonly 4.5mm or less. It is painted and powder coated, giving the user more design options. Cold-rolled steel is not resistant to everything, but great value in terms of strength, durability, and aesthetic.

Stainless is mostly used when a high-level of sterility is necessary. It’s most commonly found in high corrosive and high-moisture environments. It is also commonly found in hospitals, morgues, labs working with blood or biological agents, or any lab that might experience a high level of abuse. Stainless steel is easily cleaned, will not rust and is recyclable.

Using steel casework for your lab has countless benefits over plastic laminate. It is the strong choice, with longer shelf life, that can withstand tough abuse experiments and has various chemical resistances when diving deeper into more specific types of metals. The lead-time for stainless or carbon-rolled lab equipment is longer than plastic cabinetry, as the welding and polishing aspect proves more difficult due to the durability of the product. For these very reasons they are also more sought after and trusted.

High-pressure, Plastic Laminate Casework

When choosing high-pressure, plastic laminate casework for your lab there is an option for standard grade or chemical resistant. This is ideal is you’re looking to build your lab on a budget, however depending on the indented use of the material it might not be wise. We explain more below.

Standard grade is the off-the-shelf, non-custom plastic material used in a wide range of circumstances.

Chemical resistant plastic is just as it sounds, it is customizable to withstand various chemicals during your experiment.

High-pressure laminate, otherwise known as plastic laminate, is easy to care for and made at a lower cost.  Plastic laminate has a hard, smooth, durable and easy-to-clean surface with a vast selection of colors and patterns. A few of your typical plastic laminate manufactures are Wilsonart, Formica, Nevamar and LisStat.

The composition of high-pressure laminate is a melamine top sheet laid up on a MDF or particleboard core. Its application is made for light duty areas, like a break room or example laboratory. It also applies to special application processes like Electric Static Dissipative (ESD). Plastic laminate is ideal for shelving.

Updating Your Lab Equipment

How long will my equipment last? When will I need to rebuild my lab? These are questions we are frequently asked at Genie Scientific. As with all laboratory equipment, the lifespan varies depending on their use, chemical exposure and maintenance. Below Mel LeVan, co-owner of Genie Scientific, answers some questions regarding the lifespan of your equipment and when it’s best to upgrade.

How often should a laboratory update their countertops?

Mel LeVan: It really depends on the type of experiment being conducted and how often they’re conducted. I would say on average every 10-15 years you should have your countertops replaced.

And is that specific to a certain type of countertop?

ML: Most countertops are epoxy or phenolic, and they’re made to handle a variety of acids. However after a long period time they start to become delaminated, which causes them to come apart. This will happen after a certain number of years with any lab furniture or equipment. I would say it is more of an aesthetic issue if customers want to change their countertops sooner.

Is there a need to replace epoxy or phenolic counter tops first or are they pretty equivalent?

ML: I would say it’s very similar. Think of this in comparison to kitchen countertops, how often does this warrant an update? It really depends on the user. (@Caylie: Is this another question? It doesn’t flow and I’m thinking it goes in the question below. I will edit, so you can cut/paste where it’s suppose to be.) It’s more preference with size, the apparatus that they’re using in the lab, etc. It’s also important to remember that aspects of lab work changes, so if they need to update the size of the lab, they might want to simultaneously change the function of the lab and therefore the countertop material needed. Usually its a matter of changing the configuration of the lab, or the footprint of the lab which is standard practice to change every 10-15 years.

How often should a lab change their fume hood?

ML: Fume hoods are similar in this aspect to counter tops. It depends on what chemicals are being using and how often. The aspect I find that changes most is the front glass of the fume hood. Once that becomes etched, it lowers the visibility of the experiment, calling for it to be changed more frequently.

Is there a specific machining within a fume hood that needs to be changed more often or requires maintenance?

ML: The fume hood itself needs to be checked every year by an independent certifier. They will make sure it has the correct airflow to meet Cal/OSHA criteria, and then they label the hood with a physical sticker that certifies its safety for a one year period. This certifier doesn’t work on behalf of Cal/OSHA, Genie, or the client, they’re an unbiased third-party source. We can provide assistance in making this connection, but it usually falls on the responsibility of the client to get the hood certified.

ML: What about fume hood accessories?

The biggest accessory is the exhaust blower. The exhaust blower is the reason the hood requires calibration every year, to make sure the exhaust blower isn’t getting clogged up or needs maintenance. The exhaust blower is the biggest accessory, or part of the hood to keep up to date with for safety reasons.

For more information on the safety of your fume hood, contact one of our team members here.

Deconstructing Epoxy vs Phenolic Resin for Your Laboratory

What is epoxy resin?

Epoxy is an adhesive, plastic, and paint or coating material used in a wide range of products. It is made from a mixture of materials, including (list here) , and then cured as a solid product.

When combined with plastic, epoxy is used as the resin mold to hold the plastic in place. It’s compatible with all common reinforcing fibers including fiberglass and carbon fiber, but epoxies cater to the desired application, experiment or manufacturing process.

There are various advantages to using epoxy resin, but the main consideration is heat. Epoxy is an optimal material when dealing with higher temperatures in your laboratory, with a range capability of 300-350º C. Additional advantages include:

  1. Environmental and moisture degradation resistance
  2. Resistance to a wide range of chemicals
  3. High mechanical strength and impact resistance
  4. No volatile organic compounds

The main downside to using epoxy resin on your countertops is both the weight and the sourcing. Epoxy is very heavy, which adds to its durability but will also add in transportation and installment costs. In terms of sourcing, there is currently only one epoxy manufacturer in the world, which will give you less flexibility in cost and delivery terms.

What is phenolic resin?

Phenolic resin is a type of synthetic resin originally called Bakelite. It is heat-cured and formed from a reaction between carbon-based alcohol and aldehyde. In regards to laboratory equipment, phenolic resin carries almost all of the same properties as epoxy resin but at a lower cost to the client.

Phenolic resin is ideal for lab environments where contamination is a key concern. Phenolic resin is oil and moisture resistant, as well as resistant to most bacteria and fungus. As with epoxy, phenolic resin is optimal for environments working with high heats (up to 350ºF/ 176ºC).

At Genie we recommend using phenolic resin because it is locally sourced, which means lower cost and efficient delivery times for your projects. It’s also easier to work with, install, and it’s not as heavy giving it more customizable options.  Additional advantages include:

  1. Structurally sturdy
  2. Considered the new standard in a wide range of laboratories
  3. Can be mixed with a wide range of materials
  4. One of the very first plastics to be sold commercially
  5. Fire resistant

Safety Standards For Your Fume Hood

When choosing modern equipment for your company, a common concern is the safety of your users and the quality of the experiments. When purchasing your machinery, it is important to confirm that your manufacturer meets and exceeds these various standards to ensure the safety of your team and the success of your experiments.

Below we’ve broken down the general safety standards and seals of  approval you should look out for when sourcing machinery for your laboratory, with special focus on fume hood manufacturing.

 

UL 1805 Listed

UL is one of the oldest testing agencies in the country, and provides safety verification of various modern machinery and other environmental claims. There is no general UL approval, rather the approvals are broken up into different categories.

For your fume hood, UL 1805 Listed is most ideal. This verifies that a manufacturer can make products that fulfill UL requirements. This means that the manufacturer is able to test the safety of the product in their own factory.

The general scope of this listing, as taken directly from the Standards Catalog, is for these requirements, applied to laboratory hoods and cabinets to provide an enclosed countertop work area with exhaust for containment and removal of vapors, mists, gases and particulate matter from the work area. To read more on the scope you can find the official listing page here.

ASHRAE 110

ASHRAE is the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineer. They set the general standards for testing mechanical systems. ASHRAE 110 is a specific test for fume hoods that measure the containment of chemicals within the hood. More specifically, the test measures the inflow velocity profiling and airflow of smoke. These provided an analysis of air capture within the unit, demonstrating its effectiveness to operate safely.

Standard practice in the industry should be to have ASHRAE tested as manufactured. This simply means the fume hoods are tested in the factory before delivery to client. After the hoods are installed, the customer can choose to have an ASHRAE 110 Test ‘As Installed’ by a third-party certification company, such as TSS or ECT. You can contact Genie for a list of names and contacts in your area.

SEFA

SEFA, the Scientific Equipment and Furniture Association, is combined of laboratory owners, architects, contractors and other leading members in the industry. Members work together to enhance company performance and “the improvement of the quality and timely completion of laboratory facilities.”

Your fume hood should be built to meet and exceed the SEFA 1 Recommended Practice for Laboratory Fume Hoods.

Cal/OSHA, also known as the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) works to protect the health and safety of individuals through:

1.   Setting and enforcing standards

2.   Providing outreach, education and assistance

3.   Issuing permits, licenses, certifications, registrations and approvals.

It is important to make sure your fume hood meets OSHA & Cal/OSHA safety requirements, or other requirements for your state. This specifically calls for airflow calculations to meet 100 Feet Per Minute face velocity.

Additional Safety Features

On top of the necessary safety standards and requirements for your fume hood, there is safety in added features. One of the most vital safety devices in a working lab and fume hood is the front sash. The front sash is the barrier between the users and dangerous fumes, and acts as a physical shield and protects the users breathing zone. We recommend using laminated safety glass on your front sash due to its explosion proof material.

The back baffle system is another ideal safety feature. The purpose of the back baffle system is to direct air away from user breathing zones and create calm currents in the hood. Without a back baffle system turbulent eddies will exist that can cause fumes to escape.

All fume hoods should also have an airflow monitor that continuously indicates whether air is flowing into the hood during operation. Ideally, this monitor has an audible and visual indicator to alert the user when the airflow dips below a certain set point. These airflow alarms are required by Cal/OSHA regulations.

Important: Fume hoods only function safely when connected to a properly engineered and balanced HVAC system and building utility services. Failure to verify compatibility with your building can result in an unsafe system. Consult the proper trade professionals and a Genie fume hood expert with questions.

The Rising Trend of Lab Jobs

There are many industries in the nation that have seen significant growth over the past decade. The medical and biotech laboratory industry is no exception to this trend; it’s expanding in spite of the economy’s slow recovery. On the surface, this sounds like a promising field to look into if you’re a millennial graduate, but it isn’t necessarily that straightforward. Before diving into to the biomedical field, you’ll need to understand what you’re getting into—and we don’t just mean how to use fume hoods or where you’ll be in 10 years’ time.

Stats and Facts

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the medical and clinical laboratory technician field’s growth of open positions will increase by 16 percent over the next 10 years. Salary amounts start at $35,000 per year and increase to as much as triple this rate, but the median is $51,000.

The minimum requirements for most lab positions aren’t all that robust, though more experience will ensure better success at interviews. Expect to possess a two-year associate’s degree with some work-related experience to get the job.

There is, in fact, a rising demand for diagnosing the aging population that will sustain the growth of the industry in the near future. Choosing to pursue a career in this field could very well provide you with a life-long job you love as long as you go about it the right way.

Mass Retiring and Aging Baby Boomers

Lab job work will benefit from aging baby boomers directly. The loss of older and experienced laboratory technicians who will most likely retire in the next five years will significantly increase available positions.

Around 20 percent of experienced lab techs in nearly every medical field fall under or close to the baby boomer generation. This rapid loss of senior workplace experience will hurt the knowledge base of the current bulk of laboratory technicians somewhat, but this is balanced by the increase in available jobs.

Unfortunately, this knowledge is difficult to replace. Labs will need to work harder than ever to train newer techs on the job, and techs will need to rely more on their previous education to acclimatize to newer standards.

Schools Lack Training Programs

If only the solution was to just rely on formal education to fill in the gaps of workplace experience. Unfortunately, heavy cuts to laboratory training programs at colleges across the country are resulting in less actual lab time in school.

The numbers reflect this statistic. Despite the fact that 7,000 new lab tech jobs open every year, college training programs only produce around 6,000 potential lab techs. The shortage means that schools are only able to train 85 percent of the workforce. In an environment like a lab, where it simply isn’t as easy to train technicians, this is a very notable problem.

ADDED PRESSURE ON CURRENT LAB TECHS

There is a growing pressure for current lab techs to find more efficient and effective ways to get new lab techs up to speed. This is worsened by a constantly rising demand for professional lab techs and poor training resources, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get the training you need; it just means labs need to get creative.

Many modern labs are decreasing the clinical rotation cycle to get more new techs first-hand experience. Some programs have already dropped their normal 22 weeks down to 12 weeks, but the demand is high enough that 8 weeks may have to be the new limit.

Internships may also open up the floor for experience without stressing either the lab or the student. Although salary is often lacking, real-time lab experience under a mentor is incredibly valuable.

Technology and future iterations of current machines (including computers) will also make training and education in lab work much easier. One online learning module, eClinic, is under development to use 3D technology that simulates laboratory conditions and virtual classrooms at the same time. Students can use eClinic to run experiments without the same risks they’d face in real-time.

Though virtual reality isn’t the same as hands-on experience, it is nearly as accurate and wide-reaching in scope. In an industry that needs all the help it can get, this new technology helps to fill in the gaps.

Is your lab struggling to find new workers with enough experience to work safely and efficiently? Start with having the right equipment from day one. From fume hoods to lab furniture, Genie Scientific has everything you need to run your lab smoothly, effectively, and comfortably.

Sustainable Lab Design

In today’s ecologically-minded society, sustainability has become one of the top concerns of companies across the globe—laboratory facilities included. In most cases, the extra costs attributed to purchasing and installing sustainable components will eventually be absorbed by the savings from reduced energy costs.¹ From the first steps of design planning through long-term operation, here are a few elements you can incorporate to create an efficient, sustainable laboratory.

Appropriate, Properly-Functioning HVAC Systems

While it may seem like a better idea to have too large a component than too small a component during planning, an over-sized HVAC system can mean you’re paying energy costs for more than your lab really requires. Because ventilation and appropriate temperature are important aspects to consider in laboratory design, it’s important to really consider what is appropriate for your laboratory size and setup. Proper planning and regular maintenance will improve overall efficiency and sustainability.

Fume Hood Efficiency

An inefficient fume hood is another drain on energy and lab function. To ensure that your fume hood, ventilation systems, and lab output quality are long-lasting, it’s important to install high-quality fume hoods that function at optimal (or near-optimal) efficiency and are designed to last. In addition to being more sustainable, a good fume hood supports quality R&D results.

Water Usage

Taking steps to conserve water wherever possible is another way to lower costs and reduce your lab’s ecological footprint. Beyond simply trying to reduce overall water usage by implementing various best practices, there are a number of other conservation options. For equipment that requires liquid cooling to function properly, try to connect the system to an existing cooling system, if possible. You can also process your lab’s wastewater for use in cooling and other systems that don’t come in direct contact with materials.²

EFFICIENT LIGHTING

Reduce electricity usage by employing energy-saving technology and architectural design. One of the easiest ways to reduce the need for electric lighting is to employ the practice of “daylighting” and use appropriate windows to increase the availability of natural light, as is reasonable based on the building’s exposure, geographic location, specialized lab needs, etc.

When selecting lab-appropriate windows, it’s also important to opt for models with the right properties and glazing to keep the lab’s heating and cooling efficient.

Other solutions include the use of CFL or LED bulbs and installing automated lighting systems that can turn off automatically when the lab is already well-lit by daylight or not in use.

WASTE REDUCTION AND MANAGEMENT

It’s also important to design your lab with good waste stream management from the very beginning. A sustainable lab design will make it easy to reuse and recycle materials as needed, as well as dispose of waste properly and efficiently without risk of pollution. By combining easy access to appropriate disposal with waste management best practices and regular monitoring, your lab can continue to function for years to come without expanding its ecological impact.

MAKE YOUR LAB RESILIENT WITH EQUIPMENT AND LAB PLANNING SERVICES FROM GENIE SCIENTIFIC

At Genie Scientific, we aim to help our customers create the best possible laboratory to suit their needs, all while keeping responsible building practices and sustainability at the heart of the project. With the help of our professional lab planning experts and high-efficiency fume hoods, you can design an ecologically friendly, sustainable, cost-saving laboratory to meet all your R&D needs.

To learn more about our laboratory planning services, custom fume hoods, and long-lasting lab furniture, contact us today at (800) 545-8816.

Sources

1. https://www.rdmag.com/article/2014/06/sustainable-laboratory-design-and-construction-sustainability-basics-and-design

2. http://lsdm.ucop.edu/sections/water-conservation-recovery-and-recycling