Fast, Cheap, DIY Fume Hood

In 2.5 hours I built this fume hood. It's very effective and inexpensive, and can be disassembled and stored in about 10 minutes.

[@bryzabone]

Ive been looking round to see how other ppl have been building fume hoods.. I’ve been severely disappointed by the complete lack of filtration, as someone pointed out below-the fumes will destroy the fan and duct in no time.. its also going to destroy anything the duct ends near.. add a few layers of carbon filter on fan intake, and a “spray booth” chemical filter on the exhaust before your ducting..

[@orophilia]

Good comment, thanks. My hood is for occasional use. So far so good. -- Dave

[@jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjja]

Fan and ducting is so cheap, does it really matter? Especially since it likely wont be ran everyday.

[@omegahunter9]

Using a wye pipe fitting you can blow clean air into the pipe from the split which will generate low pressure in the other pipe before the split. Thus you will avoid contamination of your fan. You can coat everything with a ceramic paint sealant which should improve the chemical resistance of the setup.

[@thenarrowroad7908]

Yes the wye is the way to go. Corrosive fumes will eat the fan before you know it

[@cerissemincey1763]

This is great, I'm considering making one for my resin crafting!

[@nevercertain]

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing. Taking notes for when I have all the materials to build mine

[@Angrychemist666]

Friend! Im not sure to what degree of chemistry you're practicing! But I would really recommend that you line the interior of your fume hood with some sheet metal! This will be a wise investment seeing how at times solutions can burp out their corrosive or flammable components, shielding the interior would save you countless time and perhaps cost from damage and cleanups are so much easier with a metal skin! Plus its way safer then flammable plywood, so you'll have piece of mind. Nitrogen dioxide has such a tendency to make cellulose materials barbecue into carbon, and lets also keep in mind those pesky but beautiful halogens that love to take nibbles out of anything within a foot from them😂 just trying to advise you! My first DIY hood had gotten so contaminated in my Fischer price days, i had to tear it down because the plywood acted as a sponge. And days after an experiment the smells would linger on, i started thinking that this could be counterintuitive and wind up costing much more than I was able to budget! Take care

[@thisoldminewithlars5324]

Nice job on the fume hood. It’s bigger than mine.

[@orophilia]

Thanks, Lars. It' about right for me. -- Dave

[@AUMINER1]

Curious how long that aluminum foil ducting will hold up with all the corrosive fumes and vapors. If one were to run enough reactions through it, the alum might cement or collect the PM's. I tried to get sreetips to setup a sodium hydroxide water bath recovery for his fume hood to recover all the gold that is lost from his AR reactions - he dismissed the idea lol Considering how many ounces he breaks down, I bet it would be very much worth it.

[@orophilia]

Good morning. Yeah, it's not going to last long, my guess anyway. It came with the fan so I used it. I can buy a 6" duct made from polypropylene or, if the aluminum duct lasts for a while I'll just replace it with a similar one given how inexpensive they are. The fume hood is wonderful, and I can break it down and store it. I didn't know that the PMs can go up the stack. How interesting. -- Dave

[@AUMINER1]

@@orophilia It's a great design, as all of your creations are - the flat pack is a key feature! I''m guessing around 1/4 - 1/2 gram per ounce is lost in fumes during every refining with AR. Of course there are many variables involved.

[@henryj.8528]

Good design. Nice build.

[@larrybayze8035]

Thank you for sharing. Something I can make.

[@jdeluisa]

Awesome design as always

[@criscris5061]

Good idea! Congratulations

[@orophilia]

Thank you!

[@coolerfullofish]

Nice video, thanks for sharing. Have you had any issues with the polycarbonate melting/distorting while heating those flasks? I ask this because i want to use this same concept for pouring lead molds and was wondering if the heat from my melting pot will cause an issue with the polycarbonate top.

[@orophilia]

I’ve never tried more than a bit of hot water

[@wer60313]

Thank you so much for sharing this awesome video. I have a question, would this set up be sufficient for exhausting glue fumes? Glue may also have toluene in it as well. Can send you more info on the glue itself. Would like to glue using Contact cement, but don’t want to do indoors with the strong fumes!

[@orophilia]

Yes, the fume hood would do an excellent job of removing the glue smell. Good luck with your projects! -- Dave

[@coinbutton1]

Nitric acid fumes will destroy that fan in a day. The fumes have to be pushed out thru positive air flow. To exhaust smoke from a building the fire dept puts a fan in a doorway blowing into the smoke filled house and opens a window. The smokes goes out the window not the door.

[@orophilia]

Hi Alex, thanks for the comment. Internally, the fan is plastic and it's been fine during 6 months or so of use. No sign of degradation so far. However, I had to replace the Aluminum ducting with polyethylene ducting. As you can imagine, the Aluminum got pitted in no time. In a fume hood, how do you blow air into it? -- Dave

[@WildernessMedic]

@@orophilia I'm confused why he said this. A comment on Cody's Lab said make sure to use plastic fans like you're doing, so it's not reactive. I take it this guy has no idea what he talking about. Like you said, positive pressure in a fume hood how...?

[@u2ooberboober]

@@WildernessMedicyou have to pressurize the room via wall or door fan while only having the ducting exit said room

[@mikerope5785]

I knew someone who tried positive pressure on a 'fume hood' before, his tent overheated, and his whole house smelled of ganja for a month.

[@raincatchfire]

How loud is this? List of parts and general instructions would be good too. I'm considering making something like this for soldering.

[@orophilia]

I think the loudness will depend on the fan that you choose for it. Mine is not annoying. I recommend that you build it to the dimensions that fit your situation. Cheers, Dave

[@WildernessMedic]

Does it matter that it exhausts to the side rather than up and out the back?

[@orophilia]

I don't think so. The gasses are pulled very effectively out the side

[@davevan1928]

That's a neat setup. And definitely better then no exhaust. But now that you have it have you looked up the properties of the gasses you produce ? And also wouldn't it be prudent to have a secondary or backup exhaust incase of some sort of failure?

[@orophilia]

Yeah, that's a nice idea but probably beyond the scope of this little hood. I'm always there to watch it. Thanks for the comment! -- Dave

[@davevan1928]

I was just thinking in the case of H2S that is extremely deadly stuff. Then I realized any gas that might escape out the bottom will be heavier then air and your face will be above the bottom of the curtain.

[@orophilia]

@@davevan1928 Hi Dave. Yeah, I not sure what happens to the really heavy gasses. It's amazing how effective these exhaust hoods are. I can't smell anything coming from it, even with HNO3 and the fan on the lowest setting. -- Dave

[@myadventure7069]

@@orophilia don’t overheat the solution 100 degrees celsius maximum

[@orophilia]

@@myadventure7069 Yes, great advice. I'm using a water bath like you do, and I keep it around 75 C. -- Dave

[@Berghiker]

Is the motor more effective at extracting the air when it's placed in the corner of the fumehood rather than the center?

[@orophilia]

I don't think so. -- Dave

[@DatGirlWhoDoesShtuff]

Can I ask for the exact model of fan you have here? I'm intending on just copying the fume hood you have here, and I want to make sure I'm being safe by getting a fan that's good enough (and I don't trust the cfm ratings of fans online, so it'd be easiest to just get one I KNOW is good enough). Noise isn't an issue, so I'd rather just get the 6 inch fan you used on the box and be well over what I really need.

[@orophilia]

VIVOSUN Air 6” 390 CFM Inline Ventilation Fan with Speed Controller

[@Berghiker]

I have an 8 inch motor.

[@myadventure7069]

My friend getting ready for serious work !

[@orophilia]

hahaha I'm always fooling around with something. I'm going to watch your new videos tonight. -- Dave

[@myadventure7069]

@@orophilia I see you in electronic field too.

[@orophilia]

@@myadventure7069 Yeah, I've done many things in my life. Now I enjoy hunting for gold. :-) -- Dave

[@myadventure7069]

@@orophilia you just like me .I like found the gold

[@merdel9663]

Hows thr fan attached to the box? Or just wedged in there

[@orophilia]

Yeah, just wedged in.

[@SwapPartLLC]

I need to do some work with fuming nitric acid. Do you use this with acids?

[@orophilia]

Yes, I have used it with acids and so far it has performed well. However, if you make it for acids then make sure that the motor and exhaust tube are all plastic where exposed.

[@dylangabriel2703]

Nitration of toluene?

[@Sugarsail1]

But is that fan explosion proof?

[@orophilia]

Good question, I don't know. It's not important for the stuff I put in the hood.