Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Poor mans fume hood

Twospoons - 26-6-2022 at 18:31

I replaced my kitchen range hood with a nice shiny new one, after mice got in and chewed up the old, crappy one. Which left me with a dirty, greasy old stainless steel range hood to dispose of.
But while it was sitting in my garage I was doing something a bit stinky outside with HCl and MnO2 ( aiming for MnCl2), and I realised that with a bit of a cleanup I could have a free fume extractor over my bench.

After a day of disassembly and degreasing with sugar soap I had a reasonably functional rangehood again. With a 125mm hole bored through a concrete wall (fun times), it was mounted and ready to go.

Internally the hood is stainless steel, with plastic (ABS?) ducting and fan, and a shaded pole motor (no sparks!). Not exactly chem lab grade stuff, but good enough for the few things I do that might stink up the house - like solvent welding plastic, solvent cleaning, or painting.

And I no longer have to pay to dump an old appliance.

CouchHatter - 27-6-2022 at 06:26

Way to go! Sounds a lot like my first hood, and upcycling saves $$$. I hope it serves you well, mine never could draw much air but it was good enough for toluene in close quarters.