Horizontal sliding sashes versus the more common vertical sliding sashes have many advantages. They use considerably less exhaust reducing capital and operating costs. They also provide the potential for more shielding, by allowing the user to position the sash in front of them and reach around it. Thet also are much less prone to over opening and so causing the hood to not perform as designed.

Against this, many researchers do not like not being able to open the entire hood for set up work.

We used only horizontal sashes for almost 40 years and they worked very well so I always recommend them. You may want to read more on this subject here:

Hood Sashes, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hood-sashes-richard-palluzi/

Hi all,

A new PI joining our Chemistry Department is sharing a very strong preference for vertically-split fume hood sashes (i.e., ones that open side to side), saying that they’re safer. Is anyone aware of any studies on this, or have any other insights? Thanks!

Sincerely,

Jack Reidy (he/him)

Research Safety Specialist & Chemical Hygiene Officer

Environmental Health & Safety

Stanford University

484 Oak Road, Stanford, CA, 94305

Tel: (650) 497-7614

I acknowledge that the land on which I live and work is the ancestral and unceded land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. As an uninvited guest on these lands, I am a beneficiary of the ongoing displacement of the Ohlone people. I pay my respects to the Native peoples, past and present.

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