It is critical to recognize that when you vent a flammable storage cabinet, unless you provide a fire actuated damper on the inlet and outlet you lose all the fire resistance of the cabinet. No flammable storage cabinet vendor I have ever contacted was willing to provide any data to support that a ventilated cabinet passes the required fire testing. All were very clear that they felt the cabinet would fail quickly. Fire rated dampers are available (although h not cheap) but flitting them on under hood cabinets is problematical at best although easily done on standalone cabinets. An example of one can be found at http://www.safetyemporium.com/j-25777.
For more information on this area you may want to look at" Should You Vent a Flammable Storage Cabinet? At https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/should-you-vent-flammable-storage-cabinet-richard-palluzi/.
Note that NFPA 30 The Flammable and Combustible Liquids code, NFPA 45 Fire Protection for Laboratories, and most fire codes prohibit this practice unless adequate mitigative measures are in place.
And certainly you cannot use an acid storage cabinet for a flammable liquid storage cabinet. While they may, in some cases, be made almost identical, the acid storage cabinet is not approved by the manufacturer, not marked properly, and not allowed by any code.
Hello Melinda Box!
I'm attaching the link to a paper I did on the differences between solvent and corrosive cabinets and how venting is currently done under fume hoods. I hope it answers some of your questions!
https://flowsciences.com/venting-fume-hood-base-cabinets/
Dr. Bob Haugen
Director of Product and Technology Development
Flow Sciences, Inc.
910 332 4878
Containment Products • Get a Quote/Consultation • Get Support/Replacement Parts
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From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Melinda Box
Sent: Wednesday, October 9, 2019 4:26 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] possible conversion of under-hood acid cabinet to flammables?
Hi, all,
I am searching on behalf of a lab that does a significant volume of fundamental organic synthesis. As a result, they need to store so many 4-L bottles of flammable solvent near their work space that they are using the acid storage cabinets for flammables. (Under each hood there is one acid storage cabinet and one flammables storage cabinet.)
The acid storage cabinets are distinguishable by the vents on the doors and the PTFE lining of the walls and floor inside the cabinet. The flammables storage cabinets are designed with no vents (specifically on the cabinet doors) and ~1" of material mounted in a metal sheeted case on each side of the cabinet, presumably something flame resistant or retardant. So I am wondering if others have experience with a conversion of this sort. (Replacing the whole cabinet would be excessively disruptive and cost prohibitive.)
For example it is it within acceptable practice to just replace the doors to the cabinet so that flammables storage does not have vents? Or to be up to fire code, would one be required to also change the lining of the cabinet (also prohibitive)?
Thanks for any experience on this matter you might be willing to contribute,
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