I'd suggest Tom Smith and his team at 3Flow (3Flow.com) to evaluate the HVAC system. I've known Tom and worked with him over many years.

In a portable, keeping doors open and pushing air from high hazard to low could work. For an engineered airflow control system, leaving doors and windows open could be problematic.

Increasing overall airflow and increasing filter efficiency are recommended. Check out corsiiaq.com for more information about the latest research on airborne virus transmission and mitigation.

<disclaimers apply>

HTH

Debbie

PS: congratulations on the new science building!

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021, 4:02 PM Melissa Anderson <manderson8**At_Symbol_Here**pasadena.edu> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

Our college is discussing returning our labs (currently virtual/at-home) to campus this Summer. We're currently teaching labs in portable trailers while our new science building gets constructed and it was suggested that we just open the doors to the outdoors and use fans to bring in outside air to increase ventilation. Is there anything we should be wary of in terms of this backfiring on us? Most of the gen chem labs don't use the fume hoods very much but our organic labs do use them quite often and I worry that open doors might have some unintended effects on fume hood airflow.

I've suggested that we take advantage of the college's sudden interest in getting us back on campus to bring an expert in to evaluate the situation. Any recommendations on what qualifications we should recommend to the higher-ups?

Thanks,

Melissa W. Anderson, Ph.D.

Chemistry Instructor, Division of Natural Sciences

Pasadena City College

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