Australia's Science Forum

Just wondering what other people's chemical storerooms are like. My coordinator keeps complaining that there are too many odours in our chemical store. This is worse when the flammables cupboard or the corrosives cupboard is opened. Which to me makes sense - the containers will never be 100% airtight and there is very little ventilation from these cupboards, so odours do get trapped.

I'm gradually going through the cupboards and tightening up lids, but other than this, I can see no other solution. The coordinator has suggested throwing things out that are leaking. I can't find anything that is leaking, not to mention the nightmare of having to dispose of some of these things. The ventilation fan is left on permanently and is checked when the fume cupboard is serviced. It isn't a big room, which may not help.

Personally, I don't have a problem and I'm usually pretty sensitive to fumes. So would appreciate some help/feedback/shared experiences.

When I first started working here our chem store was very toxic. There was a huge amount of rust on the shelves and condensation on the floors. Over the years I have replaced the shelves and the exhaust system. This resolved most of the issues with the odours. The flammables cupboard is still very fummy but only when you open it . The exhaust system may be testing adequately for its size and the expected flow rate, factory specs but it may not be adequate for the room, if that makes sense.

Yes, it does make sense, Rae. I'll get the technician to check, but I don't always trust the company we use - ask a question like that and we're bound to need an "upgrade".
To me, the chem store looks good, could probably do with better lighting but it's not completely inadequate. There are none of the problems you describe - floor is always clean and dry and there is no corrosion at all on any of the shelves.

Ours is about 15 years old .It has its odour but I don't mind it .
It's fitted with an exhaust fan which comes on when you turn on the lights and remains on for about 10-15 minutes after the lights are switched off .The door is fairly tight fitting and there is minimal to no smell outside it .

There is certainly no dampness in it and the shelves are of vanished chipboard and seem to have lasted well ( except for a brown stain above where the Iodine lives ) .
The concentrated acids are on what I think are compressed cement shelving and seem also to have suffered little .

When I first started work here , the advice from my offsider who has been doing the job for 20 odd years was to " Flick the lights on (which engages the fan ) and close the door and come back in 5 minutes especially if it's been closed up over the holidays ".......I do it but the Jury's still out as to how much the smell reduces by .

At my other school I'm guessing the the shelving is about 40-50 years old and its chipboard but not vanished . Parts of it wreak of Butyric acid ( where's the vomit Icon ) but otherwise it's not so bad considering . There is an archaic ventilation system but it seems to do a good job . Again , there is little to no smell immediately outside the door .

This Chem store is part of the general store and is not a dedicated Chem store per say ...perhaps the larger area helps to reduce the overall smell

I guess what I am wondering, is it possible to have an odour-free chemical store?

I would say No. Even with a super exhaust system it still has its smells.

my exhaust fan goes 24/7 - and yet there are still odours. In holidays I push all the trolleys in to the store rooms so the cleaner can do the prep room floors. I have learnt NEVER to leave anything on the trolleys that may rust. so even if no odours apparent - there are fumes.

Ours runs 24/7 and still has a smell, noticed when I was doing stock take recently when doing the bottom shelves ground level was really bad to the point you couldn't stay down there for to long.

Look out for butyric/butanoic acid. Years back, I discovered a 500ml bottle had eaten tiny pin-holes in the original metal lid, which I replaced with a plastic lid and stow the bottle in a larger container for good measure. HT used it for a an ester last month, and boy did the other teachers complain about the smell, even though I used the fume cabinet during evaporation, and even after I'd disposed of the kitty litter they could still get a whiff.

We don't have a 24/7 exhaust fan. It's on a timer, I'm guessing about 2 hours. As soon as I enter the room I push the button, but it doesn't help much because there has been such a build up. It's pretty smelly and of course the flammable cupboard is extra smelly! The odours are contained in the room though, there's no smell outside the room.

Ours is on a timer as well. The standard says the exhaust must run for 10 minutes, ours was running for 1. So we have fixed that but I am still not happy. I would like the fan to come on at set intervals throughout a 24 hour period as some days we do not go into the store (our working solutions are stored elsewhere) and the fumes are really bad.

Why is it that the powers-that-be feel that chemicals stop fuming for certain periods of the day?

Loopy wrote:Why is it that the powers-that-be feel that chemicals stop fuming for certain periods of the day?

They take lunch breaks?

Noticed for a while that there was a 'sweet' smell in the chemical storeroom that I think is acid (HOD didn't agree). Checked the bottles and they seem okay. Left a container of bi-carb open hoping to absorb the odour however when I walked into the prep room this morning the smell had permeated the prep room. I could put up with the smell in the storeroom but now it is wafting into the prep room through a closed door I have to wonder about what I am being exposed to. Has anyone else had this issue and if so, how did you resolve it?

That sounds like a safety issue. A few years back our extractor fan broke down and chemical fumes filled the room. The main problem was organic solvents in the flammables cabinet, which can sometimes smell sweet. My offsider had to go home early, as she couldn't work in those conditions. Might be worth checking on the ventilation, but be careful about going in there.

Happy Friday!
Opening an old thread here but wanted to know if anyone knew of a standard for how long the extraction fan needs to be running in the chem store room?
Our fan is piped into our flammable, corrosives and oxidisers cabinets as well as the room. I figured it was best to have it on 24/7 but have recently taken a complaint from our GA for leaving it on.

I'm pretty sure ours turns on automatically early in the morning - maybe 5.00ish and runs all day until maybe 5.00ish in the afternoon.
It broke down once and the fumes were ok but I wondered why I could no longer hear it running. Reported it and it was quickly repaired.

Going on the size of the room, it should be on 24/7

Thanks J and Labbie
Will ask for a timer if we ever get new labs/chem store room! For now I think I'll keep leaving it on. Save my lungs!

The old saying, chemicals don't stop fuming just because we go home...