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Fume scrubbers

What are the requirements for fume scrubbers in a plating area. When are they required and what size should be installed. I work in a factory now where they say it is not required. We do all types of plating including cad.

Richard Silva
Maintenance - Long Beach, California, USA
2004

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You asked about fume scrubbers, but I am reading between the lines and I don't think that is your real question. A fume scrubber is a device, usually mounted on the roof, that any exhaust fumes pass through before being released to the atmosphere. A neighbor of a plating shop might be concerned about whether they are required, but an employee working in the shop will more likely be concerned about the exhausting/ventilating of any fumes from the shop than what is done to treat the exhausted air before release to the atmosphere.

Chrome plating tanks must be exhausted, most acid tanks and caustic cleaning tanks should be exhausted. Some plating tanks should be exhausted but not necessarily all. Traditionally, cadmium tanks were not ventilated; but it has been discovered that cadmium is a cumulative poison, so I think they should be exhausted/ventilated. I have been to plating shops where all operators wore respirators all day, and I believe that good ventilation of a cadmium plating tank is a much better idea.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2004