Fume and Workplace Safety · 0:44
What's the biggest improvement you can make to a fume extraction system?
Nathan — The Guy Who Fixes It The biggest improvement you can make to a fume extraction system is to reduce the amount of flexible hose. Flexible hose creates far more airflow resistance than smooth steel ducting, which means the fan has to work harder and the system becomes less effective. Replacing flexible hose with straight steel spiral or smooth-bore ductwork wherever possible improves airflow, increases extraction performance, and helps capture welding fumes more efficiently.
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Hello everyone, Nathan from Extractability here. " Honestly, it's something that's often overlooked because of convenience: flexible hose. Use as little flexible hose in your fume extraction system as possible.
A straight piece of steel ducting creates around 20 pascals of resistance per metre, whereas flexible hose creates around 10 times that amount. More resistance means reduced fan performance. If you want to make the biggest improvement to any fume extraction system, replace as much flexible hose as possible with straight steel spiral or smooth-bore fixed ductwork.
