In today’s episode of the Dust Safety Science podcast, Greg Slavin, President of Clean Air Company Inc., based out of Woodbridge, New Jersey, talks about dust collection systems in educational facilities.
We touched on this topic in Episode #4, when Jeramy Slaunwhite discussed the Nova Scotia Dust Collector Safety Program. Now Greg expands on it to include some of the differences between newer systems and older systems in older and aging facilities, and some of the common challenges that he sees working at these sites in terms of overall combustible dust safety.
Challenges With Older Dust Collection Systems
Greg said that a lot of the calls he gets from high schools involve complaints about the system not working properly. In a lot of cases, these dust collection systems have become plugged with materials. While the staff are aware that there is a fire hazard, they don’t always understand the explosion risk. The result is potentially dangerous shortcuts.
“For example, I see some engineers who will want to keep the ducts coming out of the building below 10 inches. So that way they don’t have to put any sprinkler heads into the duct system, and then they’ll manifold it into the collector. But then how well balanced is that?”
He explained that he usually gets the primary dust out, goes through the abort gate and then, on the inside of the building, does a secondary after-filter so that the system gets any of the fines generated by sanding applications. Not only does this measure improve indoor air quality, but it also eliminates the accumulation of fine powders and dust or sawdust.
Challenges With Newer Builds
Greg explained that one of the biggest challenges with newer builds is that there are so many parties involved.
“They’ll usually have an architectural firm. The architectural firm will subcontract out to a mechanical engineering firm. Then you have a general contract or a mechanical contractor, and then there’s us. So there are a lot more hands in the pot. Then on the school side, [they say], “Well, the dust collector we used to have was $50,000.” Now we’re at USD150,000 because you have to put in sprinkler systems and all this additional stuff. There’s a lot more design engineering, and some of the engineering firms aren’t really up to snuff with all the standards.”
He recalled that one engineering firm told him, “We’re designing according to NFPA 654.” He tried to explain that 654 is part of the design, but 664 takes precedence over 654.
“You can’t really get into an argument with them,” he says. “All you can really do is send them the code and hope they read through it and they take some of your recommendations. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. That’s just the way it goes. And then on the completion side, you have the code officials, who aren’t really all up-to-date either, so they don’t necessarily know if this is a code-compliant system or not. We’ve had some good ones, and we’ve had some bad ones.”
Common Deficiencies in Education Wood Shop Dust Collection Systems
One of the main installation-related challenges is spacing. The correct spacing is needed for that non-return valve to close and sometimes they’re installed too close. The same thing goes for the abort gate.
A proper maintenance system also needs to be set up or established because, as filters load up and plug up, the resistance against the fan increases, air volume slows down, and conveying velocity slows down in a domino effect. Then material builds up in the ductwork. Without this maintenance, problems arise, a fact that doesn’t always guide facility behaviour.
“Blast gates are another big one,” Greg says. ”I think all blast gates should be locked in place. A lot of these kids will go in and think, “Well, I need more suction. I see some dust here and we’ll close a couple of the other gates.” That’s just not the way it works. So all the blast gates should really be locked in place. We usually drill a hole through them and then put a lock in place.”
How Can Safety Be Improved in Educational Facilities?
Greg stressed the importance of education. Clean Air Company Inc. is working on a course specifically for wood dust. Company representatives also go into engineering firms and show them pictures of plugged ductwork and design issues.
“You can always see when an HVAC contractor is put in a dust collection system because they design it for HVAC. We had one school where they turned on their dust collector and all the ductwork collapsed. They were using 28-gauge ductwork. So my point is that we’re going in and saying, “Look, here’s your classification of ductwork. These are the key points out of 664 that you have to follow. Here are some other key points that are 654 that are critical.” We’ll do a lunch and learn. We’ll sit there for an hour, go over everything, and then just offer them a copy of the presentation and the key topics of discussion for what needs to be included.”
Conclusion
At the end, Greg recommended that schools looking for a dust collection system get the right engineering firm. With new builds, there’s an advantage thanks to companies like Clean Air Company Inc. and code officials that may point out issues.
“There’s a good safety factor already built into the process,” he says. “I think it’s just the older systems that people really need to look at and evaluate. Are they up to code or do they need to put some money into that program?”
If the answer is yes, ensuring that investment is made can help keep educational facilities a safer place.
If you would like to discuss further, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach Greg Slavin directly:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-slavin-73395b12/
Website: https://www.cleanairco.com/
Email: [email protected]
If you have questions about the contents of this or any other podcast episode, you can go to our ‘Questions from the Community’ page and submit a text message or video recording. We will then bring someone on to answer these questions in a future episode.
Resources mentioned
Dust Safety Science
Combustible Dust Incident Database
Dust Safety Science Podcast
Questions from the Community
Dust Safety Academy
Dust Safety Professionals
Dust Safety Share
Companies
Clean Air Company Inc.
Standards
NFPA 654
Previous Episodes
DSS 004: Nova Scotia Dust Collector Safety Program and Explosion Safety with Jeramy Slaunwhite
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