[labnetwork] Toxic gases

[Shimon Eliav]

Hi Manish,
Our clean room is small and our Gas Pad is very close, so the gas lines are relatively short by design. Every cylinder is equipped with a pneumatic valve. We control those valves from the clean room. No need to someone to come to the Gas Pad to close/open valves.
Our protocol is to close all the valves by the end of the day.
For the toxic/corrosive gases we evacuate the lines after use and perform a leak test before open the valve, using a built-in routine at our Oxford machines.
The cylinders for corrosive/toxic gases are small (some 5 liters volume, 1kg gas content). Our use is small, so the last for years.
It is a simple protocol and reasonable: the idea is to limit the damage in case of leak, although leak sensors are installed. For those can’t evacuate the lines, at least to close them by the end of the day is a good practice.
Regards,
Shimon
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Unit for Nano Fabrication
Israel

Sent from my iPhone

On 5 Dec 2020, at 2:49, Manish Keswani <manish.keswani01 at gmail.com> wrote:


Happy Friday everyone,

I have a question related to toxic gases in our nano fabrication center.

We typically shut off our toxic gases at the source when not in use, using the in line valves on the Safety Manifolds, the ESO valves, and the cylinder valve. This is to comply with the administrative control stated in our gas safety notes. The following question came up for toxic gases. I would like to understand how this is being done at other facilities and the reasoning behind it.

“Is there a good reason we turn off the toxic gases at the end of the day instead of just leaving them on? It seems like if there is a risk, it would be wear and tear on the valves etc, plus someone going in vault often to do it.”


Thanks in advance,
Manish Keswani
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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