EN 14175: new European standard for fume cupboards

Köttermann test and inspection laboratory – fitted in accordance with the new EN 14175

When the new European standard for fume cupboards comes into effect, laboratories will have to change for the better – or more precisely, laboratory fume cupboards will.

EN 14175 will set stricter criteria for the assessment of the efficiency and safety of laboratory fume cupboards. For the purpose of European harmonisation, this standard will replace the current national product standards, which are based on different safety philosophies.

The upcoming change is causing quite a stir both with laboratory fume cupboard manufacturers and their customers.

Particularly irritating for those concerned is that while the new standard reconciles the
testing and approval procedures in Europe, it does not, in contrast to the DIN 12924
currently effective in Germany, set limiting values for the static containment and robustness of the containment for the fume cupboards.

These values are to be set at a national level – which increases the general uncertainty, as no-one knows which standard values will be effective in which country.

Köttermann customers can be confident that the German laboratory furniture and fume cupboard manufacturer has long been prepared for the approaching change in standards. Köttermann is already in the position to manufacture fume cupboards in accordance with the new standard, and Köttermann has every reason to be proud of the test results they presented at the ACHEMA exhibition.

In all test procedures Köttermann fume cupboards scored the best possible results, which were better than any value considered for the new standard.

Designed for the future – the Köttermann fume cupboard family

Rapid, innovative and flexible product development

“To ensure that our products meet future standards we have to plan ahead and be flexible,” says product manager Frank Buchholz, “that is why we have always kept other standards, such as the British BS 7258 and the French AFNOR XP X 15-203, in mind during the development stages of our products, especially as we market our Systemlabor internationally and support our network of subsidiaries throughout Europe.”

Moreover, Köttermann has a permanent representative in the German Committee on Standards
and thereby receives first hand information. Köttermann uses this advantage immediately to integrate changes in the standard into their own product ideas, and to react more quickly to such developments than many of its competitors.

A further advantage is the company’s own certified test and inspection laboratory where Köttermann’s ventilation engineers continually test the aerodynamic properties of the fume cupboards and, if required, optimise them.

They already conduct prototype testing in accordance with the new testing regulations: confirmation of the containment values in static conditions as well as the robustness of the fume cupboard containment in measured disturbance tests.

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Containment robustness test readings for a 1500 mm wide standard fume cupboard with different volumetric flow rates and different side inlet baffles. In comparison: the suggested limiting values from BG Chemie.