Just received my new XL flowhood today and could not be happier.. Although its a lot of money to spend, its an investment in this hobby, plus its a bargain for this size/level of a pre-built HEPA flow hood. I received 2 boxes and one box was the housing and the 2nd was the motor and pre-filter housing. The directions were a breeze and it was basically making one connection and 4 screws to get it running. Pilot holes were drilled so I just lined it up and maybe 60 seconds with a phillips scewdriver. I ran some inital tests, the blower is a Dayton (Almost $400 on Amazon) which purrs and is not that loud. All my first tests passed with flying colors! Looks beautiful in my cleanroom! Some people may not like the bright white, but I think it looks very clean and professional. 5/5 stars! Thanks Midwest!
High quality materials and fairly straightforward setup. Took me around 2 hours to put together (I’m a slow and steady type of guy). Two snags during setup: when putting the back in the premade grove, it wasn’t seating properly, I almost continued to the next step but decided rather to go backwards instead. I found there was a small piece of wood that had fragmented and was protruding into the channel (only noticeable with my face 2 inches away from it). The other snag was a simple one: when assembling the pre-filter assembly, lock the quarter turn fasteners before installing the support braces. Some tips for folk that will be moving their flow hood about: get one of those mats that are used to transfer older people between beds (the smaller variant), it works great! Also if you’re worried about dust in storage, invest $10 into a polyester grill cover, measure first and you’ll find a good one! I did some agar work the other day, in a non-clean room, all 10 plates are looking clean!
I was one of the lucky who purchased one before they sold them on the site. I have been using the new 24"x18 Flowhood for a few weeks now and I have nothing but good things to say! Easy assembly. No waiting for 4-5 weeks! Tested on agar and no contams whatsoever! Large enough for two people to work!
I have been planning to build my own laminar hood for a few months now but with the cost of lumber sky rocketing and only crappy sub-par plywood available at my local Home Depot and Menards, I have been looking online for something like this. Although only a few reviews for this unit scattered around the net, I decided to pull the trigger. The unit arrived in two boxes, very well packed. I have an anemometer which can measure flow rates and find dead zones in filters. I was pleasantly surprised that this flowhood was all within spec. I was getting a constant 175-205 CFM with only the top left corner around 150CFM. The scientific lab ratings for laminar hoods is 100CFM, so this unit is properly matched with the correct motor. I am happy to see they included a lower MERV pre-filter, as the pleated one pictured looks too restrictive. Overall the build quality is great, you can clearly see this was not built in a home wood shop, as the cuts were done by a CNC machine. My initial AGAR tests have also come back without contam. The filter looks easy to change as well, just unscrew the faceplate and swap it out. Great job overall. Very happy with the value of the unit.
I work at a Bio-tech lab and have a degree in engineering. I borrowed some equipment from work to test the performance and capabilities of this unit. I found the laminar rate to be fairly uniform at 201 CFM. The range for this is 125-225 CFM. I noticed they include a lower MERV pre-filter now and I can see why. I bought a thicker higher 11 MERV filter and cut it to fit the housing. The flow rate dropped to 140, which is still in "Spec" for this unit but on the low end. I also noticed a few areas near the top corner that were 120CFM, but thats expected with such a pre-filter. I would recommend beginners use the included pre-filter, which will give you much more room for error when practicing sterile procedures working in the flowhood. When the airflow rate is reduced you must move slower and follow the labratory standards for working in flowhoods. Overall I think the build quality is amazing, I can see these were professionally built on a CNC machine and the packaging was great for a unit this size. Overall you wont find a better unit for this price unless you build it yourself.