Everything You Need to Know About Smoke School

This month, five Walden employees successfully completed smoke school and are ready to assist your facility with air emission compliance! Also known as opacity training, smoke school is offered year-round due to its importance nationwide.

Opacity is defined as the amount of light that passes through emissions such as those from generators or mobile equipment at various types of facilities. Thicker smoke plumes are associated with air pollutants that may represent a risk to the environment and/or equipment that needs maintenance.

What Does Smoke School Entail?

Smoke school itself is not a lengthy process. For those seeking an initial certification, a four-hour lecture is required. The lecture contains information on why accurate opacity readings matter, as well as techniques on how to measure opacity with the naked eye in the field.

Following the lecture, students participate in the field certification portion of the class. During the field certification, instructors create varying levels of opacity from both black and white smoke, which are generated by a computer-controlled smoke stack.

Those taking the test will have a few seconds to mark down the percentage of opacity they believe to be present. Students are tested a total of 50 times (25 emissions each for black and white smoke). In order to pass, test takers must not be off by more than 15% in any of the 50 readings. Furthermore, the total number of deviations from the correct answers across the entire test must not exceed a specific value.

Once a student obtains their initial certification, their eyes must be “recalibrated” every six months.

Why Is Smoke Testing Important?

Those certified can now officially monitor visible emissions from various sources to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local guidelines. It is important to keep up with smoke testing and, as required, schedule your equipment inspections as defined by your facility permits. Should a facility’s equipment be noncompliant, fines or legal action from regulatory agencies may be imposed.

Call Walden to speak with a smoke school graduate and learn more about how we can help you understand and manage your equipment emissions! Contact us at 516-703-4368 for more information about the regulations or to schedule an opacity test.