Respirator recommendations

[blueman]

Looking for a good all-purpose respirator to save me from the variety of particulates, solvents and fumes I encounter as I repair and/or build things around my house. (I am now ready to graduate from disposable dust masks and respirators)

Key features include:

- General purpose protection against most solvents and particles

- Comfortable fit plus easy to put-on/take-off

- Affordable (including affordable replacement cartridges)

Any recommendations? How critical is sizing and individual comfort here? (the local Home Depot seems to stock only the cheapo disposable masks and I don't know where to go to "try on" and compare different ones)

Should I buy a separate less bulky "woodworker's" respirator to protect me from dust and a separate cartridge one to protect from fumes or am I just fine with an all-purpose one?

Thanks

[Andy Dingley]

3M half mask (3000 series?). In silicone rather than rubber if you want to sweat less and pay a bit more. The filters are replaceable and there's lots of them. They also do dust filters that clip over the fume filters, which are handy if you are working in a dusty workshop but need vapour protection too, without clogging an expensive filter too soon.

[Andy]

Good idea. Yes, sizing is very important, and yes, HD is a bad place to buy a real respirator. See if there's an industrial or safety or medical or laboratory supply store near you that will let you try on a few models. I found the 3m 7502 (7500 series, last digit refers to size) to fit well and filter well, for about $20. I consider myself an average-sized male, and the size Medium seals even over my gotee. Also fits my wife's much narrower face just fine. To check for a good seal, remove the filter cartridges, hold the mask gently against your face, plug the holes with your thumbs, and try to breathe in. If you can't, it seals well. There are a wide variety of filter cartridges available for the 7500 series - the 2097 are rated for "nuisance-level" organic vapors and particulates. I've used these cartridges for sanding, as well as with a few various finishes and cleaning supplies, and with the mask on, I can't smell anything at all of the solvent or dust. I don't think you'd need the heavier-duty organic vapor cartridges unless you were in extremely high-solvent-concentration areas for extended times, though OSHA has ratings for all that. Here is a link with the cheapest online source I could find for this mask, and they also have various cartridges:

this helps, Andy

[Tom Nie]

FWIW the NG came up with a website that had an excellent selection of brands and types of masks at definitely better prices than Home Depot, etc. I bought a whole selection to see which one I'd like best. The rubber mesh coated looked better than it worked - very sweaty.

But the one I now commonly use looks weird but works. Yellow plastic with mouthpiece, two tubes to behind the head and then two HEPA filter discs. Still better particulate protection than the masks and LOTS easier to use if you wear glasses or have a cold/allergies or if you're sweating. Quick and easy to remove and can hang around your neck until you need it again (I cover the mouthpiece with a cloth while not using). Doesn't matter if you're wearing a helmet or faceshield or whatever kind of hat. Packard carries them as well as Klingspor and others.

But if you want fumes as well then you've created a whole 'nuther monster. From what I remember to eliminate fumes you have to pipe fresh air to your enclosed headset. Kinda like a SCUBA diver.

TomNie

[Andy Dingley]

Just SCBA, not SCUBA. You're not underwater, so the pressure is only at atmospheric pressure. This allows them to use a simpler regulator design. OTOH, use SCBA kit under water and you'll die...

[bamboo]

[marc rosen]

[purduephotog]

Bullard hood?

We used them in industry for solvent protection. Has the added benefit of keeping your nice and cool...

Pretty much no way to get exposed to anyth> Looking for a good all-purpose respirator to save me from the variety

[jackson]

They have a respiratory selection guide. Those disposable mask are not respirators and are worthless.

[Lew Hodgett]

blueman wrote: > Looking for a good all-purpose respirator to save me from the variety > of particulates, solvents and fumes I encounter as I repair and/or build things > around my house. (I am now ready to graduate from disposable dust masks > and respirators)

Find an industrial safety equipment supplier in your area.

Lew

[DG]

Not disputing the effectiveness of this hood, but I believe my neighbors would wonder about the EPA Disaster Response Team styled garb and freak out. (Too many viewings of "Outbreak" perhaps.)

They wonder what goes on over here anyways....

[Lew Hodgett]

blueman wrote: > Looking for a good all-purpose respirator to save me from the variety > of particulates, solvents and fumes I encounter as I repair and/or build things > around my house. (I am now ready to graduate from disposable dust masks > and respirators)

A further thought.

3M-6800 is about as good as it gets unless you need to carry a bottle on your back.

Lew

[grumman581]

In the long run, the most economical solution is a fresh air supply... The supply can either be from an oil-less compressor or a shop vac exhaust... A garden hose makes a good air supply... It has plenty of capacity with a shop vac exhaust... You can even hook it up so that the air supply is coming from a cooler area so that you won't feel as hot...

For a mask, you can either buy a commerial rig (equals *expensive*) or adapt something else... One option is to take something like this

or this and adapt whatever air supply hose you might be using to it... The advantage of this sort of air supply is that you have a positive air pressure in the mask and as such, it is not important whether you have a perfect seal along the edges... When I stained the concrete floor in a previous house, some of the chemicals being used looked pretty nasty on the MSDS, so I rigged up something for a one-time use out of a paper grocery bag with a view area cut into it and a piece of clear plastic taped over the view area to prevent air leaks from there... The air supply was sufficient to ensure that I did not smell any of the vapors in the enclosed area in which I was working... After that, I bought an Israeli gas mask from Sportsman's Guide and adapted it for a fresh air supply...

[Joe Bemier]

IMHO, disposable dust masks are only slightly better than nothing at all. Certainly the non-woven material *is* capable of filtering particles, however, it is not practical to obtain a seal around the mask/face. Even the slightest gap would make the things useless. Doctors (surgeons) wear these type masks more to protect the patient from his/her microbes rather than the other way around.

Thus, I would suggest any rubberized type of mask that can fit snugly on your face. Home Depot in my area does sell these (in Paints) and they are fairly cheap and effective for dust. Filters need to be changed for solvents, etc.

[Joe Bemier]

Ha!...LOL Agree...overkill for the woodshop, IMO.

[Chris Lewis]

According to blueman :

_Real_ respirator masks, not dust masks, eg: North and other manufacturers, are all pretty much interchangeable in all respects. Except for the way cartridges connect. There's three or more different standards.

So, you pick a reasonably well known one (eg: North), and pick which cartridges you'll need, and the size that fits right.

Preferably pick a standard with the "large" screw fittings (around 1 1/2") not the 1" diameter fittings. North is the small ones. Lee Valley carries another other style with the big fitting.

The difficulties with them isn't their effectiveness, nor fit per-se, it's things like fogging up safety glasses, being warm/sweaty after a while etc.

For those, you'll want to consider full face masks with built in respirators. Some of them are _really_ comfortable. But they're all considerably more expensive. Some are > $1000.

[Chris Lewis]

I'd avoid home-brewing something like this _unless_ you put some serious filtering in it. Any dust or crud the thing picks up is potentially going to be rammed down your lungs. It'll pick up crud, even if you put the air pump somewhere "clean".

These things aren't designed for breathing air.

I'm seriously considering something like this myself with a small adjustable speed blower (I think it's a combustion blower off an oil furnace), but not without _very_ serious attention to filtering (and scrubbing the blower thoroughly too).

[B A R R Y]

And they don't work as well with a beard.

[Chris Lewis]

Depends on the beard I think.

I've never had issues with mine.