Best mask available?

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JH123

Active member
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Messages
31
What is the best brand and model of full face respirator available? I have a 2 week old 3m 6900, 6000 series, with p100 filters and wearing it I can smell chlorine, and even smell cigarette smoke when I walk within 3 feet of my buddy that smokes. The filters have less than 2hours use in them and the masks are new. Can anybody name a quality brand and model?
 
:shock:
1. No cartridge respirator will protect you from nitric oxide(s).
2. A P-100 only protects you from particulates 0.03 microns and larger. The band is a magenta color.
3. There are cartridges that are meant for removing other acid gasses. The band is generally a mustard color.
4. A respirator that does not fit your face will not protect you. It should be fit tested by a qualified technician to an industrial hygienist to ENSURE that the mask will perform as intended.
5. Engineering controls (fume hood) should be in place before personal protective equipment (PPE) is employed. PPE (the respirator in this case) should be employed as a last resort!

My 0.02 USD!
 
JH, when the respirator is not been used, it must be placed in a sealed container. If you don't, it loses its efficency by picking up "garbage" from the air, like a magnet. Your face must be clean shaven when using a respirator.

Check this set up on e-bay. I won another type, (like the ones firefighters use), on an auction for $56.00, then I came across this one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380261092883?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

I use MOLDEX #8200 cartridges on my respirator.

I hope it helps.

Take care!

Phil
 
If you can smell cigarette smoke while wearing it, it is either defective, it doesn't fit right, or it has a hole in it somewhere. :|
 
philddreamer said:
JH, when the respirator is not been used, it must be placed in a sealed container. If you don't, it loses its efficency by picking up "garbage" from the air, like a magnet. Your face must be clean shaven when using a respirator.

Check this set up on e-bay. I won another type, (like the ones firefighters use), on an auction for $56.00, then I came across this one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/380261092883?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

I use MOLDEX #8200 cartridges on my respirator.

I hope it helps.

Take care!

Phil


There are a couple issues with cartridges you should be very aware of. They are limited to a small concentration of contaminate in the air, and must be disposed of after only 30 days from first exposure. You can't save them indefinitely. Storing them longer puts you at risk of bio hazards. Many infectious diseases would find a warm moist cartridge an ideal breeding ground even if stored in a clean bag. And the effectiveness of activated carbon will fade quickly once opened to the atmosphere. I think this would prove a very costly, risky, very limited option.

Be sure to read the data sheet.

http://www.moldex.com/respiratory-protection/reusable-respirators/8000/cartridges/index.php
 
Carterages should be refillable. Because in this business with access to the ability activated carbon can be heated to burn off unwanted contaminates. I reuse my activated carbon by bakeing in oven. Tho I use it to filter my brewing projects.

Jus thought I'd put that out their. I'll recearch if it's possable as to burning off acid's and such.

It may be possable. Activated carbon is expensive.
 
Just an update to this thread. I now have the filters from 3m that have the mustard colored band and when smoke was blown directly into the filter, not the least bit of it was smelled. I now have more confidence in these.
 
JH123 said:
Just an update to this thread. I now have the filters from 3m that have the mustard colored band and when smoke was blown directly into the filter, not the least bit of it was smelled. I now have more confidence in these.
Please read the acid gasses that the filter will absorb. It will not protect you from nitric acid fumes. Let me repeat that! It will NOT protect you from nitric acid fumes.
 
Golddigger Greg said:
Is a mask of this type of any use to anyone? Would like to pass the good deal on these along to members, if of use.
Can you provide a little information on your offering, so we can better understand what it is? Looks like it uses a fresh air supply. Does it? Can you describe the hose that's visible, if not?
How much? How does one go about procuring one?

Harold
 
Golddigger Greg said:
Is a mask of this type of any use to anyone? Would like to pass the good deal on these along to members, if of use.

I could be wrong, but think this is what you have there.

I used to work for a pharmaceutical company, these type masks were hung in bright yellow boxes throughout the facility. The round disk on the side is a type of regulator like you find with dive tanks, to keep positive air flow and prevent any air being sucked back into the mask. They are meant to be used with a small pressurized tank that is about a quarter of the size of a dive tank, and is rated for at least 15 minutes of breathing time. Obviously bigger tanks would allow you to wear the mask longer. The problem with these masks is that they are only rated for 15 minutes, that means the regulator, and the material it's made out of, is not made out of material that is durable enough to stand up to very much. If you notice the mask is made out of either rubber or silicon and has no protective coating. We were told during training that if we had to use the mask, to evacuate immediately because the mask itself could degrade to a point it would not be effective, but that would be after the tank ran out of air.

Scott
 
I haven't bought these units yet; merely looking to outfit all the items I'll need to set up to refine safely and ran across these new (in original packaging) Drager R26279 full face masks. The hose is 2.5 meters, fittings attached. They are being sold as a lot of 30 units as surplus, but I'll need 10 at the most, leaving quite a few available for others. I've seen these (refurbished) on Ebay and other sites at $45.00 each.
I wanted to find out from members their thoughts on the usefullness before committing to buy and ship them to me. Cost to members would depend on my landed cost of course, but was thinking it would be in the $30 range. Here is another picture:
 

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I wouldn't use those masks when working with acids for several reasons...

First, if you are using the mask so as not to come into contact with fumes, you are going to be in for a rude awakening. You not only have to consider your entire face, but you have to consider the rest of your body, your arms, legs, clothing, everything. The corrosive fumes would eat at those parts of your body, and your clothing, the same as they would eat anything else metal or organic around you.

The mask you are showing is only a safety mask, that's why you found them in a huge lot. It's mean to be attached to a small tank so you can throw it on real fast, and breath long enough to make it outside, or to a safety area. It's not intended for prolonged use. The metal around the glass face would corrode, the rubber/silicon that makes up most of the mask would degrade and become brittle or jelly like depending on the material it's made out of.

Your hoses would not hold up under an acid fume attack either, nor the fittings, nor the buckles on the mask, I think you get the point here.

The only type of system that uses positive air flow that is going to work, if you are not using an enclosed reaction system or fume hood with air flow, is a fully enclosed suit. I worked for Johnson & Johnson making the Nicoderm patch. Pure nicotine is so deadly, and such a super solvent, that we had to wear suits, with positive air flow, that were silver lines along with silver lined gloves, and each time we had to use the bathroom or do anything else we had to wear a new suit. Back then, and we are talking when the Nicoderm patch first came out, each one of those suits cost $500. I have no idea what they would be today.

You are not going to find a Mask that is going to protect the rest of your body, your work area, yourself. I haven't found any mask or breathing apparatus for that matter, that would hold up to extended use around acid fumes. Even if you did, it would be so cost prohibitive that you wouldn't be able to sustain the costs no matter how much gold you were recovering.

Personally, and this is only my opinion, based on my own experience working with deadly substances, and recovering/refining precious metals, I would stop wasting time trying to find a mask to do what outside does better. If you are really concerned, look around and find a good fume hood, you can find them dirt dirt cheap if you just bide your time and keep looking. You can buy one 5000 L round bottom flask, a condenser, for right around $100 if you shop around, then all you need to do is build an apparatus that would scrub the fumes. There has been many many posts on how to do that with a fume scrubber, or just with lab glass and the correct connecting glass/tubing, etc.

If you watch any of the video's done by professional chemists that has to do with reactions that produce acid fumes, you will see that they don't even use masks. Also consider the hoses, the bulky-ness of the mask, the equipment it would need to be connected to and how it would affect your being able to pick up a beaker, set it down without sending it flying as soon as you turn one way or another because your hose lines batted it across the table.

A mask is not the right way to -protect yourself from acid fumes. HOWEVER, having these around in case you have a massive spill, or in case a reaction goes terribly wrong and you need to escape, would be a good idea. It could mean the difference between being able to breath and evacuate the area, or not being able to breath and trying to crawl your way out. Remember, these fumes are heavy and like to sink to the floor.

And thank you for posting better pictures of the masks. If anyone buys one of these, and need a container to hang it on the wall in, or they need the small air tank, I can get both, used, I'm nut sure what the price would be but I can put you in direct contact with the person who has the equipment and you can deal with them directly.

Scott

Scott
 
Thanks Scott for the information! I've been studiously reading since joining the forum and have found that opinions and views expressed by you and others here are of extreme value; which is why I posted my query. I knew they (the masks) are of somewhat limited use, but not being 100% up on all regulations in all jurisdictions I thought that there may be a use for some members. If I do pick these up I'll post in the proper forum, of course. :wink:
By the way, I love this place! ...back to Hoke...
 
butcher said:
I wonder if the mask would work for dredging gold using an air compressor and small tank. 30 buck's sounds like a good deal.

It might work for awhile, but the fittings and seals are all wrong, the metal would corrode over time, even with cleaning it really well. Once salt starts to corrode metal, it expands the fittings and it no longer can keep a seal.

Scott
 
I dredge in fresh water, not the ocean, I believe I have seen some masks that looked something like those at the mining supply house, but they could be totally different.

Golddigger Greg, I can read the name Drager on the paper, would you have a model number or some other marking to identify the mask this company I believe made diving masks, as well as other gas masks.

For safety evacuation that thing seems like it would take time to get on and fit, and get the tank supplying oxygen, for a fifteen minute escape, I think I would be out of breath before I could get the mask was on.
 

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