Once and for all: Respirators that pass the seal tests with beards?

Yeah the Resp-O-Rator is an interesting product, and I've considered it also, and may end up getting that and a full-face respirator. I"m concerned I would be constantly spitting it out, but it would be nice to use around the welding forge with Didymium glasses, since I always have the furnace burned into my corneas and can tell I'm inhaling loose ceramic fiber floating around the outside. That more than anything is what I notice irritating me after the Damascus sessions, even compared to the grinding work.


As mentioned above however, regarding full face respirators, we're not trying to keep out pathogens, radioactive dust, or highly toxic chemicals in huge concentrations. My primary concern is keeping the vast majority of metal and wood dust out of my system, and maybe more importantly, carbon fragments when I'm doing composite layup. Filtering out 99% of that will keep me much healthier than 0%, even if it's not 100% safe. Honestly I can see a major difference in my respiratory system even just using a surgical type mask, which doesn't seal worth a crap.


Thanks for all the great insight here guys.
 
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I am willing to concede that facial hair under a respirator reduces the effectiveness to less than 100%. I am continuing the investigation into supplied air respirators. Positive pressure filtered air seems like a reasonable was to go. -Doug
 
Why then if it's not the gases you are wanting to avoid, do you require a full face mask and not just a particle mask? metal paricle protection does not require a full face. By the way,in a place where full face masks must at some times be worn, people with beards are told to remove them or they would be removed. Frank
 
I am very happy with my Trend Airshield Pro. Not only does it have a very good seal around my neck, just under my beard, it allows me to wear glasses and keeps my face cooler as well. The rechargable battery pack lasts over eight hours of continious use. Having tried many different respriators, this was the only one that I was really happy with. It was worth the investment, ~$300.
 
Allen Newberry said:
I like the Resp-O-Rator. It requires that you breath through your mouth and the filters are particle not chemical. But, it is light, comfortable, cheap, doesn't fog my glasses, allows me to use whatever safety eyewear I want, doesn't make my face feel like it is in a sweat lodge, works with all beards, takes in air from behind you, and I find it doesn't sit on the shelf as much as my other respirator. If you are going to be doing something that will be putting off gases that could knock you out you will want something else, but for keeping out grinder dust it seems to do a good job.
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This one sounds interesting as I too have a beard and I do not plan on shaving it. I like to say it helps to hide some of that ugly!:D:D

My biggest problem is my eyesight at close range has gotten bad and without my readers everything is a blur. My next biggest problem is I can put on something as simple as a one of those paper dust masks and immediately my glasses begin to fog. It doesn't matter winter or summer. That makes it impossible to grind or do anything else because I am looking thru a fog.
And that has nothing to do with a beard because I have had that problem long before I grew a beard. I could put on saftey glasses and shortly they would fog.

Does anyone else who uses a resperatior have the fogging up problem? If so what are you using?
 
I have a pretty thick beard that's about 1.25" to 1.5" or so. I just used whatever brand Menards sells at the moment. I think it cost about 30 or 40 bucks. I wouldn't say that I get a 100% seal with it, but it's more than adequate for keeping out dust and what not while I'm grinding steel, wood, or G10/Micarta. It's absolutely better than nothing at any rate.
 
Dixieblade57 said:
This one sounds interesting as I too have a beard and I do not plan on shaving it. I like to say it helps to hide some of that ugly!:D:D

My biggest problem is my eyesight at close range has gotten bad and without my readers everything is a blur. My next biggest problem is I can put on something as simple as a one of those paper dust masks and immediately my glasses begin to fog. It doesn't matter winter or summer. That makes it impossible to grind or do anything else because I am looking thru a fog.
And that has nothing to do with a beard because I have had that problem long before I grew a beard. I could put on saftey glasses and shortly they would fog.

Does anyone else who uses a resperatior have the fogging up problem? If so what are you using?
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I have the same problem, seemingly regardless of what type of respirators and glasses that I use. For me, it's usually one or the other unfortunately.

That being said, I have used a full face shield (such as is used for grinding and such) AND a respirator with some success.

You might also try some "anti-fog" solution on your glasses. I find that it helps when just wearing glasses, but I haven't tried it with a respirator.
 
Hey guys, I just wanted to mention that I'm pretty sure you can get a prescription insert for some if not all of the full face respirators.

I know the 3m 6000 series ones have that option. It's not a prescription faceplate but a set of lenses that hang inside the mask I believe.. Someone with more experience can verify or correct that I'm sure.

May be a bit of an investment, but it might be worth it.
 
Dixieblade57 said:
This one sounds interesting as I too have a beard and I do not plan on shaving it. I like to say it helps to hide some of that ugly!:D:D

My biggest problem is my eyesight at close range has gotten bad and without my readers everything is a blur. My next biggest problem is I can put on something as simple as a one of those paper dust masks and immediately my glasses begin to fog. It doesn't matter winter or summer. That makes it impossible to grind or do anything else because I am looking thru a fog.
And that has nothing to do with a beard because I have had that problem long before I grew a beard. I could put on saftey glasses and shortly they would fog.

Does anyone else who uses a resperatior have the fogging up problem? If so what are you using?
Click to expand...

The Resp-O-Rator should help with fogging as it uses a mouthpiece and does not cover your nose, plus the air enters and exits behind you.
 
The problem I see with the Resp-o-rator is that after you take it off, a lot of dust and bad stuff has accumulated in your nostrils. The first breath you take brings all the stuff into your lungs. Better than nothing, but I wouldn't want to use it.
 
The Resp-o-rator comes with a nose clip that you're supposed to use to keep stuff out of your nostrils. I don't use mine, but then I'm a mouth breather so it's pretty easy to just not breath through my nose.

Fogging and scratched face plates are why I really don't like a full face solution all that much. While I have a separate full plate for the rare occasions that really need the protection I normally just wear prescription safety glasses with big lenses and top and side shields.
 
I have the Trend Airshield Pro, I swear by it. The downside of the design is that there are no prefilters, so when you plug the filters it is expensive, my solution was to vacuum off the filters after use, then I got smart and bought some 3m Filtrete sheets that you are supposed to put over heater vents, and wrapped it around the filters, Voici! Pre-filters that are cheap and effective

-Page
 
Breathesafelyinc.com sells a product which seals all respirators to your face and even works with beards. Check it out if you are serious about improving the seal when wearing a mask over a beard.
 
That necropost sure seems like a spambot.

I'm kinda surprised no one else mentioned this quick solution to seal a mask around a beard. That would be petroleum jelly in your beard where the mask sits. Put a 2-3 finger bead of it in the hair and the pressure from the mask will seal up nice.
 
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