Powered respirators - Aircap, Airshield, Triton, etc

N

Nick Hyle

Joined
Mar 13, 2000
Messages
599
OK, I'm a big guy with a fat face :) , beard, and glasses - off the shelf masks and respirators, the covers your nose and chin type, don't tend to seal perfectly on me. These powered respirators - basically the hobby version of the $2000+ industrial systems - are, according to their advertising and review articles in woodworking magazines, the cat's pajamas, especially the "with glasses" part.

What's hard to come up with is any head to head comparisons. Anybody use one? Anyone ever use two or more different ones, and have an opinion?

These are what I'm talking about:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=4873

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=4923

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=5511

Here's a quick set of online reviews for one:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DEZO8/

I'm leaning toward the Aircap, just for not messing with a proprietary four hour rechargable battery, and the light weight. There are newer Aircaps:

http://www.bradwest.com/acatalog/Aircap_3_Impact.html

http://www.bradwest.com/acatalog/Aircap_4.html

but I'm not finding a US source for them with Google, and I'd rather not deal with transatlantic shipping if I don't have to (and transatlantic support and replacement parts.)

Any advice? Thanks!
 
Hey Nick...

Interesting..

Now check this out...

See the dude wearing the Aircap ???

(I actually liked this picture so much, I downloaded it )

aircap3.jpg


See the Frigging huge GAP on the right side of his face ???

I'll pass...

If it doesn't fit that Tool,, it ain't gonna fit me...

Thats the first thing I saw when I looked at the picture

Not Dogg'n on you Dude!!

It's an Awesome Idea,,and was thinking about it myself just the other day...
Wondering if they had something like this...

These guys are selling respirators and the idiot editor let that picture get by him.. LMAO

It's like a gun Company promoting a new model semi auto and they print a picture of it stovepiping !!

That just put the Death Null on the aircap3 for me...

What a bunch of tools LOL

Thanks for bringing this up,, I'm gonna look into other models like this....

I work in Dust Hell and really need a good piece of kit like this..

I was actually thinking of one of those positive pressure hoods..


ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Howdy,
Never used one of these, but I've used pretty much everything else.
half-face,
full face
canister
air supplied
self contained

(I was on the haz-mat first response team at work a while back. I also worked day in and day out with chemicals. So I used equipment daily, not just during training. )

Question: Do you wear glasses. If you do, go half-face respirator and forget the rest. Otherwise you gotta buy special lenses that fit inside the helmet. Expensive and a pain in the tail to see through.

Aside from that, my personal preference is for as little equipment as safe. The more equipment, the more weight. If you wear it for a while it gets heavy. My own preference is for a half-face mask. Goggles if I need them. YMMV.

Whether you try this powered deal or just a regular respirator, try several brands to see how each one fits. My experience is that each brand fits a bit differently. No one brand fits everyone best because everyone has a different shaped face. If you find more than one brand that fits properly, choose the lightest one.

To test for fit, put it on and block the air intakes. If you can still suck in air you've got a poor fit. If you have to buy mail order, make sure you buy from someone who will take a return on a poor fitting unit.

hope this helps.
 
These are positive pressure supplied air systems. They don't have to have a tight seal to the face (and should not have so some air can escape). Hence being usefull if you have facial hair. Most of these are only rated for particles, or welding fumes in some cases. The systems where all the stuff is on your head generally don't have as good a filtration rating as the ones where the filters and fan are in a belt pack. We just got a couple of Tritons in the shop, I have not used them enough to have much of an opinion. They seem to work OK, and the introductory price was not too painfull.
 
I have used positive air systems many times. Venting is done from a one way valve system from the front of the mask like any other respirator. The contact areas around the face are soft and pliable to accommodate a degree of facial hair but not heavy growth or a beard. They are meant to be airtight but made to protect you if you break the seal. The positive air flow is for that added protection. The gap shown on the models face is definitely too large for any type of respirator to work efficiently. If the gap is that large either the mask is fitted wrong or the air pressure is too high.
 
These things are strictly for use in non-hazardous environments. As such the sealing provisions are lax compared to a supplied air respirator designed for use in a hazardous environment.

The "seal" on many of these consists of a tyvek strip with elastic on the edge that goes near your head. Evidently the Aircap does not even go that far. There's no "out" valve, the air leaks/flows out all around the "seal". There is a fairly high airflow at a low pressure. Sufficient airflow keeps out the dust and facial hair or lack thereof is irrelevent. If the fan fails or the battery goes dead, you might sneeze, but nobody dies.

The Triton units come with a flow gauge you use on the outlet of the fan/filter before placing the unit in service for the job to insure the filters are not clogged and the fan is running at spec. I'd be more happy if it was designed to be inline all the time, but you get what you pay for.

These are really nice items to protect yourself from sawdust without wearing a sweaty respirator, and keeping your glasses fog free. The visor also offers a bit of additional eye protection. But that's all.
 
I've a got a beard I'm not planning on giving up :) , so I'm thinking the fit is a plus. With a beard I really can't get a great fit in any standard half-mask I've tried.

And I am looking at this as a dust-only mask. (Evil dust - steel, bone, G-10 - but dust.) Right now I grind in my glasses, safties over those, and a half mask. I've worn a full face shield a few times, but in going on twenty years grinding as a hobbyist maker, I've never had a blade hit my face, so I've slacked away from that.

I'm looking for a rig that will

a] keep grinding crud out of my lungs better than half-masks that don't like my beard,

b] not fog my glasses up

c] not cost four figures, and

d] be both lightweight and long battery enough that putting in ten hour Saturdays isn't a problem.
 
Any of the units you are looking at should fill most of your basic requirements.

The 10 hour day is a tough one. A unit where you could buy a spare battery to keep on the charger might be a good choice for the 10 hour days. The Tritons don't have a removable battery pack, , although you could always charge over lunch. Most of the aircaps say 4 or 8 hour battery life in the links, it will be less than that in reality.

One thing I will mention, of the units you linked, the Triton is the only one that has a NIOSH rating, an important thing. But the Triton's rating is only N95. I'm not sure what's in G10 but sanding some other FRPs will expose you to fiberglass dust. I'd strongly consider an N99 rated respirator if I was doing that. There are some more professional versions of the "air powered helmet" out there, with better ratings, but they do approach the 4 figure price.
 
And y'know... you could just shave... HA! Im just messin with you. If you want to go a cheapie home made way your might try a full facial scuba mask hooked into a resperator. Lowest cost option i can think of. It mya require some fabrication, but i dont think it would be too hard...
 
PAPR's come in two different variety, tight fitting and loose fitting, neither is to be used in IDLH situations however they work in any place that you would use a cartridge style respirator.
MSA makes a pretty good on as does 3M.
At work we use the 3m breatheasy 12 model and it works well
Both 3m and MSA are NIOSH rated, I believe AO makes them as well
 
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