Respirator Helmets...

[went_postal]

Okay... I know at least one person has to have one around here.

Looks like the Triton and the Trend are the two major players in this arena. Anyone have experience with one or both?

I have gotten to the point where I don't like having multicolored mucous after turning.

[madisonbrent]

would something like this do the trick?

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Cartridge-Full-Facepiece-Respirator-Facepiece/dp/B001RTG84A/ref=sr_1_12?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1318965482&sr=1-12

[Roger T]

I wear an original Trend Airshield. Its a nice unit once i made a battery pack for it. The factory battery packs are lousy. They have a new unit out too, but I do not know anything about it.

The Triton has a belt pack that you have to wear, plus some goofy hardhat with earmuffs i believe. I do not think i would enjoy wearing that one.

3M also makes one, but at almost double the price of the tritons and trends. Bill Grumbine swears by his. I have no experience with it.

One thing about the original Trend, is the head band has given me some problems in that part of it breaks and does not allow the hood to stay up. These are easily replaced, and at around $2 a pop i believe its a non issue. This in no way effects the fit or function of the hood. Just the annoyance that it wont stay up when lifted. I do not know if the second generation uses the same headband setup as the original. It would be worth a call to find out if you are interested in it.

http://www.trendairshield.com/

Hope this helps you make an informed decision.

Roger

[davestanton]

Hi Went. I own 2 units, both of which blow air over your face. One is the triton and it is a pain to wear. The battery pack straps to your waist and there is a tube that is always kinking or pushing the helmet forward or pulling it back. I hate the thing.

I ended up buying the purelite extreme and love it. Lithium ion battery that lives in the helmet and will run a full 8 hours. It takes a little getting used to the helmet but I found that after a few goes, you get the knack of how to balance the thing properly on your head and how tight or lose the strap has to be. Here are some pics and also a video that I made that the helmet appears in and is discussed near the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrIOCKN7LhM

[Beechwood Chip]

There are two reason to go with a respirator helmet rig:

• You want to protection that just goggles, or even a face shield
  
• You have have facial hair and can't get a good seal on a nose and mouth respirator. A powered respirator pumps air into the helmet through a filter, so air goes out through the gaps, and bad air doesn't come in through the gaps.
  

Why are you looking at the helmet style respirator?

[Beechwood Chip]

The purelite extreme sounds nice - can you wear muff style hearing protection with it? Sticking stuff in my ears is painful for me.

[davestanton]

The purelite extreme sounds nice - can you wear muff style hearing protection with it? Sticking stuff in my ears is painful for me.

Unfortunately muffs will not work with the purelite helmet. I use the type of earplugs that are on a flexible plastic support like these guys http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/6afpb.bqyv4/v/vspfiles/photos/6120001282-1.jpg

[AlanZ]

2 years ago I purchased the Trend AirShield Pro and still consider it to be the best PAPR for the dollars.

I could not get used to the distortion that the Triton facesheld caused, the Trend does not distort.

So I am a fan of the Trend, and outfitted mine with earmuffs, extra batteries, etc.

It's comfortable to wear, well balanced and has good battery life.

In the last year or so I've made some very good buys on 3M respirators and now own a 3M AirStream and two 3m Breathe Easy units that my wife and I share.

Now that I've got the 3M units I'm selling the Trend.

If anyone is interested, please let me know by private message.

I'll sell the complete setup as shown in this page, and drop the price by $50 if someone does not want the third (unopened) battery. Detals are here

[jHop]

how do these react to glasses? I have discovered most of my safety glasses don't fit over the "new" frames, and I'm not thrilled about wearing contacts just so I can put on the safety glasses. (Don't get me wrong; I prefer contacts over glasses. I'm just not thrilled about the prospect of dust and contacts mixing. I know my luck.)

When using the paper filters, and some of the respirators out there, my glasses tend to fog up. I know that the head mounted gear does not have the same fogging issue as the respirators, but what about the glasses themselves? Will they fit underneath the visor? Do they fog? How easy is it to adjust the glasses once they slip off the face when you're focused on the cut you're making?

[davestanton]

jhop. I wear glasses for close work but find as I get older that my arms are not quite long enough to hold something away to get acurate focus, lol. It takes a little while to adjust to the fact that there is a visor between your hand and the glasses but now I am good with it. They do not fog up either. I am very happy with the purelite.

[stahlee]

Hey guys, I happen to own several PAPR systems. I have bad reactions to wood dust and fumes which makes me extremely anal about dust in general, so I've purchased a handful of models over the years to use. Now I've done reviews for most of the units over at SawMillCreek, but I'll do a little review here. Kind of a copy and paste.

What I own now:

3M ClearVisor Adflo

3M Breathe Easy 1 System

3M Airstream

What I have owned and sold:

Trend Airshield

3M Half Face, similar to what Marc uses

The Trend Airshield, like others said, is a nice unit. One thing to note, it's not a respirator. It's just something to handle nuisance dust and can provide some level of protection from chips. The Trend lacks the NIOSH certifications. One thing that plagues some people with the Trend is the fan and battery all in the top of the helmet, slightly out from the forehead. It can be heavy and hard to work with. Not everybody is bothered by this. Price is a factor for it's popularity. I absolutely did not like wearing this thing. Felt like a balancing act all the time.

The Trend Airshield Pro has moved the motor to the rear of the helmet which is supposed to make it more comfortable. I haven't used it but it probably makes a big difference. Plus, I believe the Pro filters are a bit better than the original Trend, but I don't think they have certifications.

I don't recall the model number of the half face piece. This style was one of the first respirators I purchased. They are very good. They are inexpensive and are quite flexible because of the cartridges that can be purchased. I had a problem because they were to warm for me. I'd get hot and sweaty wearing it and that just bugged me to no end. This allows you to wear your goggles and ear muffs, so you have that flexibility to.

Now for the 3M Airstream, 3M Breathe Easy 1 System and the 3M ClearVisor Adflo. These get quite expensive, but have the certifications that I'd want for safety. These use a helmet or some type of mask the seals well around the face and have the ANSI Z87.1-2003 certified shield. With the right cartridges will protect you from about anything you can throw at them, so you'll also be able to finish wearing one of these. The blowers and cartridges are worn around the waste on the ClearVisor Adflo and Breathe Easy 1 System, which makes them much more comfortable to wear. The Airstream has everything in the helmet. The Adflo will control the blower speed based on your breathing, and can run over 13 hours on a charge. The Airstream and Breathe Easy can last 7 to 8 hours.

So, it will depend on how much you are willing to spend for safety. Of course, the Airstream/Breathe Easy's are fantastic PAPRs, the Adflo Clearvisor is downright awesome and light years ahead in design. 3M purchased the Adflo's from Hornell. I believe the Airstream is running mid $800s, and the Adflo Clearvisor and the Breathe Easy 1 System are roughly $1100ish.

The Adflo Clearvisor is what I use most of the time because it runs forever, it's comfortable and adjusts airflow as needed. I love full face because they are certified shields and don't require glasses underneath. This might be a little too much info for the initial question, but I guess I get a little excited when somebody wants to talk respirators. ;-)

Personally, if I were willing to spend the money for a Trend Airshield Pro, I'd probably spend a little more and get the Airstream. I guess I felt a little cheated because the Trend is not all that cheap, but doesn't filter the fine particles and those are the ones you should be concerned about. Either way, none of them are cheap and you need to decide what's best for you.

My $.02

chris

[capnjack2]

Wow, Chris!! That was like Respirators 101!!! Thanks!!

Jack

[davestanton]

I found out today that you can wear earmuffs with the purelite.

I also made a short video on why I prefer the purelite design to that of the Triton. I am not working for any of these companies, I just like to share my experiences.

Just a quick edit to this, I have included a quote from 3M regarding P2 filters.

"Under AS/NZS 1716, P2 particulate

fi ltering respirators must have a fi lter

effi ciency of at least 94% when tested

with Sodium Chloride aerosol. The particle

size of this aerosol has a mass median

diameter of 0.3 to 0.6 microns with a

range of particles in the 0.02 to 2 micron

size range. This aerosol is delivered to the

fi lter at a fl ow rate of 95litres/minute."

[stahlee]

Dave, thanks for that video, I loved it! Makes me want to whip one together for my respirators. This is one area that I don't mind spending money in, as you can tell from my previous post. My health is important and I don't want to find out later that I screwed it up because I was careless. If I breathe in dust from the shop, I get flu like symptoms for days. We're in the process of removing floors in the house because we're having hardwoods installed and the first day we removed ceramic tile, I didn't wear my respirator. I was screwed up for days. That cement board is lethal.

What I ended doing is buying a couple units until I found the one I would wear and not think twice about. The first couple days are always hard when you get one. After that, I feel naked without it.

Another advantage of a full faced respirator is the extra protection from full coverage. I turn quite a bit and have on occasions had bowls fly to pieces and was thankful for the full face protection.