[sevt_chevelle]

Life is too short!!!
If you dont have the means to protect yourself stop doing it or get someone else to do it.

I had to buy the 3M self contained fresh air system that all fits on a belt. I wore that friggin thing 9hrs a day for almost 3yrs.
I now have to wear that stupid thing when I mow the yard when i clean my bathroom.

My health has gotten worse over the past few years because I was too friggin stupid to leave the collision repair field behind. I recently walked away this march and only wish I had done it years ago.

Your lungs will NEVER get better and trust me you dont want to be put on the lung transplant list. Ill have someone smother me with a pillow before I go down that road. Ill be 30 in September and told by a few specialists that I might make it til am 40.
Life is too short for a stupid car!!!

[oldred]

Originally Posted by sevt_chevelle

Life is too short!!!
If you dont have the means to protect yourself stop doing it or get someone else to do it.

I had to buy the 3M self contained fresh air system that all fits on a belt. I wore that friggin thing 9hrs a day for almost 3yrs.
I now have to wear that stupid thing when I mow the yard when i clean my bathroom.

My health has gotten worse over the past few years because I was too friggin stupid to leave the collision repair field behind. I recently walked away this march and only wish I had done it years ago.

Your lungs will NEVER get better and trust me you dont want to be put on the lung transplant list. Ill have someone smother me with a pillow before I go down that road. Ill be 30 in September and told by a few specialists that I might make it til am 40.
Life is too short for a stupid car!!!

I truly feel badly for you, as I am sure others do, to be in that condition so young but after having been in the welding business for many years I have seen that happen to others as well. I was lucky in my younger days in that my work was almost exclusively outdoors and so I escaped a great deal of exposure but not all of it and I too am paying for it today. Years ago I became aware of what was happening to some of the "oldtimers" and decided not to let it happen me but even still had I not been in good health at the time I might not have been so lucky. Painting cars or welding, it makes no difference what you are doing to cause it when your health is gone nothing else will matter much.

Take care of yourself and listen to the docs so you can enjoy this hobby for a long time ok.

[62440]

Originally Posted by oldred

I truly feel badly for you, as I am sure others do, to be in that condition so young but after having been in the welding business for many years I have seen that happen to others as well. I was lucky in my younger days in that my work was almost exclusively outdoors and so I escaped a great deal of exposure but not all of it and I too am paying for it today. Years ago I became aware of what was happening to some of the "oldtimers" and decided not to let it happen me but even still had I not been in good health at the time I might not have been so lucky. Painting cars or welding, it makes no difference what you are doing to cause it when your health is gone nothing else will matter much.

Take care of yourself and listen to the docs so you can enjoy this hobby for a long time ok.

How long have you been welding ??? My 20 year old son is heading down that road , makes me wonder if it's a wise idea

[oldred]

Since 68, Sometime in the early 70s I became aware of the hazards and began to take extra precaution with ventilation, respirators, etc. The hazards depend a great deal on what you are welding on but all of it can lead to serious problems if steps are not taken to prevent fume exposure. Welding can lead to several problems besides breathing such as nerve damage and heavy metals poisoning that can affect a person in various ways. Like most everything else it will depend on the amount, type and length of exposure plus a person's tolerance but if he choses this as a lifelong profession he needs to be aware that his health can suffer if he is careless. In this hobby welding on cars can expose someone to some very dangerous welding fume that can cause serious problems even in the short term, some of these problems can even be life threatening. Welding on cars with older lead containing paint can be dangerous and welding on Zinc and Cadmium plated parts can cause problems in short order! Those fuel lines are one example of a potentially dangerous item to weld on as is some exhaust pipes and anything galvanized should be treated as potentially deadly which it most certainly is!

[62440]

It's hard to advise your kid's especially your son's what to do with their lives, when good paying jobs all seem to have high risks in one way or another

[sevt_chevelle]

If your son is passonite about welding then the best thing to do is gain knowledge about the risks.
If you know what you are up against then you can protect yourself.
Hornell/speedglas makes a great fresh air unit built for welding, very nice unit cost around 1200.
1200 might sound like alot but its not when you stop and think it...Eric

[62440]

He's Not passionate about it, but has been told by his supervisor at the shop he works at that he is a natural born welder. He want's to be a Rock+Roll Star I have been the one that has been pushing him to get a "Real Job" Maybe I should mind my own business

[Irelands child]

There cannot be two worse health hazards to a person then welding and painting - and I do both occasionally. Last week I did some epoxy and 2K priming - OUTSIDE - and dam' the dust as it will be sanded anyhow. Evidently my mask (new with new cartriges) had a poor fit (no facial hair) as I had trouble even talking the next day along with a "hangover" kind of headache. I have a supplied air respirator and thought painting out doors would not cause me a problem as that set up is a PITA to use. Regardless, it's getting fired up today for some more priming fun - no more sore throats and "solvent hangovers" with potential long term and permanent lung and brain( ) damage

Dave

[oldred]

Those little test capsules are real handy for fit testing and will let you know if there is fit problem or not. Quite often there will be a tiny leak that a person can't detect by smell and even this is enough to cause a problem as you have found. Sometimes if a person is accustomed to a smell, as painters often are, they may not be able to detect a dangerous odor from a leak that someone who has not been around it much can smell quite strongly. Just pop one of those things and hold it close to the mask and if there is a leak it will be apparent, if you don't have any I have discovered that burning a small piece of most plastics will produce an acrid smoke that makes a leak quite detectable. Don't burn much plastic inside a building because some of it produces a smoke that is really toxic, a tiny piece will usually be enough.

[62440]

Easy way to tell if your mask is sealed is simply put your hands over the air intake and breathe in . It should be pretty obvious, if the mask sucks onto your face, your in business

[oldred]

Originally Posted by 62440

Easy way to tell if your mask is sealed is simply put your hands over the air intake and breathe in . It should be pretty obvious, if the mask sucks onto your face, your in business

Actually that method does not work too well because if the filters are blocked it will create too much negative pressure inside the mask causing it to be sucked in and sealing some leaks that would still be there if there was less restriction on the filters. I have seen this demonstrated several times during safety training and it is surprising how much leakage you can get (determined by the test caps) after the filter blockage is removed.

[62440]

I would never argue with a Pro. I guess I will rely on my nose, It still seems to work

[adtkart]

The mask also has to seal with only "natural pressure" on it. Placing your hands on the intakes will provide additional pressure on the mask, helping it seal. It may not be much pressure, but unless you are going to spray while pushing on the mask, it won't tell you how it is working while spraying.

Aaron

[Irelands child]

The part about placing your hands over the air intake holes was on my first North respirator's instruction sheet but it did include the little odor capsules as well. The new one didn't include the capsules so I just use a few drops of regular lacquer thinner on a rag instead . What I don't like about my new North respirator is the behind the head strap that doesn't hold it tight and evenly without cutting off my brain blood supply so I find that I'm reverting to my old and crusty one.

Might have to research another brand plus use my supplied air system more religiously on the nastier stuff, tho a PITA

Dave

[oldred]

[QUOTE=Irelands child]The part about placing your hands over the air intake holes was on my first North respirator's instruction sheet

The new one didn't include the capsules so I just use a few drops of regular lacquer thinner on a rag instead

That recommendation was, and maybe still is, included with some respirators and was for a long time the accepted method for checking fit but because of the problems mentioned it has fallen out of favor. In those demonstrations at the safety training sessions it was really surprising just how faulty the method is and just how often it failed. As Adtkart pointed out even the small amount of pressure from placing your hands on the filters tight enough to seal them is enough to cause a false test result. Also using something like Lacquer thinner can give a false sense of safety since odors we are accustomed to (most painters can't smell Lacquer thinner if they stick their nose in the can ) usually are hard to detect by someone around them regularly. For example my wife and daughter along with some visitors will gag from the strong smell of my parts cleaning tank when they get anywhere near the garage but For me and my buddies who are around it all the time we can hardly smell the stuff at all.