This is all for information, it is not to be taken as expert advice.
I worked in several nuclear power plants and have used half, full face, negative pressure, positive pressure, including supplied air, scba, and battery operated respirators.
I am just relating my experience, and am not in any way suggesting anyone should go by what I am putting out here.
On occasin I get emails about the supplied air setup I have, so rather then answer each individual question, I will try to give you an overall view of respirators etc.
I worked about 18 years in power plants, and each plant will put you through a training session, there all pretty much the same, but I stayed in the same one for 15 years, and I was taught how to operate a fit booth for various respirators, also issued respirators for different types of invironments.
If anybody is still with me.
When you buy a respirator from your body shop supplier, or wherever, remember these guys sell paint and some sell auto parts also.
So pay attention to what type of resp. you are buying and it's intended purpose, you should read what the manufacture says on the respirator and the filters you get with it. Take the time and check it out, look at the expiration dates, these were put on there for a reason, very important.
I'm only giving you basic information here.
Take the respirator out of the package and put it on, cover up the filter inlet with the palm of your hand, and breathe in, it should suck the respirator tight to your face with no inleakage at all. If it leaks a little try a different size, get one that fits your face.
This is what you call the seal.
When we issued respirators at the power plant, sometimes on a daily basis, before you could even be issued one you had to have had some respirator training.
If you didn't shave that morning, you knew better then to even ask, so clean shaven is the key, you might get a seal with an end of the day stubble on your face, but you could break that seal while you're working and not even know it.
Excessive talking and squinting is one of the easiest way to break the seal and allow outside air into your respirator, so keep the talking and facial movement to aminimum.
You see them on television painting with a respirator, these are usually down draft booths with excellent air flow, your hobby shop is a little different environment, usually a lot more fumes, and you can bet these are the top of the line respirators there using.
Heres some on supplied air. There is a big difference in supplied air and scba (self contained breathing apparatus). The scba can be worn in an oxygen deficient atmosphere, supplied air should never be worn in this atmosphere
Respirators, supplied air, scba all have protection factors. I'm not going into all of that.
Supplied air can be used with a half or full face respirator or a hood.
I use a sas system, and I don't care what system you buy, this one works good, but it's a few years old, there are other name brands out there, probably one as good as the other.
I use the hood with my supplied air, for a couple of reasons, one is I have been in a full face respirator hooked up to supplyied air on many occasions, and i don't like to have my chin floating in my own sweat over a four hour period, I have worn all types of respirators.
The paper hood is lighter, cooler on your face, don't have to shave, they are nice to use. You can talk and squint and you don't have to worry about breaking your seal.
Use caution when placing your supplied air pump, remember it's sucking in the air that you will be breathing, like no cars running around it, mines in a back room in my house and I can tell what were having for supper.
This is just a little basic overview, some of our body shop experts have put out some real good informatioin on respirators, it wouldn't hurt to look up some of there threads before you start painting or have a lot of rust and filler in the air.
On my web site you will see the air pump for my supplied air system, we had environmental air samplers where i used to work, and we learned how to maintain and repair this same type of air pump, there heavy and can be moved to wherever you want to, I usually leave mine where it is, it is okay with up to 100' of hose.
I've used it a lot, and never had a problem.
If you buy a supplied air outfit with the hood, the hoods are made of a thicker type paper and are strong but light. They scratch easy on the face piece, so buy a bunch of extra films that stick over the face piece, then a hood will last quite a long time.
I wear levis, a tee shirt and sweatshirt and buy the cheaper paper suits at building supply places or your body shop place, vinyl or rubber gloves taped to the paper suit with the hood just tucked inside the paper suit and zipped up tight.
Take care of your respirators, and supplied air and lines and pump, these are the best tools you will ever buy for this kind of work, keep them boxed or wrapped up, but keep them clean.
Hope some of this will help somebody, it's a little difficult to write up with just the highlights, there is so much information out there on this.
Rob
__________________
"There are questions to be answered, and answers to be questioned"
Chassis, Body Jig, Trunk Pan Pics.
http://webpages.charter.net/2manitowoc
Paint booth, Ventilation, etc.
http://www.2manitowoc.com/paintroom.html
I worked in several nuclear power plants and have used half, full face, negative pressure, positive pressure, including supplied air, scba, and battery operated respirators.
I am just relating my experience, and am not in any way suggesting anyone should go by what I am putting out here.
On occasin I get emails about the supplied air setup I have, so rather then answer each individual question, I will try to give you an overall view of respirators etc.
I worked about 18 years in power plants, and each plant will put you through a training session, there all pretty much the same, but I stayed in the same one for 15 years, and I was taught how to operate a fit booth for various respirators, also issued respirators for different types of invironments.
If anybody is still with me.
When you buy a respirator from your body shop supplier, or wherever, remember these guys sell paint and some sell auto parts also.
So pay attention to what type of resp. you are buying and it's intended purpose, you should read what the manufacture says on the respirator and the filters you get with it. Take the time and check it out, look at the expiration dates, these were put on there for a reason, very important.
I'm only giving you basic information here.
Take the respirator out of the package and put it on, cover up the filter inlet with the palm of your hand, and breathe in, it should suck the respirator tight to your face with no inleakage at all. If it leaks a little try a different size, get one that fits your face.
This is what you call the seal.
When we issued respirators at the power plant, sometimes on a daily basis, before you could even be issued one you had to have had some respirator training.
If you didn't shave that morning, you knew better then to even ask, so clean shaven is the key, you might get a seal with an end of the day stubble on your face, but you could break that seal while you're working and not even know it.
Excessive talking and squinting is one of the easiest way to break the seal and allow outside air into your respirator, so keep the talking and facial movement to aminimum.
You see them on television painting with a respirator, these are usually down draft booths with excellent air flow, your hobby shop is a little different environment, usually a lot more fumes, and you can bet these are the top of the line respirators there using.
Heres some on supplied air. There is a big difference in supplied air and scba (self contained breathing apparatus). The scba can be worn in an oxygen deficient atmosphere, supplied air should never be worn in this atmosphere
Respirators, supplied air, scba all have protection factors. I'm not going into all of that.
Supplied air can be used with a half or full face respirator or a hood.
I use a sas system, and I don't care what system you buy, this one works good, but it's a few years old, there are other name brands out there, probably one as good as the other.
I use the hood with my supplied air, for a couple of reasons, one is I have been in a full face respirator hooked up to supplyied air on many occasions, and i don't like to have my chin floating in my own sweat over a four hour period, I have worn all types of respirators.
The paper hood is lighter, cooler on your face, don't have to shave, they are nice to use. You can talk and squint and you don't have to worry about breaking your seal.
Use caution when placing your supplied air pump, remember it's sucking in the air that you will be breathing, like no cars running around it, mines in a back room in my house and I can tell what were having for supper.
This is just a little basic overview, some of our body shop experts have put out some real good informatioin on respirators, it wouldn't hurt to look up some of there threads before you start painting or have a lot of rust and filler in the air.
On my web site you will see the air pump for my supplied air system, we had environmental air samplers where i used to work, and we learned how to maintain and repair this same type of air pump, there heavy and can be moved to wherever you want to, I usually leave mine where it is, it is okay with up to 100' of hose.
I've used it a lot, and never had a problem.
If you buy a supplied air outfit with the hood, the hoods are made of a thicker type paper and are strong but light. They scratch easy on the face piece, so buy a bunch of extra films that stick over the face piece, then a hood will last quite a long time.
I wear levis, a tee shirt and sweatshirt and buy the cheaper paper suits at building supply places or your body shop place, vinyl or rubber gloves taped to the paper suit with the hood just tucked inside the paper suit and zipped up tight.
Take care of your respirators, and supplied air and lines and pump, these are the best tools you will ever buy for this kind of work, keep them boxed or wrapped up, but keep them clean.
Hope some of this will help somebody, it's a little difficult to write up with just the highlights, there is so much information out there on this.
Rob
__________________
"There are questions to be answered, and answers to be questioned"
Chassis, Body Jig, Trunk Pan Pics.
http://webpages.charter.net/2manitowoc
Paint booth, Ventilation, etc.
http://www.2manitowoc.com/paintroom.html