Respirator Help

[patm1313]

I'm in the market for a respirator. When I'm fiberglassing something, the resin can really put off some fumes. So far I have turned on the fans, opened the garage door and dealt with it. But I feel that a respirator is needed now, and i think that I would use it beyond just fiberglassing. But here's the problem, no respirators that I've seen have specifically said that they protect against the fumes from resin. I'm placing a big order at Harbor freight and I would like to buy the respirator from there. Can someone please provide a link to one that works?

[Rojodiablo]

Pat, there is no respirator at HF that will protect you from fiberglass fumes. At Spectre boats, when the lay-up of an entire boat hull is being done, the masks used are full face masks, with forced clean air pumped in. I rather like these kinds of masks for confined fiberglass work, because the resin offgassing burns my eyes a lot as well as the fumes bother me. Only problem is, I don't have one at my house. Therefor, i use a big fan, and set it on high to blow out as much bad air as I can. And for a respirator, i get replaceable charcoal canisters for chemicals on a 3M mask. It does a good job.

[patm1313]

Ok, thanks (again) for your help.

[andrewjohn]

Hi there -

My recommendation would be to obtain the MSDS for the resin that you're using. You can usually get these on the manufacturers website, or by call them directly. Once you have that, go to the respirator selector on the 3M website. (http://rsel.3m.com/rsel/)

The MSDS will have all of the harmful chemicals that you need protection from listed. Based on that list you use the 3M tool to help identify exactly which cartridges and filters you would need to purchase. It's a bit of work, but sure beats guessing.

I personally like 3M respirators (http://www.coopersafety.com/brand/120/56/3M-Respirators.aspx) vs a north or moldex. I usually just by them online at Cooper Safety Supply (http://www.coopersafety.com). They have a pretty good selection and the pricing is very reasonable.

Hope this helps.

[Burnit]

Another vote for the 3M products here.

[buhler]

I built a forced air respirator. I use a squirrel cage fan as the air source, and sump pump drain hose as the air hose. I adapted inexpensive masks to take the air hose, it looks like those two hose scuba setups from the james bond movie thunderball. I feed air into both the holes the air filters attached to. A kidney belt from Walmart holds the hose from the blower and has swivels made from irrigation fittings so you can move around. Then two hoses go up beind the back to the mask.

The important things is to vent out the sump pump hose for hours in the hot sun to get the plasticiser fumes out of it. Other than that it is straightforward. The blower needs to be in fresh air of course.