welding fumes and resperators?

[ttocs]

So I am allergic to damn near anything now from perfume to incense sometimes too the point you would have thought it was chemical warfare too me. I started welding this summer and never thought about a resperator because I have never seen anyone else with one but the more I think about it the more I want one. Maybe my new welding hobby has had something too do with my bad fall with my chrones and 4 hospital visits? Idunno I have thought about anything from the toothpaste I use to, well welding fumes but in general I can't think its a good idea to breath in the fumes of what ever residue was on the metal. It didn't occure too me until I picked up some galvanized material this week on for my most recent project not knowing that it was bad for fumes. Thankfully I thought to check it out prior to burning it and wore my regular resperator but it only allowed the helmet to come down 2/3s of the way and left me in some awkward positions. Anyone use a resperator with their helmet? Is it a good idea to step up to the miller papr systems if I can find one at a fair price? Retail seems ridiculous on them but then again it doesn't seem like a good idea to cheap out on safety gear....

 

[95opal]

Scott galvanized is some nasty crap and if you plan on doing more of it I would definitely invest in the miller stuff and a good exhaust fan to help pull that crap out of your work area. Not good to be working in toxic fumes for even a few minutes.

 

[whiplash473]

A black strap 3M respirator will do fine for galvanized or any other welding.

 

[chris91]

If your helmet wont clear have you thought about picking up a pair of welding goggles?

 

[MustangChris]

you only live once. might as well do your best to avoid cancer and broncidus and such.... right?

 

[ttocs]

Scott galvanized is some nasty crap and if you plan on doing more of it I would definitely invest in the miller stuff and a good exhaust fan to help pull that crap out of your work area. Not good to be working in toxic fumes for even a few minutes.

Its the first time I grabbed it at the store as it was all they had at ace. Next time I will take the trip too home depot as I didn't know. Like I said thankfully I checked it out and had a resperator to use but it just didn't work with the helmet. Was looking around at different options last night and realized that finding the cheapest resperator probably wasn't a good idea. On top of that I know how hot it is in the helmet once it gets warm I wanted something that would not be a PIA when it gets warm. The miller PAPR also works for cooling, osha rated, not cheap but a bad as I am with fumes it will be my new helmet to use 100% of the time.

If your helmet wont clear have you thought about picking up a pair of welding goggles?

Huh?

you only live once. might as well do your best to avoid cancer and broncidus and such.... right?

Shit like I said you should see what incense can do to me, let along what ever is in that smoke from the arc.....

 

[MustangChris]

ive seen all sorts of strange things with welding/plasma cutting.... green smoke, lingering fumes, electrical outages, broken garage door openers.... .... i dont risk it around that stuff.

 

[ttocs]

don't be a pussy its only electrons man do you know how small those are?

 

[MustangChris]

depends on if they're in a POSITIVE mood. HA!

 

[chris91]

Instead of fighting with your mask not fitting under the helmet you could wear the goggles and they'd allow you to wear your resperator.

 

[ttocs]

Instead of fighting with your mask not fitting under the helmet you could wear the goggles and they'd allow you to wear your resperator.

Yes and I have a set of goggles but I know from exp that if the safety gear isn't good and easy too use that sooner or later I end up finding an excuse too not use it... It wasn't like it was impossible to do it with the helmet either but again with as bad as I am with fumes I want something that I will wear every time. Think I found a line a papr for a fair deal, hope it works out.

 

[chris91]

Ah okay. Yeah definitely better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Steve-Oh]

[MENTION=11896]ttocs[/MENTION], have you looked at these: http://www.millerwelds.com/products/welding_protection/filtration/half_mask/ ... They should fit under your helmet. Also a nice small fan works wonders, I usually have a couple setup around me to draw the fumes away from me. Those fresh air helmets are also a great option, but can be expensive. Especially since you're now welding aluminum, which is nasty sh!t, you want to keep that out of your lungs so make sure you don't have your face in the plume.

For the record, wearing "welding goggles" in place of a welding helmet is a terrible idea. You can cause severe burns to your face/head from the UV light emitted from the weld arc as well as from the metal splatter.

 

[ttocs]

yup infact was looking at that very site yesterday when I saw the papr system. I am very familiar with resperators as I wear one anytime I am sanding/fiberglassing/hell even just dusting... Was just about too order one when I started too think about what it would be like this summer with the helmet and the resperator and that would probably lead too me just holding my breath on a really hot day. I thought about fans as well but then that can also effect the weld, don't have the access for a fume hood. So idunno....

 

[Steve-Oh]

As long as you have the fan setup to draw the fumes away and not blowing towards you or what you're welding, you should be fine. Any box fan, or table fan would work well. Yes you could potentially pull away your shielding gas but if you get it positioned correctly it will not and you'll be fume free! Either that or def look into a fresh air helmet, might be able to find a used one somewhere like you said above.

 

[ttocs]

!BAM! problem solved.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MILLER-AUTO.../301037907449?&maxbid=505.00&autorefresh=true

More then I wanted too pay for sure but its less then half retail and looks to be in really good shape. I know I will wear this and not have too worry so much now. Thanks for the help fellas.

 

[Steve-Oh]

There you go! No more chitty fumes for you! :fart:

 

[ttocs]

kinda sucks that I realized that I could have scavenged the parts to make a nice hepa filter to do this if I still worked at intel. Working in the clean room if you handled the wafers you had to wear a helmet that had a filter/motor too suck out the air you breathed so it would not effect the chips. I could have just swapped the polarity on the motor/battery and used it to blow instead of suck and modified the helmet. But yea like you said it will just not be a worry now. I know I will wear this and its supposed to be a good piece so hopefully its just an expensive safety piece. If it does its job, I will not ***** about the price... Be interesting too see if by using it the trips too the hospital will be reduced. I was having a really good year this year right up till about aug. I got the welder in july but didn't fire it up till aug and have been using it since.

 

[Steve-Oh]

I really do hope it helps reduce the hospital visits for you! You need to finish up this car so you can make us all jealous.

 

[teal95gt]

yea galvy shit is not a joke dude haha, I do not do ironworker type welding shit for a job. I do electrical but I always wear a n95 rated mask whenever I feel like I could be breathing in bad particulates, like Chris said you only have one life. Safety is definitely king, just look at the hardass dudes who say "ohh cmon dude u dont need that stop being a pussy" they are dead by like 50 years old or look like they 80 when they are like 50 years old haha **** that noise.