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Respirator fit test
By:Pete Rudie
Date: 3/25/2001, 11:05 am
In Response To: Re: Respirator questions. (Jim Lindamood)

I had a fit test once with a North #7700 half mask. This unit comes in 3 different sizes, and the test involves putting on the mask with Organic Vapor cartridges (the black ones, filled with charcoal), and the tester waving a vial of pepper gas around the intakes while breathing deeply. If you can smell anything at all, you flunk, and try a different size. The gas is virulent enough to cause severe discomfort and tearing, and I could not detect any trace of the gas at all through the mask. The human nose can smell a few parts per million of things like ammonia, sulfur dioxide, skunk, horseradish, etc., so in order to pass this test the mask would have to filter out 99.999999% or so of the test gas.

Furthermore, chemical warfare agents are designed to be both virulent and persistent, while epoxy is not. Using a well-fitting military full-face gas mask with freshly unwrapped cartridges would fall well within my acceptable level of risk.

Messages In This Thread

Respirator questions.
Greg Hughes -- 3/25/2001, 6:51 am
Re: Respirator questions.
Jim Lindamood -- 3/25/2001, 7:34 am
Respirator fit test
Pete Rudie -- 3/25/2001, 11:05 am
Re: Respirator fit test
Jim Lindamood -- 3/25/2001, 5:50 pm
Re: Respirator fit test
Ron Eike -- 3/27/2001, 7:11 pm
The mask is the easy part...
Pete Rudie -- 3/27/2001, 9:30 pm