[Closed] Which fullface respirator for skin pollution protection & winter commuting?

I used to work for a company designing and manufacturing respiratory protection. As I was the fittest guy in the company, they put me on a treadmill in a laboratory to test the effectiveness of kit for a US military NBC tender including all-types respirators and positive pressure breathing apparatus. Only compressed air breathing apparatus could provide protection when working at high intensity - running at 10mph - you'd pull air through the seals on a negative pressure respirator, even a full-face due to sweat and slipping seals. Half-masks were useless and hoods resulted in too much carbon dioxide build-up. The technology hasn't changed much in 20 years.

Tried a respro one.

Under regular breathing at 15 mph in sub zero conditions the *filter* froze up.

Took it back for a refund.

Chose. Route away from traffic

I was going to say you will probably need a force fed respirator for activity.

3M do one but it's bulky.

Probably easier to go passive respirator and an E-bike 😉

Moving!

Let me know what you’d recommend

Don't move to Beijing.

If you wear that with a hazmat suit the traffic and pedestrians will soon disappear.

Only compressed air breathing apparatus could provide protection when working at high intensity – running at 10mph – you’d pull air through the seals on a negative pressure respirator, even a full-face due to sweat and slipping seals. Half-masks were useless and hoods resulted in too much carbon dioxide build-up. T

I was worried this might happen, but they had to provide some level of protection even if seals slip? I use a respro mask and I can keep it on going ham, sure it's not perfect but it has to offer some protection.

I will add that the tests we were doing were against potential NBC contaminants - one breath and you'd die type stuff - whereas the risks from particulates / organic chemicals are far less. The problem with Respros etc is that they're not effective against the tiny particulates that pass straight through and get absorbed into your tissues.

Where will you be using this?

On his face

Funny. Big lol

sure it’s not perfect but it has to offer some protection.

Not appreciably, no. It's making you feel good about doing something. Though isn't it?

If you wear that with a hazmat suit the traffic and pedestrians will soon disappear.

Probably as you pass out!!

The good old read the poem while climbing step doing the respirator fit test was enough, never that enthused to wear them for that long especially if it was getting warm.

Going with the H&S Approach PPE should be the last resort!!

Scienceofficer, show me the data!

How toxic is city cycling

Interesting vid andyha. Mask briefly mentioned around ~12 mins. Putney High Street on PRL100 days:

Usually I don't bother with the mask [just a basic Respro city one in my case] but if I already have a sore throat then removing particulate matter is still worth it.

From the video "for the mask to work, it has to be super snug, and make sure no air comes in".

Simply not true, they still work with imperfect seals, from around 80% efficacy at blocking particles down to 0.007 micron with bicycle specific masks and up to 99% for 3M masks tested ON a person. PM2.5 means particles up to 2.5 micron diameter.

https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/do-pollution-masks-work/

Don't think they block NO2 and O3, so it’s not 100% protection, although respro claims their carbon filter can block gases.

The City™ filter uses Dynamic Activated Charcoal Cloth (DACC™) a 95% pure charcoal weave, originally developed by the U.K. Ministry of Defence for use in the protection against chemical and bacteria warfare situations. We use DACC™ to effectively filter out Primary pollutants associated with vehicle exhaust emissions. The DACC™ is laminated with medical grade non woven polypropylene material which filters particulates from the air and helps prevent them from entering the respiratory system. The City™ filter offers protection against: - Hydrocarbons. e.g. Benzene; Pyrene;1,3 Butadiene. - Acid gases. e.g. Nitrogen dioxide; Sulphur dioxide. - Photo-chemical pollutants. e.g. Low level Ozone - Particulates. e.g. Black smoke; Pollen; Lead oxide. For a more comprehensive list of all the chemicals that have tested with DACC, please go to the Industrial section of the website.

If you want better protection you need a respirator with an organic gas filter like so

Want something better you need to step up to a 3M organic gas filter, very fashion!

More from 3M here

This has got me thinking about wearing a mask in Bristol. Anyone know of any research into which bike masks work, if any?

Simply not true, they still work with imperfect seals

The inhaling air takes the path of least resistance, usually the gap between the nose and the cheek, bypassing the filter - lab 'fit tests' are rarely done with any degree of effort, they are not representative of someone breathing heavily.

Yep hence a lot of the clean shaven rules around people who wear them. But as most others are going with if your only option to manage a ride is a full face resp WTF are you doing on the road!!

Repeat after me, in a deep, evil voice...

"Luke, I'm your father!" 😆

dovebiker, even if efficacy drops during exercise, which I'm sure it does, you also need to factor in that you inhale 5 times more particles during your commute, making every % of filtering more precious. So even if efficacy was just 20% it could still be worth it, but I'd guess it's higher for the masks designed for exercise use. Or you could just take it a bit easier and get a higher filtering efficacy and overall less exposure.

For example, an experimental study of healthy adults showed that total respiratory tract deposition of ultrafine particles (diameter <100 nm) was about 5-fold greater during moderate exercise than at rest (18).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4311076/

Here's a study showing better heart rate variability when people walking in a polluted city wore a face mask https://particleandfibretoxicology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-8977-6-8

And for instance 3M 7500 series respirator is made from silicone so it'll withstand sweat while still maintaining a good seal and it can move a lot of air through its twin filters and large exhalation valves. I've tried it, still gets too moist for comfort if you go really hard.

Looking at different commuting modes in china

Furthermore, the highest whole trip exposures to PM2.5 and CO which cyclists experienced indicates it is not preferable to commute by bicycle in a relatively high air polluted environment. Cyclists are possibly subject to greater health risks than other commuters. Thus further research needs to be conducted to investigate the health risks associated with cycling.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969712003397

Depends on the shape of your face. I've got a Sundström face. Their SR100 half-face mask has a 10x better seal than the equivalent 3M - for my face - according to the bloke with the fancy testing equipment.

I would imagine the same goes for full-face kit. If you're serious about filtering out as much crap as possible, you need a face fit test. It's no good having industry-leading filtration if the shape of your jowls means everything gets in through a poor fitting mask seal.

I wonder if that applies to respro style masks too, as they don't work by forming a tight seal around your face, there's no lip. Anyways, where do you get a face fit test?

Mine was done in a Hilti tool store in Aberdeen by a representative of Arco. Try them or Uvex, ESS... there'll be loads of companies doing it. Cost me £50 and about an hour of my time.

Depends on the shape of your face. I’ve got a Sundström face. Their SR100 half-face mask has a 10x better seal than the equivalent 3M – for my face – according to the bloke with the fancy testing equipment.

Yep we had to do the test on the 2 different masks and have them rigged up to the monitoring kit.