Decent Dust Mask that does not fog glasses

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wolfau

For woodworking you can purchase the P100 3M Particulate Filter 7093 which is 99.7% effective in blocking out everything for the 3M 6000, 7000 series which includes the 7500..

---

Most filter ratings are a minimum and most are better than their rating. Because fine dust builds up on filters a P2 filter turns into a P3 filter anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours depending on what woodworking is being done.

Quote:

---

We breathe more bad air though when we walk or drive with so much fumes from vehicles.

---

It depends where you live, drive and walk.
If you live alongside a major road on still days there may well be issues. We live about 2km from central Perth, 300 m from one major road and 150 m from a lesser road and I've been running my dust monitors for about a year now and the only time I have ever seen the PM10 (particulate matter <10 microns in ug.m^3) go above "good" is when there have been things like controlled burn offs outside Perth or strong easterlies in summer bring dust in from the agricultural areas. Even today when outer Perth suburbs are registering around 26, my meters are registering 18 which is close to Perth's Annual average (which is similar to all Australian city and major town averages), Highest is Geraldton with 22 and lowest is Gold coast with 13.

I have even taken my dust and gas sensor meters in the car and driven around on major roads with the windows open and as long as there is touch of breeze blowing I rarely see the dust levels rise above average background. Even CO which pours out of car exhausts is only marginally above background.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BobL

Most filter ratings are a minimum and most are better than their rating. Because fine dust builds up on filters a P2 filter turns into a P3 filter anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours depending on what woodworking is being done.


It depends where you live, drive and walk.
If you live alongside a major road on still days there may well be issues. We live about 2km from central Perth, 300 m from one major road and 150 m from a lesser road and I've been running my dust monitors for about a year now and the only time I have ever seen the PM10 (particulate matter <10 microns in ug.m^3) go above "good" is when there have been things like controlled burn offs outside Perth or strong easterlies in summer bring dust in from the agricultural areas. Even today when outer Perth suburbs are registering around 26, my meters are registering 18 which is close to Perth's Annual average (which is similar to all Australian city and major town averages), Highest is Geraldton with 22 and lowest is Gold coast with 13.

I have even taken my dust and gas sensor meters in the car and driven around on major roads with the windows open and as long as there is touch of breeze blowing I rarely see the dust levels rise above average background. Even CO which pours out of car exhausts is only marginally above background.

---

What I was getting at as long as a respirator is used with a decent filter its what matters.

We have freeways that maze right around many suburbs through the North, East, West and South of the city Melbourne with a radius greater than 30kms.

Sydney would be worse.

Unless your walking around full time with a respirator bad air will be consumed one way or the other. This is part of life.

Taking general care when woodworking is what matters though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Treecycle

How do you go for replacement filters for the Elipse P100 Derek? Do you have to get them from Highland as well?

---

Yes, I just purchased a bunch at once. They last a long time for me. To be frank, I am not sure how often one "should" change them out - I always assumed when they showed signs of the filters becoming dirty. Thoughts on that?

Regards from Perth

Derek

For the purposes of dust (not gases) - when it becomes hard to breath through it (according to 3M). For gases (that they are accredited to keep out) it's when you can start to smell them, or when they are past their use by date. Frankly I think the ubd is a stab in the dark and they are probably deliberately short for butt covering legal purposes. After all - they are carbon filters and I don't really see how that goes "off".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wolfau

What I was getting at as long as a respirator is used with a decent filter its what matters.
We have freeways that maze right around many suburbs through the North, East, West and South of the city Melbourne with a radius greater than 30kms.
Sydney would be worse..

---

On average Melbourne PM10 airborne dust is the same as Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane all are between (16 and 18 ug/m^3)

Quote:

---

Unless your walking around full time with a respirator bad air will be consumed one way or the other. This is part of life.

---

Nope, on average Australian cities are amongst the "lowest dust in air" cities in the world.
You will only experience too much dust in air on some days in these cities. More when stuck in traffic on still air days.
It's surprising though how effective even minimal filtration on motor vehicle cabin air intakes make, so unless you sit in traffic with the windows open you are not that badly exposed.

Bear in mind I'm talking about particles, CO, NOx and O3 easily get through cabin air intake filters and will build up around freeways when there is no breeze. it only takes a slight breeze to dilute these and because we don't have 2+ major cities in the same location it rarely builds up to be significant.

Most significant are pollen or desert dust storms that occasionally invade out cities.

Quote:

---

Taking general care when woodworking is what matters though.

---

Yep

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wolfau

Just purchased the 3m 7500 and had it priced matched less 10%.

Not sure the difference between the 7200 and 7500.

thanks for the replies.

---

Where did you get it (I assume the B word), and where was your price match from?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by poundy

Where did you get it (I assume the B word), and where was your price match from?

---

Yes correct. Google 3m 7500 australia. You will see a search result for BOC. They have stores I think Aus Wide I think. If they don't just look for a Business that does.

Rebooting the topic. Time for me to start using a respirator as I have not been using anything which is silly.

What are currently the better options?

2HP dust extractor hooked up to your machinery.

Not enough room lol.

Sundstrom SR100 masks are a pretty good option, especially if you're wanting to avoid glasses fogging up. Used them at work for cleaning up rusty welds inside LPG tankers, ends up extremely humid inside the tank. So dusty in there you can barely see your own hands but the mask does the job well and no foggy glasses\face shields either.

Started using it at home after that

Wipe the inside surface of the mask with an anti-fogging agent. Most sporting goods stores carry sticks of the stuff.
I think it must be no more than a high molecular weight detergent to break water droplet surface tension.

My mother used cheapest baby shampoo for all her back truck windows. 100% effective.