Trend Airace - suitable for paint fumes?

[gidon]

Hi
I have a Trend Airace mask - its spec says it's classified as "P2" - and suitable for MDF dust and metal fumes. Does anyone know if it's ok for painting fumes. Trend suggest it's designed for woodworking, but P2 seems to describe most of the other available masks on the Screwfix site for example, I'm so trying to work out whether it would be suitable?
If not what do people recommend for toxic fumes and from where?
Cheers
Gidon

 

[Chris Knight]

Gidon,

I think not - I have one and certainly would not use it for organic vapours. For those I use a 3M mask with appropriate cartridges and they have dozens of different types for everything under the sun. I tend to use a combination one that one that deals with dust, the organic vapours that I am worried about and something else - I forget what! I also have ones for welding and other for ammonia fumes. They are all colour coded.

When the cartidges are fresh and usable you can't smell anything but once they have absorbed as much as they can and then become useless, you start to smell things again. Since I can smell stuff through my Airace, it does not rate as suitable for organic vapours by my reckoning.

Of course, it depends what you mean by painting fumes. I am mostly concerned with lacquers of various kinds that I spray - nitrocellulose and acid-cat for example.

 

[gidon]

Thanks a lot Chris. Where did you get your 3M mask from - can't see them sold at any of the usual suspects? Is it one of 6000 series?
Cheers
Gidon

 

[Chris Knight]

Gidon,

Yes, it is a half-face mask (respirator) in the 6000 series (at least I think so - it has been upgraded recently with soft silicone rubber around the face that makes it a lot more comfortable and this is the version I have but it looks like the 6000 series except for the blue colour of the silicon rubber). I got it and the cartridges at a place called Arco who sell industrial clothing - they have an outlet not far from me. their website is http://www.arco.co.uk/

 

[woodburner]

If you're doing this commercially then you should have a Safety Data Sheet :? for the paint, and if not you may be able to obtain one from the supplier (although it may mean little or nothing to you). If you can get hold of one it should tell you what sort of protective equipment would be suitable and advise on acceptable levels in a working environment.

I expect that activated carbon filters would probably be most appropriate for the kind of solvents etc.. that you might expect to be exposed to.

Happy painting

 

[gidon]

Chris - thanks. Never seen Arco before - looks like they have some useful stuff.

Thanks woodburner - in the first instance I wanted something for my wife for indoor painting - with different brand paints. We try and get low odour paints but these still make her you feel queezy if you're doing a lot of it. Since it could also be useful if I ever get into spray finishing / welding / fuming - may be just useful to get one of the masks Chris mentions. I will look out for these safety sheets too.

Cheers

Gidon