Thread: Which respirator to use?

The top manufacturers of half-faced respirators are 3M, North, MSA, and to a lesser extent Moldex.
Here at work, we've decided to put all of our guys in 3M because they're just as effective, but cheaper than Norths and we can get their cartridges at Grainger. MSA and Moldex are harder to get and supply with spare cartridges, but that might be different where you're from. All of them are good products and are required to perform within ANSI specifications. Anything ANSI approved should be safe to use.

The thing about cartridge respirators that many people may not think about prior to getting one is that they make it a little more difficult to breathe. In fact, in order for one of our guys to be cleared to wear a respirator at work, he has to pass a pulmonary fitness exam at the local Oc Med. If they have asthma or something thats going to cause them to collapse after we put them in one of these things, they don't enter conditions that would require them to wear one. Period.

Because you're working at home, OSHA isn't going to require you to go through an exam or a fit test, but a couple of things to keep in mind are that a N95 is 95% efficient, and therefore easier to breathe through than a P100, which is 99.97% efficient and is more difficult to breathe through. Trust me, it takes a LOT more effort to breathe when you're wearing a P100... it really puts some stress on your lungs. N95 should meet your needs anyway. You can also get N95s in the disposable respirator variety.

There are other types of respirator cartridges as well, and you should be advised of this so you get the right one. All you need is an air-filtering n95 type cartridge. There are also activated carbon, organic vapor and inorganic respirator cartridges, acid gas, etc... which you don't need - and they're expensive. And avoid the P100 (aka. HEPA) as well, as these are used mainly to filter out 3 micron asbestos fibers during asbestos abatement style work.

Powered air-purifying respirators are beneficial because a pump is constantly pulling filtered air through the respirator cartridge and delivering it into your breathing zone. It puts much less stress on the lungs and delivers the same benefit of filtering your air. But PAPRs can be prohibitively expensive... in the $200+ range.

EDIT: Let me say one more thing about half-faced respirators. Whenever you don one, check the seal to make sure you don't have any leaks. You do this by putting your palm over the exhalation valve and breathing out... make sure the respirator puffs up against your face and listen for leaks.
Then put your palms over the inlet valves (cartridges) and breathe in.
If you have a good seal the respirator should collapse against your face and you shouldn't hear or feel any leaks.
Its not particularly critical to get a perfect seal in a woodworking shop, but you don't want to defeat the purpose of wearing one.
One of the main issues with failing a positive and negative pressure test is having a few days growth under the seal of the mask... but I can't imagine anyone here having that problem.