I am 57 years old. I have been a welder/fabricator for 33 years. 7 years ago I bought my first Speedglas helmet. With 10 years to go on my working life I'm considering an ADFLO filtration system. Anyone have an experience with this equipment? I've been breathing welding fumes for 35 years will it make any difference? Just trying to figure out is it age or something else contributing to why I feel so wiped out at the end of the day.

While I don't work for 3M, who owns Speed Glass & Adflow, I am in the safety industry, and have competed against them for many years. Buy the Adflow, and never strike an Arc with out it on.

As we all know, welding fumes are nasty. I talk to welders regularly who are welding on galvanized all day with no protection. They have headaches and upset stomachs - so at lunch they take aspirin and drink milk....... Instead of treating the symptoms, if they wore a cheap 1/2 mask w/ P100 filters, they would block the source of their irritation.

OSHA only requires respiratory protection if we are at or above the Permmissable Exposure Limit for a contaminate. When was the last time I've seen any air sampling in a weld shop? It does happen, I'm sure - but I never see it.

A properly fitted 1/2 mask will protect you at concentrations up to 10x of the PEL, a full face (which is avalible with a welding shield) at 50x the PEL. A PAPR, which is the Adflow system, will protect you at either 10x, or 1,000x depending on the length of the shroud. And because a PAPR is loose fitting, no fit testing is required.

Wear respiratory protection; how many production welders do we see in an old folks home?

My email is in my profile if I can be of any assistance.

No one has been in to sample our air. We have two welder usually. Three when things get busy. OSHA has been in, but they didn't sample the air. Perhaps we are too small for them to bother.

OSHA usually doesn't do air sampling; responsibility of the business operator who is exposing staff to risk. Sometimes an insurance carrier will do it for free; trying to minimize there risk.

Most business operators "estimate" there exposure levels. But without testing under working environment (both guys welding at the same time) it isn't clear how good those estimates are. Also, Permissible Exposure Limits are lowered by OSHA, and this takes an act of Congress - so a long time - examples are asbestos, hex chrome & silica. So what we consider safe today, might not be considered safe in 5 to 10 years.

An alternate to respiratory ptotection could be local ventilation - smog hog, but there is a cost associated with that too. Also, could make sure all doors are open, and a fan is blowing when ever you're welding. Realisicly, most folks do not do this when he weather cools off.

Adflows are expensive - but in my mind they are worth it.

My employer has not done much in this regard. He bought some smoke eaters thinking that would be enough. He did get General Air in the look at some air handling units designed for welding fumes. Nothing ever happened. I think the cost was more than he wanted to spend. During the summer we are okay I think. Two swampers on the roof going full blast all day long, and I have a fan adjusted just so as to not blow away my shield gas. Plus, the ADFLO stuff is not the coolest to wear. Winter time is were I was looking for the protection. Duck Hunter let me ask you this question. Can any Speedglas helmet have the ADFLO hooked up to it?

Not sure on the compatibility question. Call your welding supply house, ask them to put you in touch with the 3M Safety rep in your area; they should be able to help.

Now a Adflo, or PAPR in the summertime isn't as bad as you think. They blow 6 Liters Per Minute of filtered air into the hood, so many people like the "cooling" effect. Again, your 3M rep might have a unit you can borrow for a demo.

A fan helps a lot. With MIG/TIG there cannot be much wind, but a slight draft in a direction away from the operator's helmet would help a lot. This is not the same as a half face filter, but can be very beneficial.

I had Speedglas with the adflo. I'd heartily recommend it. You'll be amazed how much better you feel.

It constantly blows air into a hood that is integrated into the speedglas unit, but really it's just a somewhat loose elastic fabric hood that makes it so your whole face is getting air.

I'm not aware if a retrofit kit is made, we each got the whole rig.

Far and above better than any other hood/vent/fan system.

I can't speak to the ADFLO because I'm a lowly engineer, but having worked in the metal industry for 23 years DuckHunter is spot on with getting a filtration system.

The welding fumes in general do take a toll over time and galvanized is one of the worst offenders.

We've got a dozen or more MIG/TIG welders and half with a lot of certs and respiratory issues are not something to be taken lightly.

Best of luck

Cheers~