*RANT* Gas Masks

["ThatGuy"]

So for laughs, sometimes I'll go on youtube and look at the hardcore prepper's videos. One thing that seriously cracks me up, and if you're one of them, I apologize, is I see a lot of people with gas masks.

Laughably, the large majority of the ones I see have the filter(canister) attached. If you have a gas mask, OK way to be proactive. . . however, these canisters come in a sealed container. It's about the circumference of a coffee can, just about half as tall. Once opened, and the filter removed, that canister only has about 6 to 8 hours (IIRC) of "filtering ability" if you will, until it is " no good" in a no **** chemical environment.

Which as stated above, is humorous, because a lot of preppers have gas masks with the filter installed and think that their going to live wile everyone else dies in some sort of a chemical environment situation





In sum:

If you have a gas mask in your survival stash, right on. I guess you can never be too prepared, however, if you do buy a sealed canister don't open it until something happens.

Also, if you go to a surplus store, and their selling the canister itself, do NOT buy it.

For Reference:

This is the canister(filter) (with a thread protector)

This is what the sealed container looks like

 

[dudley0]

Doesn't it depend on what you are protecting yourself from?

None of the spare masks that I have come in a sealed spam can. The NBC units I have are in a non-metallic sealed pouch.

The other masks that I have are the can variety, but they are not meant to protect from fallout, as far as I know.

If you are trying to protect yourself from CS or some such I didn't think that you had to worry as much about the activated charcoal or whatever. I know that one of the Yogo masks (?) that I have works wonders when I am dealing with calcium hyperchlorite.

I will agree with you that there are a lot of people out there who consider a mask as almost bulletproof. But hey, it's a fashion thing... I guess.

 

["ThatGuy"]

**Update**

I received a PM asking about the accuracy of the information I posted as to the lifespan. I do not intend for this post to be a slam on the sender, as it is informative to those who have gas masks.

Upon receipt of the PM, I sent an email to 3M (which I don't expect to get a reply from), and I looked in an Air Force Manual I was issued years ago and found this:


Per the AFPAM 10-100 Section 5 Page 163

"Service life once removed from the factory sealed package
*52 Weeks - Cold humid and warm moderate climate
*39 Weeks - Hot dry climate
*10 Weeks - Hot humid climate"

Also, if you were to encounter a chemical environment, it instructs the used to change the filter once in an "all clear" contaminate free environment, or within 15 days of exposure to Chem/ Bio agents(except blood agents)

 

[HavokCycle]

a filter is only filtering if its having pressure (read: breathing) drawn thru it. otherwise its just sitting.
the exception to this would be filters with an active agent that has a half-life when exposed to oxygen.

 

[10-32]

I don't remember the exact time we were told but in my Hazardous Material Operation training it was stated in our manual that if the filter was exposed to air, it was working, thus it's life span/usage time was shortened. Sealing the filter in something such a ziplock bag would stop it from "working". Usage time also varied depending upon the Hazardous Material you were exposed to at the time.

 

["ThatGuy"]

As stated above, for the C2A1 (the common mil-surplus filter), the service life starts once it is removed from the sealed container. It doesn't magically not work until used to breathe with.

The canister in ideal conditions, per instruction, has a service life of 52 weeks once removed from the original container. Also, Yes, once exposed to contaminants it will lessen the service life as well.

 

[ddavidson]

It could be too that they're trying to do "practice" runs as realistically as possible.

 

[wbrenda]

thanks for the good posts

 

[hooky]

thanks for the good posts

Looking forward to some of yours.