Anti pollution masks

ted1

With the cold weather seen the amount of fumes coming from some vehicles has got me considering wearing one of these.

Does anybody here wear one? Does anybody have any insights into their effectiveness?

Are they comfortable?

magicbastarder

i used to wear one many years ago - with a charcoal filter you'd replace from time to time.
not sure if they've changed much, but on cold mornings i wouldn't get much more than half an hour of of them as the moisture in your breath would condense inside it and clog it up to the point it became difficult to breathe.


however, don't forget that the cold weather is not exposing the amount of pollution in the car exhausts, it's exposing the water content in car exhausts. water vapour is the major component in petrol exhaust, IIRC.
obviously diesel may be different, and the particulate matter in diesel exhaust is one you're more likely to see fall when wearing a decent smog mask.

ednwireland

when i used to commute in derby , many years ago !, i used to use a respro and found my hay fever disappeared

and i had to change the filters every few weeks.

magicbastarder

i still have that smog mask, btw, i just use it now when sanding. it's great for keeping out wood dust.

saccades

Useless, i get fit tested at work, those masks just lull you into a false sense of security.

90% of everything will go around the side, more if you are breathing hard.

mr spuckler

some interesting reading on the subject.

Cyclists 'exposed to less air pollution than drivers' on busy routes

qb123

Tried the Respro for same reason that you mentioned as particularly noticed the fumes on cold winter mornings. Found it restricted my breathing too much so gave up after a couple of days.

positron

Relevant video by GCN:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySzmo_sScQk

ted1

positron wrote: »

Relevant video by GCN:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySzmo_sScQk

Cheers, at about 12 min in the outcome from the science world is that they wouldn’t recommend them.

saccades

ted1 wrote: »

Cheers, at about 12 min in the outcome from the science world is that they wouldn’t recommend them.

I probably should have expanded my original post, a fit test is a face mask test.


All the cheaper masks do is reduce the physically bigger bits, all the real nastys go around the side or through the weave and into your lungs anyway.


Just trying to read a poem slowly whilst stepping back and forth with a bastard tight custom half mask on is easy to fail, never mind cycling and screaming at people to look up from their phone .


If you want real protection you need a full face and air supply which isn't a cheap option (or light).

ED E

If you want to improve things lobby during LE19 for Cllrs that'll ban diesels from built up areas. They're what are retarding your kids and making you sick.