[decadude]

I know the standard is to replace a filter every 30 days or 40 hours of use, but this is if you are painting or sanding I would think.

Thanks to all who respond I would think you could wear the bayonet filters or even the white rubber band mask for much longer than 30 days if not doing painting etc.

 

[aramchek]

Stored properly they should last years. The N95 mask bands might get hard and prone to breakage, over a very long time. And there's supposedly the possibility that the fibers eventually break down. But if you have them stored in a cool dry place, no direct sunlight, I wouldn't be tossing them away any time soon.

 

[decadude]

Sorry mean to clarify don't mean storage how long can you use under just breathing circumstances and not painting or sanding.

 

[country_boy]

Sorry mean to clarify don't mean storage how long can you use under just breathing circumstances and not painting or sanding.

Min answer is 8 hrs ( assuming it doesn’t get contaminated by bodily fluids). There seems to be a lot of concern from industry with moisture, so a valved N-95 should do better. My biggest concern would be pathogens concentrating on the outside of the mask, and handling it.

NIH has a paper on sterilizing the masks which implies the authors felt the mask would last multiple shifts.

The media is more effective than the disposable mask design, so you want to make sure the face seal, nose clip, and bands aren’t damaged.

The manufacturer of my cartridge respirators ( north, now Honeywell) doesn’t off any limit on the filter life in an oil free environment, for either N95 filters or P100 cartridges.

 

[Kymudder08]

We use 3m half face respirators at work to filter dust and chemicals (fluoride, arsenic, aluminum fumes, hydrocarbons, beryllium, etc... aluminum industry). We have heavier duty filters for the potlines, but in my department we just need p100 foam filters. We replace when they get hard to breathe, which could be once per shift, every couple days, or once per week. So I’d say being in a normal environment that I wouldn’t replace them unless they were contaminated.

 

[HeavyHauler]

When I was working in the nickel mine, our procedure was to change em out every shift (12 hours). The p100's.

 

[bumpedmyhead]

There are different N95s, but cdc recommends only 8 hours of continuous use. 3m states till its dirty or difficult to breath through. Personally, (retired paramedic)I will wear one only 6 hours. Sweat and humidty dirty the valves pretty quickly. My fiance, an RN, will also be changing every 6-8 hours, unless there is blood or aerosol exposure. Hope this helps.

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[FerFAL]

I know the standard is to replace a filter every 30 days or 40 hours of use, but this is if you are painting or sanding I would think.

Thanks to all who respond I would think you could wear the bayonet filters or even the white rubber band mask for much longer than 30 days if not doing painting etc.

Depends on the use you give them as folks here have states. One thing though, if you are reusing them for runnung errands maybe a few minutes and so on, do leave the exterior side exposed to sunlight for several hours, the UV will help kill most of the virus and bacteria.

 

[libertyforall]

I read two days ago the useful life was four hours and I couldn’t possibly do it that often. I would burn through mine quickly.

 

[bumpedmyhead]

There is a lot of confusion about the topic. It mostly has to do with what the exposure is. Even the included leaflet on my N95 respirators dont include use time.

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[CONELRAD]

8 hours or until they become contaminated. This is covered in one of the links in the stickied thread on respiratory protection: https://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=936636

 

[goat daddy]

I remember the filters in respirators were not change correctly on farms. I was common to see some one spraying with their respirator down because they could not breath this it was of no use. It is your life, don't skimp. Read the instructions on the package and follow them.