air fed mask- a few questions

[jamesmacc]

hi folks, got my new air fed mask and a new compressor to run it for using 2k paints. my questions are ,
1. it says minimum pressure 40 p.s.i, what is the maximum or recommended pressure
2. i have an unused new airhose for it but its not that expensive odour free pipe specialy for masks, will my hose be ok or is it going to do me harm? i will have a filter fitted to it just before it plugs into the belt.
thanks, james

 

[the snooper]

you should be fine anything above 40psi but no higher then 80 make sure that you have a water filter in line and it should be roughly 18 feet away from the compressor the reason for this is to let the air cool down before it reaches the water filter.
if warm air enters the water filter it will heat up and stop working as they work by condensing

 

[jamesmacc]

ok ill run it about 60. i looked into getting the correct hose and its over £100, it seems a crazy price but i would pay it if not using it will damage my health. the hose is 15 metres so water filtration should be good

 

[the snooper]

it should be set up like this

 

[brightspark]

ordinary rubber airlines are ok to use with a decent filter in line. ive been using them for donkeys years for blasting and still fit as a fiddle

 

[jamesmacc]

i have a sealey aregulator filter/ water trap and a cheap £5 inline water trap filter, that should be ok you think?

 

[Chipper]

Is that the only filtration you have, before the mask? Or have you got the fine filtration carbon filter etc as well.

 

[jamesmacc]

the filters i have are, the regulator with water trap, an inline water trap just before the belt, and the carbon filter thats build into the belt. does that sound good enough?
cheers, james

 

[Chipper]

Those normal water traps aren't fine enough I think, they're normally like 50 microns or 25 microns. There's special multi-stage filter sets for breathing air, they go from like 5 microns down to 0.01. I've put the normal reg/filter before all those, they advise this for prolonging the life of the filter set. Then after your multi-stage stuff you go on to the mask.
After all that it's got to be cleaner than the air we normally breathe

 

[jamesmacc]

were can i get a multi-stage filter and how much are they
just tried it out for the first time, feels unnatural breathing in the air i can hear coming into the mask. it does not mist up at all and has great visibility .

 

[Chipper]

Spray Guns Direct is where mine came from, lots of other places do filters but they seemed well priced and had a wide range.

 

[jamesmacc]

just had a look on there website and they are like £100+. i found this one that goes down to 0.3 micron max 49scfm 150 psig for £50
here is the link, will it be suitable http://www.coleparmer.co.uk/catalog/product_view.asp?sku=7530077&pfx=

 

[jamesmacc]

or this one http://www.bearingboys.co.uk/Coalescing_Oil_Removal_Filter_-26204-p?shopping

 

[Chipper]

Those multi stage jobs start off at like 5 microns first and then go to a coalescing filter, and then the super fine carbon one. Guess they do different things, as well as make the final carbon one last longer - spare filters are like £30-£40 a pop.
Guess you could just have the carbon one, but it'd probably clog and need replacing faster (maybe lots faster), whatever came out of your normal 50 or 25 micron type filter would be hitting it. Just a guess though, praps someone else here's tried it, I went for a 3-1 set.

 

[eric_knapper]

I bought myself a Kestrel triple filter set same as this one from spary guns direct http://www.spraygunsdirect.co.uk/product.php?tid=105&products_id=5094 I had mine though a couple of years ago from my local bodyshop supplies place for about £120 so you might find it a bit cheaper shopping around.

 

[jamesmacc]

ok thanks i will have a look around. i have a job to do tommoro and cant get a triple filter in time, will i be ok to just use the 2 normal filters and the carbon filter build into the belt i have, its just to do a set of wheels.
cheers, james

 

[eric_knapper]

Well these triple filter sets are designed to go after your existing traps and you need to get down as Chipper says to 50 or 25 microns or your triple filter will clog very quickly as the first filter stage is just 5 microns then the coalescing filter and final one is 0.01 microns. The reason they are so fine is to remove the oil/water mist from the compressor you really don't want to breath that in so if it was me I would not use the air mask without the proper filtration. Maybe not what you want to hear but better safe than sorry as you get all kinds of muck in the air from the compressor.