As I am always amazed at the depth of information available here, perhaps someone can answer some questions.

1. When you buy a mask,Like the Israeli mask, they usually come with a filter mounted. It has the plug over the intake but the other side is screwed into the mask and is therefor exposed to the air. Are they still good? I suspect some of the Israeli masks have been kicking around for a lot of years.

2. Do sealed filters "expire"? How about the ones sealed in metal cans?

3. Some that I have seen look to be German because of the labels on the plugs. They are stamped "FE55". Some have blue strings connecting the inlet and outlet plugs and some have yellow. Is the a meaning to the color? Are they both NBC rated?

There are a lot of people selling a lot of masks and filters claiming to be NBC rated but how do you know what you are getting?

Thanks,
Ed

Most charcoal filters will go a long way to prevention of "dry land drowning." Heavy clothing that won't soak thru easily is good too. The main thing is to keep the nasty out of your lungs. Next obviously, mucous memebranes and skin.

The Israeli and British NBC suits are considered superior to the American versions.

Check out [url]www.ASOD.org[/url]

These guys are great!

(alot of info on the site and they sell cool toys)

I took a few of their Fire/Rescue NBC courses a while back.  Scary stuff out there  !

RBAD,
I've been to their site. It started me thinking about this stuff. For example the blue strings vs. the yellow strings on certain of the filters. ASOD says the blue are practice filters. A lot of places are selling filters with blue strings as NBC protection. Also, I couldn't tell if ASOD was saying to use the yellow as practice also or were referring to the blue. Are the yellow strings good?

Also, when they say not good for NBC protect, I wonder to what extent-N or B or C or what they mean. They are selling M95 masks and filters, backordered. Do they mean the other filters are entirely useless or are they not as good as their M95's?

See, lots of questions and no place to find answers.

Ed

ducati650,

Try calling up Jade on the phone or sending him an e-mail.  

He really knows his stuff!  
I've taken 2 courses from him when I was involved in fire rescue / heavy rescue.

It sure woke me up ---  but I never really thought that we would see terrorism in this country.  


This past week has been rough for all of us.


Heck...  I wish I could just stick my head in the sand and ignore what is going on around us.  I'd like to return to the 70's --- just without bell bottoms and disco.

Times were so much simpler back then...  

My wife and I just decided to start having kid(s) just a few weeks ago.
I am in the process of rethinking that decision...  How fair is it to a kid to bring him/her into this world?  

Arghh!

That is a personal decision but since it was brought up I think this country NEEDS more people of the type that frequent this site.