How long will a gas mask cannister last before it needs replaced? How do you know when to replace it?

-- mmmm (mmmm@mmmm.com), December 05, 1999

Answers

Answer is...it depends.

Conventional wisdom is that they should last 5-8 hours of constant use. They are rated to be useable for up to 2 years, open on the mask but the 5-8 hour caveat still applies. In general it's particulates plugging the filter media which will lead you to replace the filter when the effort to draw air in gets too difficult.

There are charts of filter life durations based on what the filter is exposed to. They don't all agree. In general if the filter is exposed to an infectious agent it must be changed within a day, if wet or exposed to blood change it immediatly. Otherwise replace as needed. I purchased a couple dozen replacement filters as detailed in other posts recently...figure that I may be changing them once a day if the situation warrants (sickies about...).

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), December 05, 1999.