Respirators should be worn to protect the wearer in the presence of harmful dusts, fumes, vapors, and/or gases. Professional Equipment offers a wide range of respirators in all types and sizes used by the military, pharmaceutical, automotive, and chemical manufacturing, construction, mining, agriculture, asbestos abatement, electrical utilities, hazardous materials, nuclear, the public, and much more.

Generally, respirators fall into two major categories: the air-purifying respirator, which forces contaminated air through a filtering element, and the air-supplied respirator, in which an alternate supply of fresh air is delivered. Within each category, different techniques are employed to reduce or eliminate noxious airborne contents. All respirators feature some type of facepiece that either covers the entire face or the bottom half including the nose and the mouth. This facepiece is held in place with straps, a cloth harness, or some other method. Half-face respirators can only be worn in environments where the contaminants are not toxic to the eyes or facial area. For example, a half-face respirator is suitable for a spray painting application, while a full-face respirator would be necessary in a situation where chlorine gas is present. We carry facepieces in many different styles and sizes to accommodate all types of face shapes.

Air-purifying respirators

Air-purifying respirators provide protection against particulates (such as smoke or fumes), gases, and vapors. This class includes:

• Negative-pressure respirators, using mechanical filters and chemical media
• Positive-pressure units such as powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs)

Half- or full-facepiece designs of this type use a filter that acts passively on air inhaled by the wearer. Some common examples of this type of respirator are single-use escape hoods and filter masks. Filter masks are typically simple, light, single-piece, half-face masks and utilize the first three mechanical mechanisms in the list below to remove particulates from the air stream. The most common of these is the disposable white N95 variety. The entire unit is discarded after some extended period or a single use, depending on the contaminant. Filter masks also come in replaceable-cartridge, multiple-use models. Typically one or two cartridges attach securely to a mask with a corresponding number of valves for inhalation and one for exhalation.

Mechanical filter respirators

Mechanical filter respirators retain particulate matter when contaminated air is passed through the filter material. This filter material is composed of wool, plastic, glass, cellulose, and combinations of two or more of these materials. Since the filters cannot be cleaned and reused and therefore have a limited lifespan, cost and disposability are key factors. Single-use, disposable as well as replaceable cartridge models are common.