Respirator failed while blasting with glass bead...

[skiddz]

I was bead blasting in my piece of junk blast cabinet and as usual, had my respirator on. When I finished about a 90 minute session, my throat was a little sore and I had fine white dust around my nose and mouth. Evidently, one of the filter cartridge "sockets" broke and was allowing dust that escaped the cabinet to get into the mask. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this until I was done for the day.

I read a lot on this forum about silicosis and I know you can get it when using sand to blast. How about glass bead? Should I be concerned? My throat is still scratchy and I'm coughing a little bit once in a while. I'm not sure if this is related to the respirator failure or I'm getting the "crud" my kids have had for the past few days. Thoughts???

[tomg552001]

That little exposure shouldnt harm you at all. Do you have a shop vac hooked up as a dust collector?

[non-stick]

just the one time exposure shouldn't affect you all that much for the long run. Most definately have a better suction method for that blaster, though.

[drfjr1976]

As said it shouldn't be that big of a deal just the one time, but If your really worried about it contact the supplier and request the MSDS sheets. It will tell you all the exposure limits and side affects of the material.
Side note, when I put my respirator on, I cover the filters with My hands and try to suck air in. If it is on properly, it will pull the mask tighter to my face. If its not you will hear the air pulling through the gap.

[skiddz]

I do have a dust extraction "system" hooked up. A shop vac and a water trap. (Neighbor calls it a giant bong. heheh) It contains a lot of the dust, but some still escapes through the various openings in the cabinet. Doesn't seem to matter how much caulk I smear around in there, it never seals...

Just picked up a new respirator this morning. The other one looks like it may have been stepped on or otherwise squashed. I didn't notice the deformation of the cartridge socket last night 'cuz it was dark when I fininshed up. I'm guessing one of my kids was playing with it and tweaked it somehow.

The sore throat and cough are definitely looking like I got some bug. I've got post-nasal drip that'd float a battleship and that all around "I feel cr*ppy" feeling...

Thanks for the info!

[Fireblade]

What type of cartridge are you using on your respirator? There are two main types, organic vapor and dust type. The organic vapor, usually the spin on type, will not protect you from dust, just vapors from liquids and such. Depending on the make of respirator you have, you can either buy dust filter cartridges or you have to buy the organic vapor catridge and fit the dust cartridge to it. This is of course if you are using the rubber nose piece type, this is not referring to any of the white paper mask type. Not sure what you are using, just figured I'd give some info to anyone to does not know.