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Straight answers to the questions people ask most when choosing a powered air welding helmet.
It combines an auto-darkening welding helmet with a powered air purifying respirator. A battery-powered blower worn on the belt draws air through filters, and a breathing tube carries the cleaned air up into the helmet, where it flows over the face.The filters remove particles such as welding fume, and some systems can take a gas filter as well. The constant flow also keeps the face cooler and helps stop the visor fogging. It protects against what the filters are designed to capture, not against everything, so the filters must suit the work.
A standard helmet protects your eyes and face but does nothing for the air you breathe. Fume extraction captures fume at the source, but it may not catch everything, especially when you move around or work in awkward positions.A powered helmet protects the welder personally, wherever they work, and is useful for longer jobs, confined or poorly ventilated areas, and welding on materials with more hazardous fume. It is often used alongside extraction, not instead of it. Your risk assessment decides which controls you need.
The protection factor is a rating of how much a respirator reduces the amount of contaminant you breathe compared with the air outside. A higher number means more reduction, but the figure only applies when the whole system is correctly fitted, maintained and used with the right filters and a good face seal.The figure depends on the helmet and headtop combination, so check the maker's literature for your set-up. It is not a guarantee, and it does not cover gases or vapours unless you are using a suitable gas filter.
Welding fume is mostly fine particles, so a particle filter of a suitable class is the basic requirement. Some units also allow a pre-filter or a spark guard in front of the main filter to catch larger dust and hot spatter and help the main filter last longer. What is fitted depends on your unit, so check the manual.Welding can also produce gases such as ozone and oxides of nitrogen, and some coatings or solvents add vapours. In that case a combination filter may be needed. Use only filters approved for your unit, and choose them from your risk assessment and the maker's guidance, never by assumption.
The helmet shell gives the head and face protection, and the filter in the front window darkens to protect your eyes from the arc. Different filters offer different features, such as a wider view, a number of shade ranges, a setting for tack welding, or a natural colour view.Some helmets are offered without a filter, so you can pick the one that suits your work. Think about the processes you do: for low-amp TIG a sensitive filter helps, and for heavy MIG a wide shade range is useful.
Look at the shade range, the size of the viewing window, the sensitivity at low current, the number of arc sensors and the switching speed. Variable shade filters suit people who switch between processes and currents, while fixed shade filters are fine for a single repeated job.A larger window gives a wider view but the helmet is heavier. If you do TIG or other low-current work, make sure the filter is rated for it. Try a few on if you can, as comfort and clarity matter during a long shift.
With its smart, compact design, the 3M™ Adflo™ Powered Air Respirator is specially designed to meet your welding needs. Its continuous airflow provides filtered air that takes much of the heat and sweat out of welding. By using the Adflo respirator, you get both increased protection and comfort all day long. The Turbo unit draws air through a spark arrester, pre-filter and particle filter (and gas filter when used) to reduce respiratory hazards. It then feeds the air, via the breathing tube, into the welding shield. The constant flow of filtered air and the comfortable face seal keep contaminated air outside the shield. The new Adflo unit features Lithium-Ion (Li Ion) batteries, which are more than 40% lighter than the NiMH batteries used in the original model. The lighter battery has the same life time as its predecessor and also benefits from a faster partial charge time.