MythBusters
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Junior Member
Registered: 11-02-09
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Myth: You cannot obtain a good seal on the M40/M42 series mask if you wear a beard.
One of the reasons given for not allowing beards in the Army is that you cannot obtain a good seal on the M40/M42 mask.
Also, many fire departments won't allow firefighters to wear beards for the same reason.
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Senior Member
Registered: 10-29-09
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yup you've solved it.
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Senior Member
Registered: 07-14-09
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quote: Originally posted by Moondog59:
Myth: You cannot obtain a good seal on the M40/M42 series mask if you wear a beard.
One of the reasons given for not allowing beards in the Army is that you cannot obtain a good seal on the M40/M42 mask.
Also, many fire departments won't allow firefighters to wear beards for the same reason.
Good evening, Captain Obvious |
Senior Member
Registered: 07-28-05
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In the canadian Forces, it's simple. You have a beard, put on your mask and go into the gas hut/smoky building (testing for both your gas mask and/or fire fighting mask (depending on your duty requirements. If you get a good seal, you keep yuor facial hair, if not, off it goes. I wore a beard for a portion of my career and masks were never a problem.
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Senior Member
Registered: 07-14-09
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quote: Originally posted by cdgman:
In the canadian Forces, it's simple. You have a beard, put on your mask and go into the gas hut/smoky building (testing for both your gas mask and/or fire fighting mask (depending on your duty requirements. If you get a good seal, you keep yuor facial hair, if not, off it goes. I wore a beard for a portion of my career and masks were never a problem.
I bet you had a reasonably short beard then.. |
Senior Member
Registered: 07-22-06
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When training the ISF we had to issue shaving kits in their gas masks. Through testing done at the CDTF in MO they found that the average male could get a "good enough" seal on their masks with a five day beard.
Now that I am out I grew a goatee, and often times wear a SCBA, I get a great seal and it is a good four inches long now.
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Senior Member
Registered: 02-03-08
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an SCBA is a positive pressure system - if it leaks, you run out of air quicker.
a military gas mask is not - if IT leaks, you get exposed to whatever bad nasty the enemy is shooting at you. the military is also very much about interchangeable parts, and making theings idiot-resistant. it's easier to say "no beards" than it is to judge whether a given beard will interfere or not.
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Senior Member
Registered: 07-22-06
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That would be incorrect. Kind of.
There are SCBAs that by nature are positive pressure. The types we use out here are only positive pressure if you fall down, this keeps the air flowing in case you broke your seal with the fall. However, when upright if you don't breathe then it don't give air, kind of like a SCUBA system.
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Senior Member
Registered: 02-03-08
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quote: Originally posted by violent_storm2000:
That would be incorrect. Kind of.
There are SCBAs that by nature are positive pressure. The types we use out here are only positive pressure if you fall down, this keeps the air flowing in case you broke your seal with the fall. However, when upright if you don't breathe then it don't give air, kind of like a SCUBA system.
SCUBA's a negative pressure system - unless there is a regulator malfunction, it won't free-flow (unless the new full-mask systems are positive pressure) Firefighting SCBA WILL free-flow if the mask is not sealed. it IS a pretty low pressure differential, though |
Senior Member
Registered: 07-22-06
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Now I can't speak for all the SCBAS out there. But the ones we use on the rig, the ones we used at advanced fire school (the one taught at A&M), and the ones we used at first responders school would not free flow unless the mask was placed at a an angle other than upright. Hell it wouldnt even free flow if the mask was off your face if it is held upright.
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Senior Member
Registered: 02-03-08
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interesting. our MSA packs, and our older Scott packs both list as positive pressure SCBA systems.
and if you accidentally open the secondary regulator, without it coupled to a mask, on the face, it WILL free-flow. (removing the regulator from the mask shuts it off, and no, I haven't pulled my mask off with the regulator still attatched to see if it flows, yet.)
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