Elastomeric Fitting Session

[-]Liriodendron5mo10

Have you tried Softseal N95 3D respirators? These have been my family's standard "serious" masks since early 2020. We love the tight seal created by the silicone gasket. They're $31.95 for a box of ten masks with valves.

I do wonder how inferior the filtration is compared to the respirators you list. Certainly this one feels much more effective than KN95s which do not seal.

https://softsealmask.com/

[-]jefftk5mo20

I'm only looking at reusable respirators, with the idea that in an extended pandemic you'd need ones that continued to give a good seal across many uses.

I wouldn't compare to a KN95, but other disposable N95 respirators (which should all seal well, though not each mask model to each face shape).

[-]Liriodendron4mo10

Having never used an officially reusable respirator, I'm wondering what the advantage is over disposable ones.

I use my disposable ones for many hours total, until they either look or smell a little dirty, before I discard them. Do you know if this is significantly bad? I've been assuming not.

With reusable respirators, there's still a disposable filter that you have to replace regularly, right? Plus you have to clean the reusable parts. Do you expect that filter replacement frequency, supply reliability, and cost to be approximately equivalent between N95s and the filters for reusable respirators?

I can imagine the filters are probably cheaper. But it's easier for me to store a few silicone-sealed N95s in the car and house. It's also less unusual-looking to wear them at high-risk locations like the pediatrician's office. Finally, if one gets irreversibly dirty for some reason, it's no big deal to toss it.

I'm not trying to convince you that disposable N95s are better than reusable respirators (though I do feel those particular Softseal ones are less widely known about than they ought to be). I am genuinely confused why people would prefer reusable ones and think I might be missing something.

Is the eponymous difference between 95 and 100 really due to the filtration of the fabric itself? Or is it mainly due to the assumption of an excellent seal on the P100 and only a moderate one on most N95s? A comparison of N95s to KN95s suggests it's not the latter reason, since KN95s have very poor seals; but since that also mixes different countries' standards, I'm not sure it means much.

[-]jefftk4mo*20

The big issue with disposables is that supposedly the fit gets much worse with additional wearings, and they start leaking around the edges. They're engineered to be single-use and only have to pass testing in their never-worn state.

disposable filter that you have to replace regularly

The filter lasts for months of continuous use unless you're wearing it in a very dusty environment.

you have to clean the reusable parts

You mostly don't need to clean them -- it's a bit like a hat in terms of how dirty it gets.

Do you expect that filter replacement frequency, supply reliability, and cost to be approximately equivalent between N95s and the filters for reusable respirators?

Replacement filters are generally more expensive than replacement disposables, but cost per use is way lower.

For supply, you can just buy the filters ahead of time. A 2y supply is 1-3 filter changes.

Is the eponymous difference between 95 and 100 really due to the filtration of the fabric itself? Or is it mainly due to the assumption of an excellent seal on the P100 and only a moderate one on most N95s?

Sorry, I don't know!

LESSWRONG
LW

LESSWRONG
LW

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Elastomeric Fitting Session

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