cant breath

[SPUR8301]

Just wanted to know if any body had any low cost non annoying breathing protection. I'v been doing some gavlanied tube welding and I know the green smoke cant be good. the smoke keeps drafting up into my hood and I have to blow it out. any ideas on how to keep welding and not past out. this is a weekend project so I dont need a big complicated hood or anything.

[tsalagi]

the first thing that comes to mind (not being a smart a** ) is hold your haed back a bit. if you can't see, you might need a cheater lense.

another idea is to create a small draft. not enough to mess with your gas but enough to pull the smoke out of your way.

[MMW]

The fumes from welding on galvanized are very bad. If you breath enough of them you can get metal fume fever which is not good (flu like symptoms). Do a search on the web to read up on it. Venting & an approved respirator are the way to go if your doing lots of galvanized stuff. For an occasional weld just try to keep your head out of the smoke & don't breath it. For a mask try the 3M model 8214 N95. Under $10 each.

[Bob the Welder]

Sometimes it seems like no matter what you do the only way the smoke from welding goes is under your hood! As long as you are not using a gas shielded process just put a fan behind you to blow everything in the opposite direction.

Some fumes from welding galvanized steel won't be fatal but they can make for an unpleasant experience for about the next 24 hours. The 3M N95 nuisance dust masks with the outlet valve are always a good idea no matter what you are welding!

[Sundown]

You can dip the ends/areas to be welded in muratic acid, that will get rid of the zinc in short order. Then after the welding is done spray with cold zinc galv spray to get some of the protection back. Normally I use fluxcore and just blow the fumes away from me with a small battery powered fan as Bob suggested. In addition I always use a 3M mask with P100 filters under my hood anyway, it's cheap protection and new lungs are hard to come by.

[youngwelder_154]

Well when I attempted to weld galvanized metal (i didn't succeed) I used stick welding (well the person who showed me how to do it after I couldn't) They said the best way to do it is go outside and position yourself up wind and weld and let the smoke go the other direction but in winder it wouldn't be as easy as that. I don't even agree with people welding Galvanized metal inside without proper ventilation. Does anyone have any tips on what I could try doing next time when I'm welding galvanized I really feel stupid saying I cant. So any tips on how its done please enlighten me on this process. Or is it easier just welding it with Mig or Flux

[JonnyTIG]

Galvanizing is just a coating like many others, remove it with a grinder, sand blasting, or like suggested muriatic acid, and volia! you are welding regular steel. It's no different than paint or chrome.

That aside, always make sure you can do the welding without the smoke plume entering your hood. Take the time / necessary measures to breath clean air.

Adding the zinc to your weldment from the burned / absorbed galvinizing will not make the weld better in any way.

[shorerider16]

Have you tried a half face respirator

Whenever I weld anything at work that is dirty, oily, coated or use an electrode that creates heavy fumes I wear a cartridge type respirator. They are only half face respirators but if the have the charcoal activated pads they will stop 99% of the fumes. The ones we are given at work are 3M brand and cost about 60$ retail but will last a long time if cared for.

[beamwalker]

if you breath that stuff drink some hot tea. i breath the stuff occasionally and hot tea will get rid of it. that yucky white stuff you get out of cows helps too.

[Trooper]

When I welded the galvanized stuff I learned to "stay low" and kept the pool a bit more high chest level and out front in an attempt to keep the smoke away. The further from the "green smoke" the better I felt. Even with that I still wore the disposable mask. I still got a bunch of soot over everything, but it is coated metal. With the galvanized I would always try to weld outside.

[nebulia]

nothing good about it

Nothing good about welding galvinized metal or being anywhere around when it is being welded. Drinking milk will help to flush it out of your system but better is to use a approved mask/resperator so you dont get sick in the first place .. I had some people welding galvinized below me on a job at a papermill I didn't realize how bad it was until I woke up sicker than **** the next day I missed 2 days work thinking I had the flue until we discused it in a safty meeting a couple weeks later and I realized that that was what had gotten to me ..
NO type of welding fumes are good for you in any way. Stick rod flux contains cadium which is bad for you, check the MSDS ... we do a lot of welding in areas where their isn't much air flow so the smoke and dust from 3-4 people cutting, welding and grinding is thick ( you know it is bad when you go through 2-3 filters in a shift ) everyone is fitted for and uses resperators they make some that have soft cloth covered filters that will fit under a welding hood and some that have hoses that go over your sholder and around behind your back ( like scuba gear) where the filter is so it is in cleaner air when welding and grinding .

[Bert]

I bought some 3M filters from gaspro that I use with my 3M 1/2 mask, I think it was 2907? Ask a clerk. They have the chart for 3M that says what you're welding and what type filter to use. Has the charcoal in it, so you don't get the smell also. Also have a small commercial fan. Little TOO strong, so I bring it close to me, back end on my side. there is enough suction to blow the smoke away from me (I aim the fan towards the direction where the wind is blowing (IF it's blowing!)
bert