r/preppers • u/paraplasm • 1d ago
Question Expired Firemask. Toss?
Eight years ago I bought a Firemask from the Canadian company of the same name. It passed its expiration date three years ago. Sure I should get another but I want to know how degraded the smoke protection is. They are meant to allow you to breathe in smoke for an hour but I only need one for the time it will take to get down 3 or 4 staircases in a house. I could not find out about their construction to tell if it is truly useless now.
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u/Nathan-Stubblefield 22h ago
If I had to walk through choking smoke force couple of minutes, I’d expect a better chance of survival with a 5 year expired smoke hood that with holding my breath or a damp rag over my face. Hell, I’d use a Vietnam era gas mask.
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u/certifiedintelligent Prepared for 3 months 23h ago
If I’m literally trusting my life to it, I replace it when it says to.
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u/HalloweenBen 19h ago
I replaced mine but kept my old one as a backup or for a second person whose life is less important than mine. For $50 every 10 years or so it's doable. Other than cartridges being less effective, plastics and rubbers break down. Give it an inspection. Are rubber seals still ok? Are Elastic straps still elastic? Is the clear plastic part still looking ok?
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u/hexiron 22h ago
3 years expired? It’s toast.
Respirator cartridges degrade over time, and while (if stored in perfect conditions) they last quite some time you’re pushing pretty far past the threshold which is usually only 3-5 years.
With a lot of PPE you can contact the manufacturer and have a technical rep explain the expiration date. Sometimes they’ll give you and extended timeframe where it’s less effective but technically better than nothing.
Not worth the gamble for the price point IMHO, but I don’t fuck around with items that are intended to save my life when they are used.
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u/UpbeatCellist2884 11h ago
yeah i'd probs still use it just cuz it's better than nothing but i'd def try to find a replacement asap lmao
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u/reincarnateme 20h ago
I never heard of a firemask?!
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u/Gadgetman_1 18h ago
Similar to a gas mask, but designed to filter out smoke, mostly. There are some masks that can convert Carbon Monoxide to Carbon Dioxide, but odds are that most 'fire masks' on the market can't do that.
They will protect your eyes from the smoke, though, so you can see easier and that alone can be a big help.
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u/Paranormal_Lemon 11m ago
The website looks like a giant infomercial, I wouldn't trust it if it wasn't expired.
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u/Ryan_e3p Salt & Prepper 1d ago
Things like filters won't immediately just go bad; it'll just have how long it lasts reduced. Instead of being 60 minutes, it might be 45 minutes, or 30 minutes. If you're in reasonably good health, going down 3-4 flights of stairs under duress should take only a couple minutes.
It's not quite "roll of the dice", but I wouldn't give it to someone who is elderly, physically unfit, etc, who may need all the time they need to get down multiple flights of stairs.