Anyone wear a face mask?

mazcp

Those of you that live in The Big Smoke etc, do you ever wear a face mask with filter for your commute? I think that might be regarded as making a bit of a political statement.
...I bet no-one does.

BentMikey

No chance, I can't imagine trying to breathe through one, and I dislike the look too.

Eat My Dust

I used to a few years ago, until it rained really heavily one day, it filled up with water and I nearly drowned. Threw it away!

mazcp

Eat My Dust wrote:

I used to a few years ago, until it rained really heavily one day, it filled up with water and I nearly drowned. Threw it away!

Oh man. I never thought about that particular 'what if...'
I can see why you binned it.

london_commuter

When I sit behind a bus or lorry with no hope of getting past and choking on the fumes I wonder if it would be a good idea. A friend of mine wears one on chilly mornings because it helps his asthma. He did say that the type of filter is important. Some are very difficult to breath through but as I say having never used one I can't comment first hand .

Hairy Jock

Those things are completely pointless, the filters don't keep out most the pollutants, if they did you wouldn't be able to breath. Having said that the number of insects on my commute today I was starting to think it wouldn't be such a bad idea.

rdaviesb

A complete waste of time, and you also look like a pratt.

baudman

I see a few here and there in Melbourne. I suppose if you are cycling on a truck route it wouldn't be bad - but generally, there's many alternative routes you can take.

Similarly, if you have chronic asthma or something?

thrope

I use one - one of the Retro ones, with what they call the 'Techno' filter...

At first I found it a complete pain - mainly because in summer it gets really hot and sweaty and is pretty unpleasant. Thought I'd give a try though and I did get used it... Now whenever I don't wear it something always happens that makes me wish I had it.

It doesn't block everything of course, but generally I don't have the bitter taste in the back of my throat I used to get before, and my (pretty mild) asthma is much better (when I first started commuting my asthma was getting worse instead of better which I thought was pretty strange).

Also it probably isn't worth it if you don't cycle hard... it's when I'm panting hard and come up behind something smelly that its really worth while... doesn't have to be a bus/truck either, old bangers can be pretty bad when you get a huge lungful... I don't wear it if I'm cycling slowly though...

Down points are it gets pretty sweaty and wet inside the mask, and depending on how you wear it it can block your nose a bit, but I did get used to it. I find breathing through it fine anyway. If you wear glasses exhalation can steam them a bit when you stop at lights, but they clear pretty quickly when you set off.

I'm in manchester, so traffic isn't even that bad, but like I say I still find it worthwhile, so I'm sure in london itd probably be even more useful.

Does make you look like a prat though I suppose... (mine is scotchlight reflective as well so it does so even in the dark!)

farrell

How can you get oxygen into your lungs if you can't breathe properly?

I tried one many years ago......couldn't breathe properly and it smelt toxic - So I gave it up...They're rubbish imo - save £30

littleadukibeanweevil

Despite the darth vada look, I forked out and bought a mask because I really feel the effects of car pollution. Before I got the mask I often felt sick after cycling to work in Brighton. I was getting weasy and had lung pain...though I don't have asthma. Sometimes after particularly smelly cars, I would get coughing fits. After getting the mask all of these problems went away after a while and now I wouldn't go out on a busy road without one.
If you get one with a carbon filter, it will filter out a good proportion of the particulates.

In the Guardian and the Independent last year, there was an article claiming that exhaust fumes were responsible for far more premature deaths than road accidents. There are no two ways about it, car fumes are poisonous and particulates lodge in lung tissue.

I now also see my mask as a statement to car drivers....if they aren't already feeling bad about harming the planet as a whole, they can at least (hopefully) feel a bit guilty about polluting the local atmosphere.......I recon exhausts should be directed into rather than out of cars! :!:

JustRidecp

littleadukibeanweevil wrote:

Before I got the mask I often felt sick after cycling to work in Brighton. I was getting weasy and had lung pain.

I get this too! Often happens when I'm pushing up a really big hill. Feel like my lungs are going to burst out my chest and my hearts going to pop out my ears.

No pain no gain

dazzawazza

The only time I ever have problems with pollution is on the rare occasion I’ve been stuck behind a bus or truck on an up hill.

Surely cagers breathe in more pollution whilst they sit in the middle of a traffic jam. I haven't ever seen them wearing a pollution mask.

mazcp

dazzawazza wrote:

...Surely cagers breathe in more pollution whilst they sit in the middle of a traffic jam. I haven't ever seen them wearing a pollution mask.

Wouldn't the car's air filter catch most of the airborne particles? Not sure, to be honest.

dazzawazza

So every car on the road is air tight with filtered air passed through their climate control systems??

JustRidecp

You're supposed to recirculate the air inside the car when stuck in a traffic jam or driving through tunnels and the like instead of drawing it in from outside. All cars have a switch on the dashboard to do this.

Gambatte

JustRidecp wrote:

You're supposed to recirculate the air inside the car when stuck in a traffic jam or driving through tunnels and the like instead of drawing it in from outside. All cars have a switch on the dashboard to do this.

No they don't.

Also with recirc, with a full car, you can quickly end up with too much moisture and the windows steaming.

JustRidecp

Gambatte wrote:

JustRidecp wrote:

You're supposed to recirculate the air inside the car when stuck in a traffic jam or driving through tunnels and the like instead of drawing it in from outside. All cars have a switch on the dashboard to do this.

No they don't.

Also with recirc, with a full car, you can quickly end up with too much moisture and the windows steaming.

hold your breath

Sorry. By far the vast majority of cars have them. Every car I've ever been in here and abroad has a recirculate function.

Gambatte

JustRidecp wrote:

Gambatte wrote:

JustRidecp wrote:

You're supposed to recirculate the air inside the car when stuck in a traffic jam or driving through tunnels and the like instead of drawing it in from outside. All cars have a switch on the dashboard to do this.

No they don't.

Also with recirc, with a full car, you can quickly end up with too much moisture and the windows steaming.

hold your breath

Sorry. By far the vast majority of cars have them. Every car I've ever been in here and abroad has a recirculate function.

You’ve modified your statement from “All cars” to “every car I’ve ever been in”.

Theres still a lot of older cars on the road. My Xantia did have recirc, my Mondeo doesn’t. Theres still loads of Mondeos around. Ever been in one?

JustRidecp

I modified it from all to vast majority.

Sorry, I think we might be on about different things. The function I'm on about mearly blows the air inside the car through the fan system rather than sucking air from outside in. Its not part of the air conditioning system and is old as the hills. I've only owned bangers, without AC and its on all of them - little sliding lever on the dash.

And I have been in a Mondeo. Taxi drivers weapon of choice

dazzawazza

If it's a hot day do the cars without airconditioning sit in traffic jams with the windows closed and the recirculate button on??
I suspect that most of the cheaper cars don't recirculate or filter the air that well.

Gambatte

No we’re not on about different things. Like I said the Xantia had it, the Mondeo doesn’t. Neither had/have aircon. I could take a picture of the control and prove it, but I reckon it’s starting to feel like arguing for the sake of it? Its not a point I feels worth generating bad feeling over.

Dazza, what a lot of drivers don’t realise is that aircon loses 1/3 of its gas charge per year. If its not replaced or recharged after 3 years, you may as well just have the blowers on.
Of course its got the compressor kicking in and putting a greater load on the engine for longer periods of time, using more fuel…….

mazcp

Gambatte wrote:

...what a lot of drivers don’t realise is that aircon loses 1/3 of its gas charge per year. If its not replaced or recharged after 3 years, you may as well just have the blowers on.
Of course its got the compressor kicking in and putting a greater load on the engine for longer periods of time, using more fuel…….

I for one didn't know this...it might explain why my mazda 323 a/c doesn't work. Will it be all lost/discharged after 3 yrs even if it's hardly ever used (as is my case)?

cee

I read something last year that suggested that there are a much higher percentage of pollutants in the air inside a car than there are in the air outside a car (e.g. when you are on your bike).

So........what does that say about the actual usefulness of the masks......unless like someone else says there are loads of midgies on your way to work!

Gambatte

Its likely to be, its only a plumbed system after all and like water when under pressure the gas’ll escape if given chance.

Is each one of the screwed joints in the entire system 100% gastight?..

Its probable that a suitable garage can hook up to a test points in the system and check the gas pressures. Think round us a recharge is less than £50.

You may find that the aircon has other consumables as well, such as a filter for impuritites and moisture within the refrigerant gas. (a receiver/drier)

Type of cars I buy, I tend to avoid aircon if possible, simpler the car the less to go wrong.

dazzawazza

I've had friends and colleagues ask me the question, 'how do you cycle with all that pollution'? Almost all of them commute to work by car.

If this is an issue that puts them off cycling then surely the people that cycle with pollution masks must have some influence on drivers deciding not to commute to work because they think that pollution intake is higher for cyclists.

mazcp

Gambatte wrote:

...Is each one of the screwed joints in the entire system 100% gastight?...

Dunno. I'll check the joins...are they normally jubilee clipped? The AC gas entry point (for refilling) looks a bit like a car tyre valve, right?
quote]

Gambatte wrote:

...Think round us a recharge is less than £50.

"Round us"...haven't heard that turn of phrase in a while...are you from Sheffield like me?!

Gambatte

Currently sat about 100 yard from the ski village, but cycling in from Maltby.

The question about the joints was more retorical (sp?). I wouldn't go around checking. Just meant if they were 99.8% gas tight, they've had a long time to leak at a very slow rate.

mazcp

@Gambatte...cheers for the info.
My stamping ground was highfields/bramall lane area.

stu20001

Surely cagers breathe in more pollution whilst they sit in the middle of a traffic jam. I haven't ever seen them wearing a pollution mask.

No, because people in cars don't breathe as hard and deeply as people on bikes due to the fact they are just sat on their arses not moving. If you're cycling properly hard you will be taking in larger breaths in greater numbers. Therefore you are inhaling a greater amount of polluted air, no?

I have been contemplating about masks as, since upping my communting to a whole 5 days a week from a previous average of 2 or 3, I have developed a (minor and occasional) chesty cough and constantly have a bunged up mucus-y nose. The connection seemed obvious to me.

I have wondered if they would be horrible to wear and the testimonies of people here suggest they are. But worse? Wearing a sweaty, manky facemask or developing emphysema or some other horrible lung condition in later life..?

BentMikey

Whilst you might be breathing a little deeper than a driver, you're also not breathing it for as long, for a similar trip, and you're breathing much cleaner air from higher up.