Fireproof Overalls

I was just flicking through MSC's latest sales "flier" when I spotted that they have Proban fireproof coveralls on offer. Which made me realise that the padded polyester mechanics overall that I wear in the colder months might not be such a good idea when I am silver soldering.

What do other members of the Forum wear when they are using a big Propane torch?

The only plus protection I use on larger jobs is a good set of "heatproof" gauntlet gloves. Mind you, I have several customised jumpers with holes in them.
BobH

Cotton warehouse coat. We had a welder at work who insisted on wearing a shell suit. After one spectacular incident he was christened 'Bob the flambé-ed welder', and told if he wanted to carry on working for us to use the cotton overalls supplied

Cotton. Leather apron*

Neil

*Yes I'm a veggie, but I don't eat aprons.

Thanks for the prompt replies: the cotton dust coat it is then, with a wooly jumper underneath in winter. I see that Cromwell's have leather aprons for £8.36, so I might nip out & get one of those (I am a carnivore, Neil, so no worries there).

I use an old pair of Kevlar gloves that are good for this sort of work, but I have to stop Mrs Dave wearing them for gardening...

PS: I am also aware that "Leather Apron" was the name given to Jack the Ripper before his capture!

Jack the ripper was never caught!

WoW!

Hold the front page - Jack the Ripper's been caught! Who did he turn out to be? I think we deserve to know.

John "Scoop" Hinkley

You got me bang to rights there!

Back to reality: thick, pure cotton boiler suit for me. If you want further protection, cultivate a pal on an oil rig. I don't know how they fireproof their kit, but it works against ordinary hazards like welding sparks.

Might well be made out of Nomex, which is rather good stuff, and also more tolerant of washing.

Regards

Bill

I wear one of these for mig welding, grinding etc. If standing erect or sitting, I also wear the leather apron to protect the frontal aspects of my clothing and anatomy. **LINK**

The label indicates that they come from the far east so I would assume they are available for purchase in several countries, including the UK. I checked before buying and verified that all the meat had in fact been removed from the hide.

Bill

When our local Pirelli site was changing over to Prysmian they were throwing out all of the flame proof boiler suits, jackets and "bib'n'brace" systems with the old company logo and I had a friend who was working there and managed to obtain three complete sets of suits, which he got from the skip.

Great overalls though a tad warm in the summer but can work in them perfectly safely when welding or performing any other thermally hazardous activities.

Mike

Anyone who would come into casual contact with welding had to wear cotton based overalls but the lads doing mig welding needed full leather:- apron,gloves, spats, amulets and shoulder covers, also an air fed welding helmet, hell on earth on a hot day and this was in a booth with full fume extraction and exhaust filtration. Eventually most of this was done by robots but the attrition on mig guns is severe even with auto torch cleaning and anti spatter fluid. If anyone thinks they can mig weld they should try one of those lads torches, they had everything turned up to 11.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 03/02/2017 21:15:44

I use this.

Hagrids jerkin AKA as a REME tank drivers jacket from a previous life.

Incidentally my daughter used to own one of Fangs puppies, a big stupid soft Neapolitan Mastiff called Ozzie.

Probably just as important to have a small fire extinguisher and a fire blanket in the workshop if you are using a propane torch.

I guess it was about 1975 one of the old factory welders came to the training centre to show us how to use gas and stick welders

his first question was "do you all have clean overalls ?"

every one nodded

then without a word , put an oily rag down and opened the oxygen on the oxyacetylene torch

after a short time , the rag began to smoulder - message received by all

John

Edited By john swift 1 on 03/02/2017 23:16:28

A heavy leather apron will protect you against red hot steel for about 30 seconds. Proban overalls will last about 3 seconds if your lucky. Most Proban overalls have a fire rating to stop catching fire rather than protect you from burning yourself.

A Proban Formula 1 race suit is rated at 60 seconds and a standard MSA suit is rated at 10 seconds! The theory is it gives you enough protection to get out of the car and run!

The problem is what ever you wear might stop you burning but it could help cook you!

When I worked at a steel works the office was issued with two garments to protect anyone from splashed molten iron when visiting the blast furnaces. This was after the Scunthorpe explosion and everyone was well aware of the dangers. The garments were very heavy wool duffle jackets. They came with a short film showing iron being poured on to one. It charred but did not catch fire. By C......... they were warm.

JA

I can fully endorse JA's post. When I was working in aluminium smelting and refining woollem garments were known to give the best protection.

Mono