Great Video! I worked in a Power Plant for 40 years, with the last 20 of those years in FR clothing. Fortunately our union (IBEW) mandated that the company pays for all FR clothing, but it was mandated that the vendor had to be a unionized company based in the USA. The clothing was very expensive and both Style and Colors were mandated by the company. Some of our stuff was Arc-Flash rated for high voltage switching (12,000 volts), and was very warm indeed, no matter how cool the air temperature, you would sweat your butt off. Some parts of the plant, the ambient air temperature surrounding certain pieces of equipment would exceed 140°F, and we spent minimal time in those temps; but oddly enough, the heavier fabric did help protect you for a while (think of like hot pads blocking the radiant heat). I too am a big guy, and eventually I figured out that I could be cooler if I wore my clothing looser by ordering a size bigger shirt, and instead of pants, we were allowed Coveralls. The coveralls allowed the hot sweaty fabrics to hang loosely (especially around the waste i.e. no belt required to keep your pants up), and the shirts too could also hang loosely either tucked in or out, which was style more than protection. I found it to be cooler, when the shirt was tucked inside the coveralls, as it seemed like air could move around your body and vent out the gaps around your body because the coveralls were looser than street clothes - weird but true. Also just a couple of notes about what makes FR flame resistant what it is, is mainly the density of the fabric weave. The tighter and heavier the weave, the better the protection. It is true that they also treat the fabric with chemicals that help retard flammability, which is not to say it can’t burn, it will as evidenced by holes being burned into and though the fabric, but rather it means the fabric will not support (sustained) combustion, and not spread. This is why they limit the number of times it can be laundered, and if you look close enough, they will also recommend certain detergents and fabric softeners be either Used or Not Used, as it has an effect on the fabrics chemical treatment, or how long the manufacture will guarantee the fabric will meet regulations. The union argued that any less expensive cloth manufactured offshore, could not be guaranteed to meet minimum FR clothing standards. Also, as you have mentioned worn or frayed clothing is the main hazard where flammability (supporting sustained combustion e.g. kindling easily ignites, where a tree trunk is not so easily ignited), more so than the chemical treatment. As a member of the union, and by company mandate, we had to maintain our FR uniforms per the contract, and they held us to it by way of the boss saying, your clothes were unacceptable, and either change them immediately, or face disciplinary action. Needless to say, we all had spares on hand. As a Home-Gamer, the main point is to wear natural fibers, with a high density weave, in good repair, and to cover up what’s important to you. Personally, I was less concerned about the chemical treatment wearing off than just having a good heavy fabric between me and the heat aka sparks. I’m sure one can go online and find FR clothing laundering instructions, that will help maintain the protection factor, given the investment you are making in your PPE, and regardless of where in the world it’s made, common sense dictates you do the research into what you’re buying, and as always if it’s too good to be true, or really cheap $$$, you are probably not getting good protection! We all bend the rules sometimes, and that’s a personal choice and that’s OK, but routinely bending the rules of commonsense, will eventually catch-up to you! And if you think it won’t happen to you, then Think Again my Friend… ask me how I know!
Thanks for all the great thoughts and info regarding this. All of It all makes sense to me. The electricians that work at the facility I do are required to wear higher standard standard clothing than me, and I have seen how hot some of it is lol. When it comes to big jobs on main breakers and feed lines they don’t even have a guy qualified on site so they contract out a high voltage maintenance company (HVM) to do the work. I have seen those guys in space man suits at over 100degree ambient temps inside of buildings, no thanks lol.
PPE is an interesting topic. I have a leather Black Stallion welding jacket. They’re about as protective as you can get. The way they protect is that they’re so thick and stiff, that after you put it on and do the snaps, you can’t move easily enough to actually weld. You can’t get better than that. I do have the sleeves, in leather. I don’t mind those. Wearing one on the ARM the sparks are flying to when grinding is a good idea. I also have leather spats for when I’m too lazy to change my slip on shoes. Particularly when you’re plasma cutting, they make a big difference.
The leather is hard to beat, it will last when normal light welding jackets will fail. Now that I am doing a lot of big repair work I definitely need to get some legit leathers. Burning though cheap stuff gets expensive fast lol.
I work for a natural gas pipeline company in Florida and earlier this year it became mandatory for full time FR clothing. 😅 The summer was brutal. Not as bad as some in other states with triple digit temperatures, wearing FR.
I bet it was brutal. I wear FR at work and it’s a bit cooler than the shirt in the video but not by much. For me it’s the pants that are killer, they don’t breathe. More than a few days it pushed 100 in my new little work shop and even in normal jeans I was dying lol.
I just came across several of these shirts for free , could not believe it . They feel more comfortable than the Lincoln welding shirts , though the Lincoln are lighter weight
Awesome deal lol. So far mine are holding up great. Definitely more durable than most of the welding jackets I have used (I have a Hobart and a Steiner brand).
Hi Greg. I picked a few excellent tips on what to consider when looking into FR clothing, and thanks for the hints to Lori. You know that I love the red Lincoln gloves that you sometimes use. We have handled and touched unexpectedly hot pieces of metal more than once, and these saved our hands from burns. Cheers.
Hah it’s funny you mentioned those gloves, they have have been in my truck and I just found them. I ended up doing a emergency repair on site a little bit ago, and threw those on my center console only to have them fall behind the seat. You’ll be seeing those back again soon 😀
I heard a pipeline welder who gave this advice. Never, ever, wear anything with non fr synthetics. He told the story of how he saved a few bucks buying cheap jeans with a small percentage of synthetic for stretch. He lost the muscles on his lower leg when the synthetics burned and melted into his leg. It was a gruesome story. 100% cotton or wool. Or fr. Just saying.
Once plastics get cooking it’s like tar stuck to your skin. Definitely not something you want to try to remove. I know I had a set of welding gloves that had some form of silicone on them. Well the plastic got hot, and stayed hot even after I immediately removed my hand from the welded area. It felt like someone had a lighter to my skin still. Pretty dumb idea to make gloves out of a material like that for welding, I can’t imagine how bad pants would be 😮.
Really appreciate the vid. Seems quite timely after I gave myself a little sunburn with a welder over the weekend. Probably wasn't the best idea to be welding in a short sleeve shirt though. A set of those Lincoln sleeves would have been perfect. I'm going to check out those jackets also. Summertime welding is no joke! Really appreciate all the advice, keep it up!
Haha I saw in that video you had mentioned the burn. I always wear long sleeves so I don’t burn my arms, but my neck gets burned if I forget to fully button up the shirt. I will have to do a video on wound help. I find “silvex” works great for arc burns.
Don’t screw around when welding regarding clothes. It’s not just the “burn” you can get. It’s the UV that causes cancer as well. Normal sunlight has longer wavelengths which tan and eventually can give cancer. But welding also has short wavelength UV which a much stronger carcinogen. It’s also cumulative. The effects don’t wear off.
@makingmistakeswithgreg 17:49 I like my Black Stallion BSX AH1631-NB Welding Cap as it covers both of my ears and as a plus it has a bill extension that covers my neck.
I see from Lincoln, Miller, Bulwark with FR ratings or CAT 2 and arc-flash rated.... but no UVP ratings... is it safe to assume the welding shirts already offer UV protection?
Due to how thick the material is it would have to block all uv. I know I have spray arced at 300amps with no sun tan with that shirt, and I am white as a ghost. Your post brings up an excellent topic I will have to cover: UV exposure and proper clothing. I have a UV light and sensor. I bet a ton of normal clothing wouldn’t block much uv.
as old soviet union are welder uhm the only protection we got was a pair of leather gloves and a mask or google of your choosing other than that it was up to you back then men were men and equipment was not to be babyed i mean you got soft on your welder the damn thing would over heat you hade to have high amps high fan speed and common sences if not you died welding requiers common sence wich is very uncommon
Gotta love Jody's TIG Finger. Keeps me from burning my propped hand, and it slides along as you move.
Great Video! I worked in a Power Plant for 40 years, with the last 20 of those years in FR clothing. Fortunately our union (IBEW) mandated that the company pays for all FR clothing, but it was mandated that the vendor had to be a unionized company based in the USA. The clothing was very expensive and both Style and Colors were mandated by the company. Some of our stuff was Arc-Flash rated for high voltage switching (12,000 volts), and was very warm indeed, no matter how cool the air temperature, you would sweat your butt off. Some parts of the plant, the ambient air temperature surrounding certain pieces of equipment would exceed 140°F, and we spent minimal time in those temps; but oddly enough, the heavier fabric did help protect you for a while (think of like hot pads blocking the radiant heat).
I too am a big guy, and eventually I figured out that I could be cooler if I wore my clothing looser by ordering a size bigger shirt, and instead of pants, we were allowed Coveralls. The coveralls allowed the hot sweaty fabrics to hang loosely (especially around the waste i.e. no belt required to keep your pants up), and the shirts too could also hang loosely either tucked in or out, which was style more than protection. I found it to be cooler, when the shirt was tucked inside the coveralls, as it seemed like air could move around your body and vent out the gaps around your body because the coveralls were looser than street clothes - weird but true.
Also just a couple of notes about what makes FR flame resistant what it is, is mainly the density of the fabric weave. The tighter and heavier the weave, the better the protection. It is true that they also treat the fabric with chemicals that help retard flammability, which is not to say it can’t burn, it will as evidenced by holes being burned into and though the fabric, but rather it means the fabric will not support (sustained) combustion, and not spread. This is why they limit the number of times it can be laundered, and if you look close enough, they will also recommend certain detergents and fabric softeners be either Used or Not Used, as it has an effect on the fabrics chemical treatment, or how long the manufacture will guarantee the fabric will meet regulations. The union argued that any less expensive cloth manufactured offshore, could not be guaranteed to meet minimum FR clothing standards. Also, as you have mentioned worn or frayed clothing is the main hazard where flammability (supporting sustained combustion e.g. kindling easily ignites, where a tree trunk is not so easily ignited), more so than the chemical treatment. As a member of the union, and by company mandate, we had to maintain our FR uniforms per the contract, and they held us to it by way of the boss saying, your clothes were unacceptable, and either change them immediately, or face disciplinary action. Needless to say, we all had spares on hand.
As a Home-Gamer, the main point is to wear natural fibers, with a high density weave, in good repair, and to cover up what’s important to you. Personally, I was less concerned about the chemical treatment wearing off than just having a good heavy fabric between me and the heat aka sparks.
I’m sure one can go online and find FR clothing laundering instructions, that will help maintain the protection factor, given the investment you are making in your PPE, and regardless of where in the world it’s made, common sense dictates you do the research into what you’re buying, and as always if it’s too good to be true, or really cheap $$$, you are probably not getting good protection!
We all bend the rules sometimes, and that’s a personal choice and that’s OK, but routinely bending the rules of commonsense, will eventually catch-up to you! And if you think it won’t happen to you, then Think Again my Friend… ask me how I know!
Thanks for all the great thoughts and info regarding this. All of It all makes sense to me. The electricians that work at the facility I do are required to wear higher standard standard clothing than me, and I have seen how hot some of it is lol. When it comes to big jobs on main breakers and feed lines they don’t even have a guy qualified on site so they contract out a high voltage maintenance company (HVM) to do the work. I have seen those guys in space man suits at over 100degree ambient temps inside of buildings, no thanks lol.
PPE is an interesting topic. I have a leather Black Stallion welding jacket. They’re about as protective as you can get. The way they protect is that they’re so thick and stiff, that after you put it on and do the snaps, you can’t move easily enough to actually weld. You can’t get better than that. I do have the sleeves, in leather. I don’t mind those. Wearing one on the ARM the sparks are flying to when grinding is a good idea. I also have leather spats for when I’m too lazy to change my slip on shoes. Particularly when you’re plasma cutting, they make a big difference.
The leather is hard to beat, it will last when normal light welding jackets will fail. Now that I am doing a lot of big repair work I definitely need to get some legit leathers. Burning though cheap stuff gets expensive fast lol.
I work for a natural gas pipeline company in Florida and earlier this year it became mandatory for full time FR clothing. 😅 The summer was brutal. Not as bad as some in other states with triple digit temperatures, wearing FR.
I bet it was brutal. I wear FR at work and it’s a bit cooler than the shirt in the video but not by much. For me it’s the pants that are killer, they don’t breathe. More than a few days it pushed 100 in my new little work shop and even in normal jeans I was dying lol.
I just came across several of these shirts for free , could not believe it . They feel more comfortable than the Lincoln welding shirts , though the Lincoln are lighter weight
Awesome deal lol. So far mine are holding up great. Definitely more durable than most of the welding jackets I have used (I have a Hobart and a Steiner brand).
Hi Greg.
I picked a few excellent tips on what to consider when looking into FR clothing, and thanks for the hints to Lori. You know that I love the red Lincoln gloves that you sometimes use. We have handled and touched unexpectedly hot pieces of metal more than once, and these saved our hands from burns. Cheers.
Hah it’s funny you mentioned those gloves, they have have been in my truck and I just found them. I ended up doing a emergency repair on site a little bit ago, and threw those on my center console only to have them fall behind the seat. You’ll be seeing those back again soon 😀
I heard a pipeline welder who gave this advice. Never, ever, wear anything with non fr synthetics. He told the story of how he saved a few bucks buying cheap jeans with a small percentage of synthetic for stretch. He lost the muscles on his lower leg when the synthetics burned and melted into his leg. It was a gruesome story. 100% cotton or wool. Or fr. Just saying.
Once plastics get cooking it’s like tar stuck to your skin. Definitely not something you want to try to remove. I know I had a set of welding gloves that had some form of silicone on them. Well the plastic got hot, and stayed hot even after I immediately removed my hand from the welded area. It felt like someone had a lighter to my skin still. Pretty dumb idea to make gloves out of a material like that for welding, I can’t imagine how bad pants would be 😮.
Really appreciate the vid. Seems quite timely after I gave myself a little sunburn with a welder over the weekend. Probably wasn't the best idea to be welding in a short sleeve shirt though. A set of those Lincoln sleeves would have been perfect. I'm going to check out those jackets also. Summertime welding is no joke!
Really appreciate all the advice, keep it up!
Haha I saw in that video you had mentioned the burn. I always wear long sleeves so I don’t burn my arms, but my neck gets burned if I forget to fully button up the shirt. I will have to do a video on wound help. I find “silvex” works great for arc burns.
Don’t screw around when welding regarding clothes. It’s not just the “burn” you can get. It’s the UV that causes cancer as well. Normal sunlight has longer wavelengths which tan and eventually can give cancer. But welding also has short wavelength UV which a much stronger carcinogen. It’s also cumulative. The effects don’t wear off.
@makingmistakeswithgreg 17:49 I like my Black Stallion BSX AH1631-NB Welding Cap as it covers both of my ears and as a plus it has a bill extension that covers my neck.
That’s a slick setup, never seen that. Beats the neck burns for sure 👍
I see from Lincoln, Miller, Bulwark with FR ratings or CAT 2 and arc-flash rated.... but no UVP ratings... is it safe to assume the welding shirts already offer UV protection?
Due to how thick the material is it would have to block all uv. I know I have spray arced at 300amps with no sun tan with that shirt, and I am white as a ghost. Your post brings up an excellent topic I will have to cover: UV exposure and proper clothing. I have a UV light and sensor. I bet a ton of normal clothing wouldn’t block much uv.
@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. Looking forward to the test results!
as old soviet union are welder uhm the only protection we got was a pair of leather gloves and a mask or google of your choosing other than that it was up to you back then men were men and equipment was not to be babyed i mean you got soft on your welder the damn thing would over heat you hade to have high amps high fan speed and common sences if not you died
welding requiers common sence wich is very uncommon