# AO Safety Woodworker's Respirator discontinued?



## jayman7

I use the 95190 respirator and I'm a big fan of it. I'm running out of replacement filters (95191) but I can't seem to find it anywhere. All the places that sell it like amazon and every other vendor, either has it out of stock or unavailable. Does anyone know if AO Safety is discontinuing this product line?


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## BurtC

I too, can not find the replacements. Shame… I really liked this one, guess I will have to buy something else.


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## BurtC

I emailed AO Safety, which is really 3M, and response was as follows:

"Aearo Company has been acquired by 3M Company and all AOSafety 
Respiratory protection products have been discontinued

You cannot use another manufacturers cartridges on an AOSafety mask. It is a NIOSH requirement that cartridges and filters do not interchange between manufacturers. They want to know that the unit that was tested and assigned an approval number has not been altered.

We do not sell direct. I would check places like Sears and other smaller outlets that might still have some on the shelf. "

Maybe can find some in a small hardware store somewhere….


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## jayman7

That's really unfortunate! Thanks for the heads up, Burt. Can anyone recommend a good respirator instead? The 3M 7500 looks like a good bet.


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## woodplay

Awe man. I use my AO unit and also haven't been able to find replacement cartridges after I just ran out. I bought the 3m unit last night but it was Very uncomfortable compared to the AO mask.

What did you guys buy?


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## bobj

I know this is an old thread, but I think I found a replacement filter for the AO mask. North Safety Products has a series of filters that look like they may work. The following filters have the same 3" diameter as the AO mask filter. The N95 Pre-Filter 7506N95 has a 95% efficiency, the N99 Non-Oil Particulate Filter 7506N99 has a 99% efficiency and the R95 Non-Oil Particulate Filter 7506R95 also has an efficiency of 95%. www.northsafety.com is the manufacturers website.

Even though 3M says you can't use another manufacturers filter in the AO mask, if it fits, I'll use it. That's their way to cover their butt legally and sell new masks.

I just ordered some from Amazon. I'll post again when I get them and see how they work.


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## bobasaurus

Interesting. I too had the same respirator for a long time and couldn't fine replacement filters. I bought one of the 3M masks instead.


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## BurtC

Thanks, bobj! I'll be ordering a set soon.


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## NiteWalker

jayman7, I have a 7500 series mask and use it for spraying. It's excellent. Very comfortable and with the right filters can be used for sanding too. I also have the 6000 series, and it's not as comfortable as the 7500.


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## History

I have the AOSafety mask also and I'll be interested to hear what you find out BobJDiscontinuing that mask is a dumb decision on 3M's part in my opinion.


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## jayman7

Wow, I completely forgot about this post from a while back.  Anyway, I did end up getting the 7500 and it's freaking awesome. I have the N100 pink filters for dust and switch to the charcoal filters when I spray. I hardly ever had to change out the pink filters as compared to the AO filters. I think I only changed them out once in the past several years. The AO filters clog about once a month with heavy use. Thanks for getting back to me though!


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## bobj

The North Safety filters work perfectly in the AO mask. I do have a new 3M mask that I use when spraying. I just hated to throw out the AO mask if I could find cheaper filters and use it for dusty work. Now I have 2 masks to work with depending on the job I'm doing.


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## History

Thanks Bob.


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## AlaskaGuy

How would someone looking for a respirator know what a 7500 is


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## DaveHuber

Bobj

Could you please provide a part or catalog # for north filters that fit AO mask?
I want to order right ones.

Thanks!!

Dave


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## bobj

I ordered the filters from Amazon. The Amazon description was "North 7506n95 N95 Prefilter for Non-Oil Based Aerosol Particulates (10 Pack)" and the part number was 7506N95.


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