Just thought I'd post some impressions after actually trying wearing an EVACU8 smokehood for educational purposes.

First, I am fully aware that the EVACU8 smokehood was recalled. I never sent mine back since I am close to the unit's expiration date. I will be moving in the near future and am trying to pare down my possessions, so I decided to open up one of my EVACU8's and try it on. Perhaps this post will generate some food for thought for other people when they consider buying a smoke hood in the future.

I have been a big fan of the EVACU8 for quite some time. I thought it was an excellent blend of small size, durable container, CO-filtering performance, reasonable price, plus the reassuring feeling that it was by a big name corporation like DuPont/Brookdale. I was sad to see it recalled. Anyway, despite owning one for a long time, I had never actually opened one up--until now.

Here's what I discovered in my brief experiment:

* The Kapton hood (like cellophane) is folded up nice and neat and sort of pops out like a cellophane spring when you twist open the top. However, the hood is still folded very tightly initially. Partly, it is the stiffness of the material and maybe partly due to static, but I had to peel the layers of the hood apart to get it fully deployed. If it was pitch dark and I had no idea how the hood would initially come out of the case, I think I might have some trouble visualizing how to unfold it in the dark in a high-stress situation. With all that adrenaline pumping, I think my fingers might fumble with peeling the folded hood open, too. I suppose that's a safety concern.

* I have a rather large head and the hood went on easily. The neck opening is as wide as the hood itself. Oh, I just realized that I forgot to try with my glasses on. Sorry, can't comment on eye glasses. The hood is clear amber, like cellophane, and visibility is decent. I could read something held up close. The wall clock was rather blurry but I could see my environment fine. The neck opening closes by pulling the left and right drawstrings (thin ribbons, actually).

* Breathing is done through a mouthpiece (like a scuba regulator) that you bite down on. Although the entire unit is compact and seems lightweight in your hand, once you have the mouthpiece on, I realized it is not as lightweight as I thought. I guess it's because you have this object sticking straight out from your mouth and its length multiplies the apparent weight of the unit. My jaw would have fatigued rather quickly if I had to support the weight of the unit with just my jaw muscles for a while. Otherwise, the most comfortable positions to be in were either supporting the unit with one hand (like holding a can of soda near your mouth), or else tilting your chin down so that the weight of the unit is somewhat supported by your chest. Crawling low with the unit hanging straight down was not bad.

* I tried wearing it for the full 20 minutes that it is rated for. I only got as far as 10 minutes. With this big mouthpiece holding your mouth open, I was slobbering all over myself and the saliva was running down my chin, my neck, and onto my shirt so I stopped. Of course, in a real fire, who cares, but my wife was giving me a hard time about it so I stopped at that point.

* Your exhaled breath empties into the hood, which supposedly generates a bit of positive air pressure to keep smoke out. That may be so, but it also causes condensation to build up on the interior surface of the hood. I was breathing normally, just sitting, and I could see some condensation. If, in addition to breathing, I were also sweating, whether from exertion or fear or whatever, I think the hood would get pretty fogged up. I'm not certain how much that would compromise vision, but it's a concern.

* There is some breathing resistance through the filter. I forgot to try really huffing and puffing with it, but I think I would have trouble getting enough air if I were exerting myself trying to escape. Brookdale advertised the airflow resistance as a natural way of curbing hyperventilation in a high stress situation.

* The air coming from the filter was quite dry. Supposedly that's related to some catalytic reaction going on inside the filter. The dry air was not a problem after 10 minutes, but if I had tried getting to 20 minutes, I might have started to want to cough repeatedly because my airway would be getting dry. Just something to note.

* There is also a noseclip attached to the mouthpiece so you only breathe in air from your mouth that has gone through the filtering unit. The clip is strong and I found it quite painful as I neared the 10 minute mark, but it does work. I wonder if synchronized swimmers use equally strong noseclips??? Ouch!

* The hood makes quite a bit of noise. Sitting still, I can easily hear the TV or someone talking to me, but once you start moving around, hearing becomes very difficult with all that crinkly noise.

* Unfortunately, with a mouthpiece on, you can't speak. It was awkward trying to temporarily remove the mouthpiece to speak, then put it back on. Part of the problem is the noseclip, which is attached to the mouthpiece, but it can be clipped back on from outside the hood, without having to open up the neck hole to get a hand back inside the hood.

* The Kapton hood is advertised as "flame-resistant" although I wondered if that meant it would also act as an insulator. I don't think so. Later on, I held the Kapton material (after taking it off!) over a candle. It did not shrink or blacken, however, it was extremely hot while it was directly in contact with the flame. As soon as you remove it from the heat source, it is cool to the touch. Very tough stuff, it seems.


I have not yet purchased a replacement, althought the Safe Escape smoke hood is probably what I will eventually buy. Some of its feature should be pluses based on my brief experiment with the EVACU8. First, many hoods have an internal mask that fits over the mouth and nose, so you can breathe normally, instead of using that torturous noseclip. Plus you can try speaking without removing anything. Secondly, the filter/mask unit on other hoods I have seen is usually held in place by straps that go around the back of your head, which should be much, much comfortable than relying on your jaw muscles to hold the filter in place. Fogging is probably an issue with all hoods, but I think most smoke hoods vent exhaled breath outside of the hood, so that should help.

That said, you couldn't beat the compact size of the EVACU8. Very, very handy. It really bums me that it had a potential problem scrubbing CO. Anyway, thanks for reading this rather long post.

Arney,

Really appreciated your insights regarding the the EVACU8 hood as I've got several for personal use and we also have several at work for our building evacuation teams. My/our purchasing decisions were made on much the same basis as your logic and we're also frustrated about the recall being needed.

Interestingly enough, despite having sent in registration information, it does not appear that we ever received notice of the recall and only became aware of it through ETS after the expiration date of the recall notice.

Nonetheless, we are holding on to them until an upgrade can be obtained. Our basic thinking is that even though it may not filter the CO as well as originally indicated, it will still filter a lot of other yucky stuff until we can get out.

What we were sadly lacking though is a good user report and that you took the time to do so is really outstanding.

Now all we know some things to watch out for in using this and other products. Good job!

Regards,
Comanche7

Thanks, Commanche7 and NightHiker, for your kind remarks.

Just some more thoughts. In the work setting, I can envision the difficulty speaking with the EVACU8 on being a particular problem. In the places where I have worked, you have "fire wardens" who go around checking the rooms and directing people to the exits. It's tough to give directions, reassure frightened people, etc. when you can't speak easily. Then again, depending on the size of your staff and workplace, maybe everyone is capable of just LEAVING when the fire alarm goes off or smoke starts filling the office so talking is not so important and it's only a sort distance to the outside.

As I mentioned in my first post, I think the fact that the hood is tightly folded initially means that people should be informed of what the hood should look like fully deployed. When you first twist off the top, you just see this strap-like piece of cellophane (Kapton) unfurl a bit from inside the "can." If you don't know that you're supposed to unfold this folded up thing to expand the hood, I could envision stressed and panicky people thinking that they're just supposed to pull on this strap-like thing, and then keep pulling until something breaks.

Anyway, I think people should be told, or even better, shown what the deployed EVACU8 should look like so that they have a mental picture of what they're trying to get if they ever have to use it. It's like the life preservers on airliners. Y'know how they often have these straps that you bring around from the left and right and clip on somewhere. Then pull back on these other left and right tabs to tighten. It seems fairly logical when the crew demonstrates it, but if I had never seen one demonstrated before and didn't have a mental picture of what I was trying to achieve, I don't think I could figure out that donning procedure in an emergency situation where seconds count.

I don't wear dentures, but I'm wondering if people with dentures might have problems with the mouthpiece. Like I said, the unit's length sticking straight out tends to make it want to pull at your teeth. If your dentures aren't secured well or if you aren't biting down hard enough, I suppose your dentures could become disloged just from the weight of the EVACU8.

Anyway, just more EVACU8 musings.

I would love to hear anyone else's comments who own any other brand of smoke hood, particularly the Safe Escape. Too bad I didn't buy some before the EVACU8 recall. I remember that you could get them for around $35 each pre-recall, but now they're double that. Basically, the Safe Escape seems to have positioned itself as the EVACU8 substitute, with a similar price to the EVACU8.