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#90635 - 04/07/07 04:38 AM Anyone have Safe Escape smoke hood?
Arney Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/15/05
Posts: 2485
Loc: California
Well, I finally went and did it. My remaining EVACU8 smoke head just reached its expiration date so in the trash it went. My circumstances are quite different now than when I first bought these smoke hoods (living in NYC, taking subways, spending lot's of time in high rises, seeing the Twin Towers burn vs suburban life now) so I haven't decided if I will replace them yet, but I was wondering if anyone had bought the Safe Escape smokehood? That seems to be the most effective replacement in the same price range to the EVACU8. I'd be curious to hear any firsthand comments about it. Thanks!

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#90659 - 04/07/07 05:03 PM Re: Anyone have Safe Escape smoke hood? [Re: Arney]
falcon5000 Offline
Addict

Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 662
I find it disturbing that the EVACU8 had a design flaw that took 6 years to catch. This goes to show you that it is always a good idea to test the things we depend on and not rely on manufactures claims. What if you were caught in a fire and needed to EVAC and this device failed? At work we use ELSA packs which are good for 10 min. but they are bulky and not practical to carry around. I know in diving we have spare airs and I went with a 30 cuin bottle to give me more time. I got 30 minutes in a pool one time playing around with it. I breath off it always before a dive and refill it off my main and then refill my mains at the dive store.

RECALL NOTICE : In March 06 the manufacturer of these Smoke Hoods announced a recall on units sold between approx Sept 2000 and March 2006. If you bought a unit between those dates, contact the manufacturer to arrange for your unit to be exchanged.

http://www.thetravelinsider.info/travelaccessories/evacu8smokehood.htm
http://www.evacsafety.com/recall/Safety_Notice.html

Tests confirmed that use of these products in a smoke or fire emergency may expose the user to harmful carbon monoxide, which could seriously compromise their ability to escape a fire threat. Therefore, these products SHOULD NOT BE USED. The company is not aware of any incidents where a user of these products was exposed to harmful levels of carbon monoxide.


_________________________
Failure is not an option!
USMC Jungle Environmental Survival Training PI 1985

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#90661 - 04/07/07 05:51 PM Re: Anyone have Safe Escape smoke hood? [Re: falcon5000]
Arney Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/15/05
Posts: 2485
Loc: California
I know. I wish Brookdale would at least explain what the problem was otherwise we can only speculate. I'm sure that that EVACU8 was thoroughly tested when they first came out--the legal liability not to is too great not do a good job, in my opinion. I'm pretty sure that they would put batches aside and re-test them as they aged. I suspect that some units started underperforming in these routine tests over time due to some unforseen aging problem. Or maybe there was a rare problem from the start which was never encountered initially. Only as they tested more and more units over time did they finally discover it. Anyway, like I said, just pure speculation. Like you said, maybe there was a design flaw that should've been caught from the start. *shrug*

The recall notice say "may" expose users to CO, so it's not a definite problem for all units, so I kept mine. Actually, I had two but opened up one after the recall to see what the hood was like. The notice also says that no actual users were exposed to CO. Again, not knowing the nature of the problem, I figured that even if the CO-scrubbing performance isn't up to snuff in some units, it would still protect your head from flames and would most likely filter the other components of smoke. Better than nothing, I figured. Call it a calculated risk, and in my current circumstances, the critical need for a smoke hood is a lot lower than it was before so I was OK with that risk.

Yeah, you can't really test a smoke hood for CO yourself. What do we do? Lock ourselves in a closet with a charcoal grill and see if we come out alive 20 minutes later? wink


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#90705 - 04/08/07 01:14 PM Re: Anyone have Safe Escape smoke hood? [Re: falcon5000]
celler Offline
Addict

Registered: 12/25/03
Posts: 410
Loc: Jupiter, FL
Originally Posted By: falcon5000

RECALL NOTICE : In March 06 the manufacturer of these Smoke Hoods announced a recall on units sold between approx Sept 2000 and March 2006. If you bought a unit between those dates, contact the manufacturer to arrange for your unit to be exchanged.


Contrary to this information, the manufacturer never offered an "exchange" of the units, only a prorated refund based upon the remaining time on the unit before expiration.

Thus, there was never a replacement unit and it appears that the EvacU8 is no more based upon the bankruptcy of the manufacturer.

Craig.

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