HANS Devices and helmets

Hi guys.

This is a question for those who use HANS devices.

I'm deciding because of the nature of the beast that is using HANS devices i'm going to buy a new helmet and a new HANS device at the same time.

I'd just like people to say what helmets they use with their HANS devices and what they think works well for HANS devices, I know some helmets work better than others ergonomically when it comes to being used with HANS devices.

Thanks

Joe

 

Impact and HANS

I use a HANS with an Impact champ , works great.

 

hans + impact nitro =

 

Ditto on the Impact Nitro, the ONLY helmet I will ever use!

 

i use a Hans w/Impact Champ........love it. make sure you get the quick release tethers with your Hans.

 

Joe
I have an Impact nitro and a simpson FC bandit
have used them both with the hans no difference with the way they work with the helmet
I would probably say i like the nitro helmet better
the first thing i noticed is i dont use the air bottle much with it
i can relax better if i am in the car longer than i think i need to be because i am breathing outside air every breath
where as the simpson you recycle your air unless you turn on the fresh air bottle
In fact i am going to sell the simspon because of that very reason

 

Interesting comments about the nitro & bandit. To those who wear glasses, any thoughts on which works better with eyeglasses and whether fogging of the eyeglasses is any different with either? We will have fresh air on-board. Thanks.

 

Hi guys.

I was thinking of buying a impact nitro helmet but I found it oddly uncomfortable and claustrophobic with the gasmask section built so close to my face. Plus I do not need on board air system because I have a open roof!

I've bought a Simpson Diamondback for the hans device, posts are ready installed, just need to get the device itself now!

 

Do you feel the Diamondback significantly reduced the claustrophobic feeling, trying to find a helmet for my wife and she felt the same about the Nitro!! Any other thoughts on the best way to sample the fit / comfort on multiple styles without buying one of each!!!

Thanks,
Kent

 

Kent:

Most definitely. It felt like someone had their hand over my mouth wearing a nitro helmet and it also felt like no other air was getting into the re-breather system, so through risk of possibly hyper ventilating I didn't purchase one.

The Diamondback is a superb helmet, it's quite a physically big built helmet, but the padding around your cheekbones and the base of your neck is great and gives you really close fitting comfort without getting in the way of your mouth and nose. Even wearing my balaclava (singe opening balaclava, not the eye hole type) and the visor completely down the visor didn't fog up which is a first! I would recommend getting a Diamondback, it's a bit more money but you get what you pay for with that helmet. Best of luck with the helmet search, definitely look at a Diamondback though!

Going back to HANS devices, Obviously you have different angled devices depending on seating. I'd assume the correct one for a typical funny car / altered style leant back bucket seat would be the 30 degree angle?

 

an open cockpit is all the more reason to have a fresh air system (especially with the motor in front of you). these systems should be called 'positive pressure helmet systems' and NOT 'fresh air systems'. their purpose is to provide positive pressure inside the helmet... not fresh air for breathing. if you want to know where you are gonna get burned in the event of a fire... wear your racing helmet on a motorcylce and if you are really sensitive you will be able to feel on your face/neck anywhere that air leaks and/or travels into and around your helmet. the fire will follow and be directed by this airflow and that is where you will burn.. usually up the neck/ears and around the visor.

none of these helmets are able to seal 100% and anywhere air can travel (pressurized at 200mph usually) is where they fire is gonna go. so by putting positive pressure into the helmet you push air OUT of the 'leaks' and 'gaps' therefore not allowing the fire/smoke/heat to enter.

 

surely breatheable air pushing out of the helmet isn't going to do anyone any favours, just adding oxygen to any fire

glad to hear the positive reports on Impact Nitro's with HANS as I've just bout a Nitro and getting a HANS device for 2008

 

since your helmet is a 'somewhat sealed' environment it doesn't take much air pressure to create a positive flow moving out of the helmet therefore pushing the fire away. and even though this air contains 21% oxygen it will only improve your chances of not getting burned (unlike the 21% oxygenated air traveling at 200mph trying to find its way INTO your helmet and carrying flames/heat) as you try to stop your hot rod. it's similar to the positive pressure mask i wear at work in 2000 degree house fires.

if the fire you were trying to avoid was in an oxygen deficient environment (like a house during a fire) you would be correct about not wanting to introduce relatively higher oxygenated air into the equation... but since this scenario is whippin down a drag strip in the open air... fresh positive pressure air inside your helmet is a very good thing.

 

i honestly don’t know specifically what filters are installed in the nitro helmet. i would assume they are a particulate filter. we wear a NATO gas-mask during warm ups and i don’t notice any nitro odor/fumes/etc. i would be really surprised if impact/nitro filters were as effective as the NATO ones but even a particulate filter is going a long way towards cleaning the air of fuel particles whether they be nitro or alcohol before you breath it. most helmets offer no filtering of any kind for the air your lungs are drawing into the helmet… which can only be a bad thing. and i think impact did a wise thing by installing a nose cone to direct the air through those filters but they messed up when they stopped short of installing a positive one-way valve and effective exhalation port for when you breath out. this would have gone a long ways towards eliminating helmet fogging. our FD SCBA masks seal very well around the nose/mouth. you can feel the exhalation valve open when you exhale and it forces the air out a dedicated exhalation port. barring an environment with drastic temperature differences (cold weather fire, etc) there is very little fogging even when the air supply is disconnected.

in responding to the comments about the ‘bottled air’ making a fire worse or drawing it into the helmet well that is simply not the case. it’s kinda like when kids see the SCBA bottle on my back and ask me about my ‘oxygen tank’… yeah you couldn’t pay me enough money to go into a burning house with an oxygen tank on my back. but at 21% oxygen the air in that bottle provides life sustaining air and enough pressure to keep your mask clear… which most guys don’t think about until they are in a house fire for a while, working and sweating their ass off only to realize their mask has come loose or is leaking. only then do you learn why there is positive pressure… it keeps your mask clear of everything. it has to cause if it you pull it off you’re usually dead (and the environment will kill you long before the flames do)

in the impact helmets the air ports are directed from above and point down toward the visor. which is the most likely place to need protection. all in all i think impact did a hell of a job on this helmet… plus it looks bad ass.

as for other safety gear… i like to wear a head sock with mine even though the nitro has a built in sock. when it comes to fire protection its all about layers. you have to build up the layers to allow for an ‘air space’. for the most part the nomex will not burn until the material itself is heated to nearly 1000* and the air trapped in between the layers is a terrible heat conductor… so the key is to build up layers to trap air in order to keep from transferring the heat to the driver (or FF). in a house fire you can poke or nudge your partner… but if you grab/squeeze him you will usually steam burn your handprint onto him because you crush the airspace in his gear and force steam into contact with his skin. same thing holds true for drivers… when a guy has a bad funny car fire where do they always get burned? eyes (visor leaking), hands (from squeezing the layers), back of the legs (crushing the layers at the front of the seat). i hope all of this makes sense. and btw… i’m in no way looking to argue anything. but i make my living by knowing how to go into environments that are often 2000* and not getting hurt. doesn’t leave much room for guessing or making mistakes.

 

Regarding fires and the Nitro helmet. I can tell you from experience the Nitro works! Had a BAD one a couple years ago and the Doc's told me it probably saved my life! The only thing "white" on me was my mouth and nose under the "mask". The helmet now sits on the trophy case as a testament to safety! As I said earlier, THE ONLYhelmet I will ever use!!

 

Altered Boy,

Do you think there is any real reason to have the regulator limiting the air flow to the helmet? It seems like you could control the flow with the ball valve just as well and even get some additional air flow to the helmet on the really hot days.

What is your thoughts on this?

Nice informative posts by the way, Thanks for sharing the info.

Rapid

 

May I ask who makes or sells the Diamondback?? Thanks.

 

Simpson makes the Diamondback

 

randy... i wouldn't want to run one without the regulator in place. for starters you would need to adapt from cga fittings (on the bottle) down to pipe type threads which is because those bottles are typically 2216psi or 3000psi and cga threads are gas/pressure specific (in this application). at that pressure regulating it with only a ball valve into your helmet would be touchy at best... and really entertaining at worst (at least from the outside).

i'm not 100% sure... but the guy in our house that is certified to rebuild our scba's said he thought the regulators cut it down to around 50psi (which is all dependant upon total bottle pressure). he helped me build my system from some fd gear i bought from an equipment supplier.

 

Thanks Mudjeep.