I first started applying NH3 when I was in high school. Somehow over the years I've never had anything that came close to an NH3 injury even though during some of that time period my understanding of how it all worked was not very advanced and my attitude towards safety was not very good. Have had some pretty serious equipment failures that worked out OK.

Anyway, over the last 5 or 10 years my understanding of everything associated with the equipment has increased dramatically, as has my attitude towards dealing with the product safely.

Always before we just used a pair of cheap goggles and a pair of black rubber gloves when we were dealing with the stuff. This year I went out and bought 1 full face mask with ammonia filters for each person that was going to be involved in the strip tilling operation.

I am astounded at how dramatically it has improved my attitude while dealing with the strip-till rig. I'm sure you all have experienced the agony. You want to grease the rig so you turn the valve on the tank off and then purge the rig. Then you go under there and start greasing. As I'm sure you all know, the rig probably needs to be purged overnight to be able to make it so you can grease without smelling anything. Of course, when you need to be greasing the wind decides to die down to absolutely nothing. So you take a deep breath and then go under and grease as much as you can and then run out and run as far away from the rig as you can before taking a cautious breath, hoping you're far enough away in the no-wind situation to be able to get some clean air in your lungs. Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

Same thing for repairs. Broken knives. Broken hoses. Plugged knives. Etc etc. Always trying to get by on the amount of air you can get in your lungs. Every job takes 3 or 4 times longer than it should because you simply cannot breath while you're near the rig.

Enter the full face mask with ammonia filters:

I'm telling you, they are worth their weight in gold. The mask comes with a protective bag so you don't have to worry about the face shield getting damaged while it's floating around in the cab of the tractor. You just don't smell the NH3. You can go under and grease or repair and not have to keep coming out for fresh air. I have no idea why I didn't do this long ago.

My only concern is that it will increase the probability of becoming complacent around NH3. If it's going to do that to you, in my opinion, you might as well just not buy it. Even with a mask like that, NH3 should not be taken lightly. However, as long as you're still going to take it seriously, I think it's a great investment. It really makes me feel a lot safer and definitely increases productivity when you have to be working around the machine that has been purged, but has been recently used.