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I finally switched from silica sand to olivine sand and the difference in dust is completely night and day
I used to swear by silica for its heat resistance but after 3 years of coughing I gave olivine a shot last month and my respirator filter is way cleaner now so which do you guys think is actually safer for long term work?
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avery_foster313mo ago
Silica's been used forever and people have been fine, you're just trading one set of problems for another. Olivine breaks down faster under heat so you might end up inhaling more fine particles over time anyway. If you're really worried about safety, maybe focus on upgrading your ventilation instead of switching fancy sand brands.
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jessew833mo ago
Holding up fine doesn’t mean safe, it just means the damage takes longer to show up. Silica dust is literally cutting up lung tissue on a microscopic level, and that’s not a trade-off, that’s a ticking clock. Olivine might break down faster, sure, but that’s because it reacts with water and CO2, not because it’s turning into razor blades inside your respiratory tract. Upgrading ventilation helps with all particle types anyway, so that’s not really an argument for sticking with the known hazard. If you’re okay with incremental lung scarring as a baseline, then yeah, silica’s been “fine” for centuries.
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