will010100

I sincerely hope there is a straight-forward answer to this question, but fear this will open a can of worms.

I have a two-layer fire suit, fire retardant underwear, and a standard (not Nomex) Cool Shirt. The question is is how to layer them.

Scenario 1: Sandwich the cool shirt with Nomex underwear against my skin. It will not cool as well, but in the event I actually need the fire protection, I will have an additional layer between me and the plastic tubes. Adversity, the tubes are one layer closer to the fire.

Scenario 2: Cool shirt against my skin for optimal cooling. The underwear outside offers an additional layer to protect the tubes from fire, but means one less layer between me and potentially melted plastic.

I am simply looking for the best practice given the materials on hand. Buying a Nomex Cool Shirt is not in the cards. Three layers should be plenty if layered correctly.

Snowmants

This opinion is totally unqualified, but just thinking about this with my own logic..... My opinion would be keep the plastic and the water away from the heat as much as possible under as much FR gear as possible. If the heat beneath your FR protective clothing is such that it is going to melt the plastic and boil the water right next to your skin, it is likely going to be burning your skin anyway.....

RedCelica

I'd go with #2. Keep as much of the fire retarded stuff on the outer layers as possible...buys you more time in the end.

will010100

Thanks. That would have been my plan, but the salesperson that sold me the suit told me a lot of customers sandwich the layers. That seemed rather odd to me, so I threw it out to see if there was a standard rule on how to layer them. (I didn't want to influence comments with the salesperson's input.)

I'm fairly sure Nomex will not block melted plastic. (It sure as hell doesn't stop scalding hot pork grease from soaking through an ove-glove.) Therefore, my objective will be to buy as much time as possible before the plastic melts. Unless someone comes forward with a sound reason to sandwich layers, I'll be wearing the cool shirt against my skin and protect it with as many FR materials as I have.

Thanks for your input.

RedCelica

You might consider wearing a cotton undershirt under the coolshirt it the thought still bothers you.