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How Breathability is Measured in Your Gear
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THL vs RET Knowing Your Numbers Can Make a Difference
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When it comes to evaluating the breathability of firefighting gear, two tests can provide insight: THL and RET. Let’s walk through how these tests are ran and what information they provide.
Using the Sweating Guarded Hot Plate, the RET test focuses strictly on wet heat loss or evaporation. The result is a value that indicates how much resistance your turnout gear layers create for evaporation (aka sweat vapor) to move through them. So, a lower number or less resistance is better. The environment at which this test is ran is 95°F with 40% relative humidity – similar to a response scenario.
Also using the Sweating Guarded Hot Plate, the THL test renders its results through a complex equation that calculates a combination of wet heat loss (evaporation) plus a dry heat loss (through conduction) achieved by your turnout gear layers. So, a higher number is better. The environment at which this test is ran is 77°F with 65% relative humidity.
Because your body’s ability to lose heat through conduction is eliminated in warmer or sunny conditions and it solely relies on evaporative cooling, it’s extremely important to consider your gear’s Resistance to Evaporation of Sweat (RET) value. In fact, recent studies confirmed that RET values provide a better correlation to actual human physiological impact, whereas THL does not.
Learn more about measuring breathability in this short video.
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WARNING: No products, including garments and accessories, protect completely, even when new; their protective performance will decline with wear, tear, abrasion, and other damage associated with use.
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