Lately, we have been receiving calls from customers that are looking for a wet/dry vac that they are accustomed to seeing in the form of an electrical vacuum for their home work shop. They call us wanting a general clean up vacuum for their shop. The items they are looking to clean up are coolant, dust and chips. Our solution for this is to run two vacuums, and most people are asking why can’t it do both. The answer – cost.
Generally, people seeking EXAIR’s pneumatic vacuums already see the value in the durability of a vacuum with no moving parts to maintain or replace when comparing to electric vacuums. It is the simplest of dollar savings, the longer the product lasts and is maintenance free, the more money you will save from the absence of repair parts or new vacuums. And electric vacuums are notorious for burning up motors and not lasting within tough industrial environments. You can read about additional features/benefits within EXAIR’s pneumatic vacuum line here and here, but I will talk about our products specifications in detail.
EXAIR has two categories of vacuum, wet vacs and dry vacs. The original wet vac for vacuuming coolant, swarf, or oil is the Reversible Drum Vac (RDV), used to easily empty and fill coolant sumps quickly. The Chip Trapper features a filtration system which removes chips and debris that is within the coolant, keeping the coolant clean, extending the coolant life and minimizing surfaces for bacteria to grow. The Reversible Drum Vac and the Chip Trapper Systems use 19 SCFM of compressed air at 80 PSIG of and can fill a drum with 55 gallons of water in 90 seconds. These workhorse vacuums will last many years and withstand the rugged treatment found in hardworking manufacturing facilities.
In the other category of our industrial vacuums are the “dry” vacuums. This term “dry” is a little ambiguous, because the vacuums will be able to move some liquid. For instance, the liquid coating a chip or spills on the shop floor can easily be picked up with the dry vacuums. We have a number of dry vacuums available: The Chip Vac is a continuous duty vacuum used for general cleanup around machinery. The Chip Vac drum lid assembly can be used from drum to drum to aid in separating and recycling materials. Our Heavy Duty Dry Vac is best for applications vacuuming heavy materials, abrasive medias or longer distance (20′). And the Heavy Duty HEPA Vac is designed to provide protection from airborne particulate and is suited for dusty environments.
To compare EXAIR products with other pneumatic vacuums, let’s look at the Chip Vac (40 SCFM at 80 PSIG) and the RDV above (19 SCFM at 80 PSIG). Combining the two vacuums you would require (59 SCFM at 80 PSIG. If you search long enough, you could find a pneumatic vacuum that is advertised as wet/dry, but this ability comes at a cost. The most obvious cost is the upfront purchase price, which is consistently much higher than the combined cost of the (2) EXAIR units. Also the units range in air use from 68 SCFM to 110 SCFM. That is up to 86% more air required!
Let’s assume that you did run both constantly. The wet/dry vac will cost you $0.14 extra an hour to run, assuming that your compressed air cost is $0.25 per 1,000 SCF. That is really an unfair comparison to our products though, because we could have (2) vacuums operating at different locations in the plant accomplishing twice as much work. Even still the (2) EXAIR units will save $810 per year with 250 working days in a year and 24 working hours in a day.
$810 per year may not sound like to much to you. What if we change the scenario? How much air can you save? Let’s say you run a large wet/dry vacuum, which consumes 110 SCFM, everyday for 8 hours over 250 working days. The wet/dry vacuum will use 52,800 SCF per day or 13,200,000 SCF per year. This compress air will cost you $3,300 just to compress that air. By comparison, the Chip Vac will only cost you $1,200 per year to run in compressed air. Using the Chip Vac instead of the wet/dry vac, will save you $2,100 per year. in compressed air operating costs.
Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
Davewoerner@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_DW
