Efficiency Lab Leads To Big Savings

Published on by Russ Bowman

EXAIR Corporation manufactures quiet, safe, and efficient compressed air products for industry. We want our customers to get the most out of our products, and, in turn, their compressed air systems. To do that, we offer a unique service called the EXAIR Efficiency Lab. Here’s how it works:

  • An Application Engineer can arrange to have your existing compressed air device(s) sent in to our facility.
  • We’ll use our calibrated test equipment to measure the compressed air consumption, sound level, and force applied of those devices.
  • You’ll receive a detailed test report, along with our recommendations to implement an efficient, quiet, and safety compliant solution.
  • We’ll even send your tested device(s) back to you, at no charge, if you wish.

I recently had the pleasure of conducting just such a test on some air guns.  The caller was the Environmental Health & Safety Director for a plastics manufacturer.  The main concern was safety compliance…a recent audit had shown that some workstations were using handheld blowoff devices that did not comply with OSHA standard 1910.242(b), which limits dead end pressure of compressed air products used for cleaning to 30psi.

After discussing their typical uses for these (and other) air guns, they sent in a couple for testing.  Here’s what we found out:

“Thumb guns” are especially popular for blowoff because of their compact size, ergonomic design. and low price.

The air gun with the 7″ straight extension (top) is a “textbook” example of non-compliance with OSHA standard 1910.242(b).  Because it has an open-end discharge with no relief path, this one could cause an air embolism if it were inadvertently dead-ended into the operator’s skin – a potentially fatal condition.  It also uses a considerable amount of compressed air, and is quite loud.  At 80psig supply pressure:

  • Compressed air consumption is 40.7 SCFM
  • Noise level is 95.5dBA
  • Force applied, at a distance of 12″, is 13oz

For comparison’s sake, EXAIR Model 1210-6 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun is fitted with our Super Air Nozzle, on the end of a 6″ rigid extension:

  • Compressed air consumption is 14 SCFM
  • Sound level is 74dBA
  • Force applied, at a distance of 12″, is 13oz…same as theirs.
Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air is fitted with an EXAIR Super Air Nozzle. We can also supply it with a Rigid Extension and Chip Shield (right).

The other one is OSHA compliant (it can’t be dead-ended…the cross-drilled hole provides a relief path, but it was still pretty inefficient and loud.  At our standard test pressure of 80psig:

  • Compressed air consumption is 30.8 SCFM
  • Noise level is 94.8dBA
  • Force applied, at a distance of 12″, is 16.9oz

Although the force generated by the Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun isn’t quite as high as theirs, it’s still our recommendation here.  Oftentimes, the flow and velocity generated by the engineered Super Air Nozzle is more than capable of meeting the needs of the typical blow off applications these types of air guns are used in.

EXAIR Efficiency Lab testing proves that replacing these air guns with our Soft Grip Safety Air Guns (or at least replacing the tips with EXAIR Super Air Nozzles…we also have adapters for that) will result in compressed air savings of 66% and 55%, respectively, and lower sound levels to within OSHA standard 1910.95(a) limits:

All EXAIR Soft Grip Safety Air Guns comply with these limits for 8 hour exposure.

If you’d like to know more about the efficiency & safety (or lack thereof) of your current air blow off devices, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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