Industrial Housekeeping: Vacuum Flow vs. Vacuum Pressure!

Published on by Jordan T Shouse

EXAIR has vacuums for wet, dry and wet/dry combinations. Shop floors and manufacturing areas can be filthy places with build up from machining, trash, those random spare bolts that are lying around that nobody knows where they belong or came from. An electric vac is a common choice for these kinds of issues, but they tend to burn out their motors as all electric motors will eventually do. Well, there is a solution to this issue and that is a compressed air powered vacuums system. Compressed air powered dry vacs bring the same power as your standard electric vac with one added bonus, they don’t wear out! As long as you supply clean dry air to the vacuum generator that powers the system the unit will run indefinitely. The main question is which system do I get? 

EXAIR has Three categories of industrial vacuums;

We have Dry Vacs,

(Left to right) Chip Vac, Heavy Duty Dry Vac, Heavy Duty HEPA Vac

These systems are best suited handling dry materials due to the high vacuum flow!

Wet Vacs,

EXAIR's new Chip Trapper

These systems are best suited handling fluids due to their high vacuum level!

Last but not least we have our Wet and Dry Vacuums;

Great for use with dry, wet and duty product due to the changeable filter!

Here are a few important features that each product has in common:

  1. 80-100 PSIG is needed for optimal performance with each system
  2. No Electricity needed
  3. No moving parts to break
  4. No motor to repair
  5. 1.5″ vacuum hose (standard is 10 ft long)
    • Inter changeable tools form one system to another
    • Static resistant hose available
  6. Designed to fit on standard 55 gallon drums (5, 30, and 110 gallon drum options are available on certain models).
  7. All have filters for dust / debris – most have options for the level of filtration required.
  8. Quieter than comparable electric vacuums.

So why are dry Vacuums better with higher vacuum flow and liquid vacuums better with lower flow but higher vacuum pressures? Well, that is pretty easy if you think about it! When you are moving a dry product what is moving with the product? Air! So, we need the higher vacuum flow in order to get enough air behind the product to convey it from your floor to the 55 Gallon barrel! And vice versa with a liquid vacuum, when the hose in submerged in a fluid it requires a higher vacuum pressure in order to get the fluid to lift into the barrel!

Then you have the unicorn. The Easy Switch Wet Dry Vacuum is powerful enough to pull high vacuum flows and vacuum levels to be a true dual-purpose vacuum! (It can also be operated with a HEPA filter!)

If you need help selecting the right vacuum for your facility, give us a call. We have a team of Application Engineers on the ready to take you calls and help pick a solution>

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

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