Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

One of the things I love doing is problem-solving and troubleshooting. Problem-solving is an essential skill here at EXAIR.

Many of our products are easy to set up and install, with little to no maintenance. However, there are some instances when there can be multiple variables that can have an impact on performance. Being able to isolate these, and methodically and systematically work through each one will lead to better results, and keep your EXAIR compressed air product running longer.

First, you want to make sure that you don’t have any leaks. Checking all connections and ensuring there are no cracks or splits for the air to escape. Our Ultrasonic Leak Detector can help find these.

If you have verified that there are no leaks affecting your device, the next thing to check is the air pressure that you are operating it at. When we ask what pressure an end user is using, we often hear how much pressure they are getting out of the compressor. This is rarely the pressure that you’ll see at the point of use. Using a pressure gauge and a pipe tee at the inlet is an effective way to verify this. There are many reasons why you will experience pressure drops, including restrictive fittings, undersized lines, or improper maintenance.

This leads nicely into the next step. If you are not seeing high enough operating pressure, where are the restrictions coming from? Locating and removing any restrictive fittings, like quick connects or push-to-connect fittings is essential. Our 24″ Super Air Knife uses 69.6scfm at 80psig. A 1/2″ quick connect could throttle the air flow down to 50scfm, which would starve the Super Air Knife and hinder performance.

After eliminating any restrictive fittings, replacing any undersized lines is next on our list. Using our same example of a 24″ Super Air Knife, the minimum I.D. required for the in-feed pipe is 1/2″ for a run of 10′ or less. If the run is over 50′ we would need to go up to a 3/4″ pipe, and for over 100′ we would have to double the I.D. to 1″ in order to see the same results.

The final best practice would be to make sure the compressed air is clean and moisture free. Even the cleanest compressed air systems will accumulate contaminants over time, which can build up and clog the precisely machined EXAIR product. Ensuring that you have point-of-use filtration with a Filter Separator will keep your products running maintenance free for longer.

If you would like to discuss your application, and see if we can identify any problems that may be impacting your products’ performance, then give us a call at 1-800-903-9247. We’d love to help you get the best out of our products. 

Al Wooffitt

Application Engineer

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Photo by Kevan.  Creative Commons CC0 Public Domain
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay