On the first of this month, my co-worker Jason wrote a blog about our case study program. Check it out here. Case Study: Make Your Case. He did a great job breaking the case study program down, and how it can save you money on compressed air and even get a credit to save money on the purchase of EXAIR products. It inspired me to write about one of the most common case studies I send to customers!
You can read and download the case study at the bottom of this blog, but below are the key points!
It is pretty common to get calls about blow-off guns not complying with OSHA dead end pressure and allowable noise exposure. And 9 out of 10 times we can help with that concern along with the added benefit of being more efficient and saving compressed air supply.
Before EXAIR, this customer used open-ended guns with large cross-drilled holes, while these cross-drilled holes allowed the guns to be compliant with the OSHA dead end pressure standard 29 CFR 1910.242(b) they resulted in a staggering 104 dBA. And because of how often they were being used they were not in compliance with OSHA 29 CFR 1910.95(a) allowable noise exposure. Not to mention, these guns consumed a whopping 49 SCFM @ the 80 PSIG supply pressure.
After EXAIR, in total, after a short testing phase, they bought 355 model 1250-12 Safety Air Guns. The 1250-12 reduced the sound level to 82 dBA (a 22 dBA reduction) and reduced the air consumption to 35 SCFM @ 80 PSIG (a 14 SCFM reduction).
When you worked the math out over a working year, they saved over $28,506.50 dollars in compressed air generation costs. And brought the sound level into compliance with their environment and working patterns. (Not to mention the $1,500 USD credit they got for providing the case study information)
EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products have been making things better for compressed air users for over forty years. If you’d like to find out how MUCH better we can make things for you, give me a call.
Compressed air guns are one of the most commonly used pneumatic products in manufacturing plants. They are used at workstations to blow off debris and clean parts and tools. Because of the large quantities that are used in a plant, they are the most targeted by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). The majority of the common brands of airguns fail to comply with two directives, rule 29CFR 1910.95(a) for noise levels and rule 29CFR 1910.242(b) for dead-end pressure. The reason for this is due to the type of nozzles that come with the typical compressed air guns. OSHA fines can be very expensive, and you can alleviate these penalties by purchasing an EXAIR Safety Air Gun. Safety is everyone’s responsibility: management, the HSE department (Health and Safety Engineer), supervisors, and even the operators.
With EXAIR Safety Air Guns, we supply an efficient, effective, and, most importantly, safe air nozzle with all of our air guns. They are CE Compliant and exceed the OSHA sound level and dead-end pressure requirements, even above 30 PSIG (2 bar). With substandard air guns, the operators will have to listen to loud noises all day or wear hearing protection. And for the dead-end pressure, the EXAIR nozzles are engineered to not allow the operator to completely block the end of the nozzle with their hand or skin. This is very important because if the pressure exceeds 30 PSIG, air can penetrate the skin and cause an air embolism. With our design, the compressed air is able to escape, and the pressure against the skin will not exceed 30 PSIG, even with the compressed air pressure set at 100 PSIG. Safety is a major concern for all of our customers and a priority for EXAIR in manufacturing our products.
As I mentioned above, the nozzles are one of the most significant parts of making a compressed air gun safe and OSHA compliant. Combining our engineered nozzles with a quality air gun makes the EXAIR Safety Air Guns one of the best products in the market. We currently have six different styles; the VariBlast Precision, VariBlast Compact,Soft Grip, Heavy Duty, Super Blast, and TurboBlast Safety Air Guns. These Safety Air Guns are ergonomically designed to comfortably fit in your hand. They come with quality trigger mechanisms and durable valve assemblies. The VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns are great for tight spaces and clearing out small holes. The VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns have a cast aluminum body for rugged use with our smaller air nozzles. The Soft Grip Safety Air Guns provide extra comfort for long, extended uses, and the Heavy Duty Safety Air Guns are rugged, heavy-duty industrial air guns with nozzles for larger forces. The Super Blast and TurboBlast Safety Air Guns use our largest nozzles for cleaning large areas quickly. In combination with the EXAIR nozzles, the Safety Air Guns can offer another important attribute; we can save you money!!! Compressed air is very expensive to make, and with our Safety Air Guns, we use less compressed air but still create a strong blowing force. We do this by entraining the free ambient air into the air stream. If you increase the mass of air at the target, it will give you a hard-hitting force to remove debris from surfaces or clean tools and holes. The amplification ratio can be as high as 25 to 1. That means that for every part of compressed air that it uses, the EXAIR Nozzles will entrain 25 parts of free ambient air. This will add mass to the airstream, which provides for a powerful impact. Also, the payback period for using an EXAIR Nozzle with our Safety Air Guns can be within weeks due to the savings in electrical costs from your air compressor. With EXAIR products, we were able to partner with Energy Star and power facilities. For the amount of energy saved, some power companies offer rebates for using EXAIR products.
A substandard blow-off gun is unsafe, loud, and wasteful. EXAIR Safety Air Guns can help improve these situations. They are OSHA-compliant, very safe, and very quiet. They use less compressed air, which saves you money. And with a variety of different nozzles, they can better fit your application to decrease downtime. In the U.S. and Canada, EXAIR offers a 30-day unconditional guarantee on our cataloged items so you can try them out. You can see for yourself how effective these compressed air guns can be. If you need help matching the best Safety Air Gun to your application, you can contact an Application Engineer. And during the next two months, take advantage of the free Model 6013 High Velocity Air Jet, a $103.00 complimentary gift.
After mowing the lawn, I always blow the driveway & sidewalk off with a leaf blower. Then, before pulling the riding lawn mower back into the garage, I blow off the deck with the leaf blower too, and it always looks like it does a great job. The other day, though, I had to replace the drive belts, so I removed the deck and found an awful lot of grass trimmings had accumulated in the inner recesses. No matter how much air my leaf blower moves (and it moves a LOT), I would have needed a much more focused flow to get into some of those tight spaces.
Tight, focused flow – the VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns can be fitted with our three smallest, most focused Super Air Nozzles – Atto, Pico, and Nano:
Not only do they create the most focused airflow patterns, these Super Air Nozzles are also small enough to fit in pretty tight quarters themselves.
Hard-hitting force – VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns can also be fitted with the Atto, Pico, or Nano Super Air Nozzles for the tightest airflow patterns, as well as several others if higher flow & force are required.
For more aggressive applications, VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns with 1″ High Power Flat Super Air Nozzles can apply up to 1 pound of force.
Extended reach – the VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns are available with 12″ and 20″ 316SS extensions, and the VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns can come with straight rigid aluminum extensions up to 72″ long.
Chip Shields – regardless of whether you need extensions for extra reach, these can all be supplied with Chip Shields. These are especially useful (and are included as standard) on the VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns with Back Blow Air Nozzles.
Atto Back Blow Air Nozzles can blow out recesses or holes as small as 1/4″ in diameter.
Operator control – this is the key feature of the VariBlast models. Most handheld airguns have spool valve-type triggers that are really just on/off operation. They can offer some crude amount of throttling, but the variable pull trigger of the VariBlast Safety Air Gun provides precise control, and they’re ergonomic to boot. Here’s a short video that shows just how precise the control is with a VariBlast Precision Safety Air Gun.
Compressed air isn’t cheap, and if you use cheap, non-engineered blow-offs, you’re going to pay WAY more to operate them than you have to. If you want to find out how the VariBlast Precision or Compact Safety Air Guns – or any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products – can help you get the most out of your compressed air system, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
We all know how crucial safety is in the workplace. Most companies conduct some type of annual safety training, and a key takeaway from these sessions is that safety isn’t just the job of a few individuals; it’s everyone’s responsibility. At EXAIR, we take safety very seriously. Many of our products are designed with safety as a priority, including our Safety Air Guns, which highlight our commitment to this principle. This focus is essential because using compressed air can pose health risks if not handled correctly.
In the U.S., OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is the agency that enforces regulations to ensure safe and healthy work environments. They have the authority to impose hefty fines for any violations. When it comes to compressed air, two common violations involve air guns and blow-off devices, as outlined in 29CFR 1910.242(b) regarding dead-end pressure/chip shielding and 29CFR 1910.95(a) concerning maximum noise exposure limits.
The first regulation, 29CFR 1910.242(b), pertains to hand-held tools. It specifies that blow-off devices should not be used at pressures exceeding 30psig if the compressed air can become dead-ended. If there’s no escape route for the air, it can penetrate the skin and lead to an air embolism. A straightforward solution is to drill a hole to provide an alternate escape path, although this can introduce other safety concerns, which we’ll cover later. EXAIR’s air nozzles are designed with fins that allow air to escape safely, preventing blockage by your skin. This means you can confidently use the EXAIR Super Air Nozzles at pressures above 30psig.
The second regulation, 29CFR 1910.95(a), outlines the maximum sound levels that a person can safely be exposed to. Prolonged exposure to high sound levels can lead to permanent hearing damage. This is where the cross-drilled nozzle doesn’t quite meet the mark. While it’s safe for dead-end pressure, the noise from the turbulent airflow is quite loud. In contrast, EXAIR’s nozzles are designed to pull in surrounding air, creating a much quieter laminar flow. For instance, our Model 1210 Safety Air Gun, which features the Model 1100 Nozzle, operates at just 74dBA, well below the noise exposure limit for an 8-hour shift.
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).
If you’re serious about compressed air safety, EXAIR’s range of safe, quiet, and efficient Safety Air Guns and Air Nozzles is an excellent option for your facility. Feel free to reach out if you want to chat about this or any other compressed air applications you might have!
