EXAIR Back Blow Nozzles and Air Guns

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

In the fast-paced world of industrial manufacturing, keeping equipment clean is crucial. Chips, coolant residue, and debris can accumulate inside pipes, tubes, hoses, and channels, leading to downtime, reduced performance, and even safety hazards. Traditional forward-blowing air tools often push contaminants deeper into these confined spaces or out the wrong end, creating more problems than they solve. Enter EXAIR’s Back Blow Nozzles and Air Guns—a game-changing solution designed to tackle these challenges head-on. If you’re new to these tools or just curious about how they work, I highly recommend checking out this insightful video blog from one of our Application Engineers. It offers a close-up look at the nozzles in action inside a pipe, demonstrating their 360-degree airflow in real time. It’s a quick, eye-opening demo that perfectly illustrates the “back blow” magic.

What Are Back Blow Nozzles?

At their core, EXAIR Back Blow Nozzles are engineered precision tools made from durable Type 316 stainless steel (SS) to withstand harsh industrial environments. Unlike standard nozzles that blast air forward, these feature an array of holes around the nozzle’s circumference that blow backwards. This creates a powerful, uniform 360-degree airflow pattern that “wipes” the internal surfaces clean as it travels backward toward the operator. The result? Debris, chips, and coolant are pulled out and ejected safely—without forcing them further into the pipe or creating projectiles that could fly out the far end. This backward-directed flow is especially valuable for:

  • Cleaning blind holes and dead-end channels.
  • Clearing long tubes where forward blowing is impractical.
  • Removing sticky or stubborn buildup from machining processes.

All EXAIR Back Blow Nozzles comply with OSHA standards for noise (29 CFR 1910.95(a)) and dead-end pressure (29 CFR 1910.242(b)), ensuring they are safe for operators while delivering high performance.

The Lineup: Sizes for Every Application EXAIR offers three Back Blow Nozzle models, each optimized for specific pipe diameters. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Power Up with Safety Air Guns

While the nozzles shine on their own, attaching them to an EXAIR Safety Air Gun takes functionality to the next level. These guns feature ergonomic designs, automatic shutoff valves, and variable force options to reduce fatigue and enhance control. Plus, they’re OSHA-compliant, with dead-end pressures well below the 30 psi limit to prevent injuries from air bursts. Here are the key air gun options compatible with Back Blow Nozzles:

  • VariBlast Compact Safety Air Gun: A lightweight, variable-force tool with a rugged aluminum body and ergonomic grip. Ideal for the 1004SS nozzle in smaller applications—perfect for quick, precise clean outs without overkill.
  • Soft Grip Safety Air Gun: Built for extended use, this features a cushioned handle and full-grip trigger to minimize hand strain during long shifts. Available with 1004SS or 1006SS nozzles, plus extensions up to 72″ and optional Chip Shields for blow back protection.
  • Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun: Tough as nails for demanding environments, with a reinforced handle and high-impact durability. Pairs well with the 1006SS for reliable performance in gritty workshops.
  • Super Blast Safety Air Gun: The powerhouse of the bunch, delivering maximum force for the 1008SS nozzle. Extensions up to 6 feet make it a beast for large-scale pipe cleaning, like hydraulic cylinders or industrial conduits.

No matter which gun you choose, adding a Chip Shield is a smart move—it keeps flying debris away from the operator, turning a potential hazard into a hassle-free task.

Heavy Duty Back Blow Safety Air Guns come with Chip Shields, and Rigid Extensions from 6″ to 72″ in length.

If you have an application you would like to discuss, give us a call!

Jordan Shouse, CCASS

Application Engineer

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Cold Fraction Explained

Published on by jasonkirbyLeave a comment

EXAIR has published numerous articles detailing the functionality and applications of Vortex Tubes. This innovative technology, which produces cold air without the use of Freon or mechanical components, is rooted in physical principles and has been known by various names, such as the Ranque Tube, Ranque-Hilsch Tube, and Maxwell’s Demon. Today, it is commonly referred to as the Vortex Tube, capable of generating air temperatures as low as -50 °F (-46 °C) through the high-speed rotation of compressed air. In this article, I will discuss how to adjust the Vortex Tube to achieve varying temperatures and cooling effects, focusing on the concept of Cold Fraction.

The term “Cold Fraction” refers to the proportion of supply air allocated to the cold end of a system. A higher Cold Fraction indicates an increased flow and temperature of the cold air, while a lower Cold Fraction results in diminished cold air flow and temperature.

The performance chart below illustrates how the settings for “Pressure Supply” and “Cold Fraction %” influence the operation of Vortex Tubes. For instance, with an operating pressure of 100 PSIG and a cold fraction set at 20%, the cold side experiences a temperature drop of 123°F, while the hot side sees a rise of 26°F. Conversely, maintaining the same pressure of 100 PSIG but adjusting the cold fraction to 80% results in a 54°F decrease on the cold side and a significant 191°F increase on the hot side.

EXAIR Vortex Tube Performance Chart

In a convection or conduction air cooling application, two key factors must be considered: the air flow rate and the temperature difference between the cooling air and the heated component. It is advisable to begin with the maximum cold fraction; however, you may discover that a slightly reduced flow rate, along with the corresponding lower temperature, could better meet your requirements. The positive aspect of this adjustment is that it does not affect compressed air consumption, allowing you to enhance performance without incurring additional operational costs.

If you have any questions about Vortex Tubes, or anything regarding EXAIR and our products, please do not hesitate to reach out. We would love to hear from you!

Jason Kirby
Application Engineer
Email: jasonkirby@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jk

Getting Prepared for Static

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

Here at EXAIR we are finally starting to experience cooler weather. Over the coming weeks we will start to see the temperature steadily drop (with the occasional spike here and there just to make things difficult!). One thing that inevitably comes with cooler weather is static issues. Before we get to that point, it is always good to review what options we have to remove static. There are two primary ways to eliminate it — Active Static Elimination, and Passive Static Elimination. But which method is better? To answer this we need to know the difference between them:

Passive Static Elimination, as the name implies, gets rid of static passively. Typically, this solution comes in the form of a bare wire or some conductive material like copper, which helps create a path for the static charge to disperse. The benefit of this method is that once it’s set up, you can pretty much forget about it (well, sort of — we’ll touch on that later).

Passive Static Eliminating Bar

This kind of static elimination doesn’t require any power and has virtually no operating costs. However, the downside is that the conductive material has to maintain contact, often dragging along surfaces. This can cause the eliminators to wear out over time, meaning they will eventually need replacing (so you can’t completely forget about it). If your product is fragile, the contact from the eliminator might harm the surface. Plus, passive eliminators tend to gather dust and debris, which could end up on your product. Lastly, a passive eliminator struggles to maintain contact with objects of different shapes and complexities.

Active Static Elimination, like the Static Eliminators Product Line from EXAIR, provides several methods to effectively remove static from a surface without any physical contact with the product. This immediately addresses the drawbacks of the previously mentioned passive eliminators.

Gen4 Static Eliminators

If your product has an intricate design, the ionized airflow from many of our Gen4 products can be aimed to reach every part of it. Since there’s no direct contact, Active Static Elimination won’t harm your product’s surface. Plus, you won’t have to worry about contaminating the product because of this non-contact approach. In fact, our line of Static Eliminators that operate on compressed air is excellent at clearing away dust and debris from surfaces.

Lastly, our Active Static Elimination products are built to last and won’t degrade over time like Passive solutions do.

On top of these great benefits, EXAIR will honor a 30 day guarantee to test our products in your facility.  As well as honor a 5 year built to last warranty on compressed air products and a 1 year warranty on any electrical component.

If you have an issue with static that you would like to discuss, please give us a call.

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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Twitter: @EXAIR_AW

Banner Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay

Let’s Keep Things Clean: Advantages of the Flat Super Air Nozzle

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
Flat Super Air Nozzles have replaceable shims to vary performance.

A panel manufacturer was having some issues with black contamination affecting the powder coat paint.  They were using an overhead chain conveyor that would move the panels from the paint booth to the oven for curing.  At the end, the panel would be offloaded to a conveyor belt to move into storage for later assembly.  They were having quality issues with black specs that showed up on the gray paint.  They found out it was coming from the links from the overhead chain conveyor.  They contacted EXAIR to see if we had a solution for them. 

We reviewed the specifics of what was occurring in their application so I could understand better the nature of the problem. After evaluating a couple of options, I recommended two pieces of our model 1122, 2” Flat Super Air Nozzles.  This nozzle blows a 2” wide airstream with a powerful force to cover the width and depth of the chain links.  They were able to cut the flashing for the guard around the chain conveyor to blow the air.  One was located on the side of the conveyor, and the other was placed at the top of the conveyor.  The 2” Flat Super Air Nozzles were installed and oriented at a point along the travel, where there weren’t any panels on the hook supports.  This ensured that the debris was removed before the painting process began.  The issue was that debris mixed with the powder paint during application and then baked into the finish. The panels then had to be reworked or scrapped.  Once they installed the EXAIR Flat Nozzles, the quality improved immensely as they were able to remove the loose debris before raw panels were added to the conveyor.

To expand more on the EXAIR Flat Super Air Nozzles, they have a wide range of uses.  Their unique design utilizes a patented shim for improved efficiency, safety, and force range.   EXAIR has an easy way to change the shim to better suit different applications.  You can increase or decrease the force of the nozzle by just removing two screws and changing the thickness of the shim inside.  EXAIR offers a Shim Set to allow for adjustment to a range of forces to meet your needs and without overusing the compressed air.  Many times our Flat Nozzles are compared to plastic flat nozzles. Those nozzles do not have this capacity. They also tend to break when installed within harsh, abrasive or otherwise rough, industrial processes. 

If you have a “dirty” process, and you wish to blow it away in a safe and effective manner, EXAIR will have a nozzle for you.  We offer a variety of sizes, materials, and designs to best fit your application.  You can speak with an Application Engineer if you need more details.  The company above was glad that they did. 

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb