How One Customer Improved Safety and Reduced Noise with a Simple Retrofit

I recently had the opportunity to help a customer facing some serious concerns about their compressed air usage. They had just completed a safety audit conducted by a third-party firm, and one of the main issues identified was the use of handheld blow guns throughout their production floor.

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

Even though the tools in question were commercially available and marketed as having “safety tips,” the auditors recorded noise levels exceeding 90 dBA—well above the acceptable threshold. The audit team explained that to maintain a safe work environment, noise levels needed to stay below 84 dBA, and the simplest way to get there was to address the blow guns being used.

That’s when the customer turned to us for help.

We discussed the application in detail, and it quickly became clear that EXAIR’s Model 1100 Super Air Nozzle would be a great fit. Not only does it significantly reduce noise levels—down to 74 dBA—but it also meets OSHA’s 30 PSI dead-end pressure requirement, ensuring operator safety in the event of a blocked nozzle.

This customer wasn’t focused on maximizing air output or performance—they simply wanted to make their environment safer for their team. What made this installation even better was the unexpected benefit: while addressing the safety concerns, it also reduced compressed air consumption. A win-win.

It’s always rewarding when we can help customers meet compliance goals and improve safety, but it’s even better when we can go beyond their expectations and help them uncover savings they weren’t even looking for.

Free testing. Verifiable data. EXAIR Efficiency Lab.

If you’re dealing with high noise levels or safety compliance issues around your compressed air applications, don’t hesitate to reach out. Our team is ready to help you find a solution that protects our people, meets regulations, and improves overall efficiency through the EXAIR Efficiency Lab.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Video Blog: EXAIR Efficiency Lab

The video below is a brief introduction to the EXAIR Efficiency Lab, a free service provided by EXAIR for customers within the USA and Canada.

If you have a single point blowoff that does not have an engineered nozzle, or if you have a wider format blowoff, manifold or home-made drilled pipe, contact an Application Engineer with EXAIR and let us help you to reduce your energy waste. Following are some examples of product where we have helped to save some serious air and reduced noise levels which heightens employee comfort.

Non-engineered blowoffs

Drilled and soldered copper pipe.

Custom manufactured inefficient pipe blowoff

 

The EXAIR Efficiency Lab

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Calculating Compressed Air Cost & Savings Made Easy

If you have ever looked through our catalog, website, blog, twitter feeds, or even our Facebook page, you will see that we can almost always put a dollar amount behind the amount of compressed air you saved by installing EXAIR’s Intelligent Compressed Air Products.   No matter which platform we use to deliver the message, we use the same value for the cost of compressed air which is $.25 per 1,000 Standard Cubic Feet of compressed air. This value is derived from average commercial and industrial energy costs nationwide, if you are on either coast this value may increase slightly. On the positive side, if your cost for compressed air is a bit more, installing an EXAIR product will increase your savings.

So where does this number come from?   I can tell you this much, we didn’t let the marketing department or anyone in Accounting make it up.   This is a number that the Engineering department has deemed feasible and is accurate.

To calculate the amount we first look to what the cost per kilowatt hour is you pay for energy.  Then we will need to know what the compressor shaft horsepower  of the compressor is, plus the run time percentage, the percentage at full-load, and the motor efficiency.

If you don’t have all of these values, no worries.   We can get fairly close by using the industry accepted standard mentioned above, or use some other general standards if all you know is the cost of your electricity.

The way to calculate the cost of compressed air is not an intense mathematical equation like you might think.  The best part is, you don’t even have to worry about doing any of the math shown below because you can contact us and we can work through it for you.

If you prefer to have us compare your current compressed air blow off or application method to one of our engineered products, we can do that AND provide you a report which includes side by side performance comparisons (volume of flow, noise, force) and dollar savings. This refers to our free Efficiency Lab service.

EXAIR's Efficiency Lab is a free service to all US customers.
EXAIR’s Efficiency Lab is a free service to all US customers.

If you already know how much air you are using, you can use the Air Savings Calculators (USD or Euro) within our website’s knowledge base. Just plug in the numbers (EXAIR product data is found on our website or just contact us) and receive air savings per minute, hour, day and year. We also present a simple ROI payback time in days.

Now, back to the math behind our calculation.
Cost ($) =
(bhp) x (0.746) x (#of operating hours) x ($/kWh) x (% time) x ( % full load bhp)
——————————————————————————————————————————
Motor Efficiency

Where:
bhp
— Compressor shaft horsepower (generally higher than motor nameplate Hp)
0.746 – conversion between hp and KW
Percent Time — percentage of time running at this operating level
Percent full-load bhp — bhp as percentage of full load bhp at this operating level
Motor Efficiency — motor efficiency at this operating level

For an average facility here in the Midwest $0.25/1,000 SCF of compressed air is accurate.   If you would like to attempt the calculation and or share with us your findings, please reach out to us.   If you need help, we are happy to assist.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF