Tag: digital flow meter

6 STEPS: [Step Four] Turn it off when not in use.

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

Turning off compressed air when it’s not in use is one of the fastest ways to reduce energy costs, extend equipment life, and improve overall efficiency. When paired with efficient air products and proper controls, the savings can be substantial and immediate.

Compressed air is valuable. Treat it that way. Here are some helpful ways to use it when you need it!

Start by walking the plant floor and identifying applications that run continuously, especially during breaks, shift changes, or downtime. Common culprits include open blow offs, cooling air left running, or vacuum systems operating without parts present. If air is flowing without adding value, it’s costing you money. So let’s find ways to turn it off.

  1. Tie Air Use to Production Activity
    • Compressed air should only be used when production is active. Connecting air supply to machine cycles, sensors, or PLC controls ensures air flows only when parts are present or a process is occurring. Automating on/off control not only reduces waste but also improves consistency and repeatability.
  2. Use Solenoid Valves for Automatic Shutoff
    • Solenoid valves are an effective way to shut off air when equipment is idle. When integrated into machine logic or timers, they prevent air from flowing during downtime, nights, and weekends. This is especially effective for blow off and cooling applications that don’t require constant air.
  3. Replace Open Blow offs with Efficient Nozzles
    • Open pipes and tubing waste enormous amounts of compressed air. High-efficiency air nozzles and air knives are engineered to amplify airflow while consuming significantly less compressed air. Upgrading these devices not only lowers air consumption but also improves safety by reducing noise levels.
  4. Monitor, Audit, and Reinforce
    • Turning the air off once isn’t enough, it needs to become part of the culture. Regular air audits, flow monitoring, and team accountability help ensure improvements stick. Encouraging operators and maintenance teams to report unnecessary air usage creates long-term savings and reinforces best practices.

Turning compressed air off when it’s not in use is a powerful first step—but real, lasting savings come from pairing good habits with the right technology. That’s where EXAIR solutions make the difference.

EXAIR Engineered Air Nozzles replace inefficient open pipes and tubing, delivering the force you need while dramatically reducing air consumption and noise. EXAIR Air Knives provide uniform, high-velocity airflow for drying, cooling, and cleaning—using far less compressed air than homemade blow offs. When higher airflow or vacuum is required, EXAIR Air Amplifiers generate powerful output without additional energy input.

To ensure those savings are measured and maintained, EXAIR Flow Meters give you real-time visibility into compressed air usage, helping you identify waste, verify improvements, and build accountability into your process.

Compressed air doesn’t have to be a hidden cost. With smart shutdown practices and proven EXAIR products, you can turn wasted air into measurable savings—every shift, every day.

Jordan Shouse, CCASS

Application Engineer / Sales Operations Engineer

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Back to Basics: 6 Week Recap

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

When I kicked off this blog series a few weeks ago, my goal was simple: break down compressed air optimization into clear, actionable steps. Over the years, I’ve seen countless facilities struggle with the same challenges—air leaks, wasted energy, oversized compressors running nonstop—and I’ve also seen how small, deliberate changes can transform an operation.

Walking through these six steps has been a chance to not just share tools and techniques, but to reflect on the conversations I’ve had with customers who put them into practice. In some cases, it was the first time they truly measured their air use. In others, the turning point was when a simple change—like installing a regulator—let them turn off a secondary compressor altogether. Those are the moments that make optimization “click.”

Here’s a quick recap of the journey we’ve taken:

Step 1 – Measure Usage
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Using the EXAIR Digital Flowmeter, we establish a baseline to see where the air is going and how much is being consumed.

Step 2 – Find and Fix Leaks
Leaks are like the silent thieves of a compressed air system. With the Ultrasonic Leak Detector, you can hear what your ears normally can’t and start reclaiming wasted energy.

Step 3 – Implement Engineered Solutions
Replacing open pipes and homemade blow offs with EXAIR Air Knives, Super Air Nozzles, and other engineered solutions is often where customers first see the savings—not just on the utility bill, but in quieter, safer operations.

Step 4 – Turn Air Off When Not Needed
Why run air if the process isn’t calling for it? The Electronic Flow Control (EFC) makes sure compressed air only flows when it’s truly needed.

Step 5 – Use Intermediate Storage
Like a capacitor in an electrical circuit, receiver tanks help buffer demand spikes. This keeps systems balanced and compressors from overworking.

Step 6 – Regulate Pressure at the Point of Use
Sometimes the simplest fix is the most powerful. A small reduction in pressure can equal double-digit energy savings—without affecting performance. Pressure regulators are the perfect point of use method to achieve this.

Wrapping It All Up

Looking back, these six steps aren’t just a checklist—they’re a roadmap. Each one builds momentum for the next, and together they can change how you think about compressed air entirely. For me, the most rewarding part of this series is knowing that these are the same strategies I’ve watched customers apply successfully in real-world situations.

At EXAIR, we want to make optimization practical, approachable, and sustainable. Whether you’re measuring, fixing, upgrading, or just looking for ways to cut waste, we’re here to help guide the process.

If you’d like to talk about where your system stands today, or which step might make the biggest impact for you, feel free to reach out.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS
National Business Development Manager

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Compressed Air Savings Made Easy: Turn Off Air When Idle

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

Compressed air is often the most expensive utility in an industrial facility. The energy required to generate compressed air makes it a significant operational cost. That is why EXAIR focuses on providing products that help reduce overall compressed air consumption and improve efficiency throughout your processes.

The simplest way to save compressed air is to turn it off when it is not needed. While that sounds straightforward, many operations cannot rely on manually opening and closing a valve. For example, if parts move along a conveyor and need to be cooled, dried, or blown off, there are usually gaps between parts. Running a blowoff continuously during those gaps results in wasted compressed air. Reducing that unnecessary usage can significantly lower the load on your air compressor.

EXAIR’s Electronic Flow Control, or EFC, provides an easy way to automate these savings. The system uses a photoelectric sensor to detect when a part is present. When no part is in place, the EFC closes a solenoid valve to stop the compressed air. When the next part arrives, the air turns back on automatically. This ensures air is supplied only when it is actually needed.

To demonstrate the impact an EFC can have, here is a real example. A manufacturer of car bumpers was using a Model 112060 60 inch Super Ion Air Knife at 40 PSIG to remove dust before painting. The dust was clinging to the bumpers due to a residual static charge. They traveled at roughly 10 feet per minute and had one foot of spacing between each part. Each bumper was under the air knife for 10 seconds, followed by 6 seconds with no part present. Because the operation ran three shifts, the system used compressed air for a total of 1,440 minutes per day.

A 60-inch Super Ion Air Knife consumes 102 SCFM at 40 PSIG. Without any control system, its total usage was:

102 scfm x 1,440 minutes = 146,880 SCF

After installing the EFC, the air turned off during the 6-second gap. This reduced airflow by 37.5 percent. The new daily consumption was:

146,880 SCF x .625 = 91,800 SCF

Using the common estimate that compressed air costs $0.25 per 1,000 SCF, the daily savings from reducing 55,080 SCF of use came to $13.77:

55,080 SCF x ($0.25/1,000 SCF) = $13.77

Because this facility operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the yearly savings reached $5,012.28:

$13.77 x 7 days/week x 52 weeks/year = $5,012.28

These savings easily paid for the EFC in less than six months. After that point, the system continued saving money every day with no additional effort.

EXAIR has EFC models in stock for applications using up to 350 SCFM. For higher flow rates, models with dual solenoids are available as well. If any of your processes involve intermittent compressed air use, we would be happy to evaluate the application and help you determine how quickly an EFC could begin saving you money.

Tyler Daniel, CCASS

Application Engineer

E-mail: TylerDaniel@EXAIR.com

Accessories for Your Compressed Air Products

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

Here at EXAIR we are very proud of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products. We have spent a lot of time discussing their many benefits, including their efficiency, the fact that many have no moving parts, little to no maintenance, meeting or exceeding OSHA safety standards for noise or dead end pressure. One thing we don’t talk as much about is the accessories that go along with and complement our products. Several of these accessory items are the reason why our compressed air products can boast about having little to no maintenance, or reduced noise levels. In this blog I want to cover some of these unsung heroes.

From left to right, a few value-added accessories for your Vortex Tube: Hot Muffler, Cold Muffler, Automatic Drain Filter Separator, Oil Removal Filter, and Solenoid Valve/Thermostat Kit.

Some of the most popular accessories we offer are our compressed air Filters and Regulators. We suggest using these with all our products (or even with ones that aren’t ours).

The Filter Separator is designed to remove moisture, dirt, and rust from your compressed air system. The 5-micron filter element ensures that contaminants don’t clog or harm your compressed air equipment.

An Oil Removal Filter (which should always be installed after our Filter Separator) provides even more precise filtration by getting rid of oil and solid particles with a 0.03-micron element.

Our Pressure Regulators let you choose the operating pressure. At EXAIR, we always advise running at the lowest pressure necessary to complete the task. Pressure Regulators help you achieve that, reducing unnecessary air usage and fine-tuning the performance of EXAIR products for your specific application.

We have some accessories designed specifically for certain products. For our Line Vacs, there’s the Line Vac Hose. You can also find Thermostats and Solenoid Valves that work great with our Cabinet Coolers, and if you’re using Vortex Tubes, we suggest checking out our Mufflers.

When it comes to our Air Knives, we offer a variety of fantastic options:

If you’re looking for a simple and dependable way to mount your Air Knife, our Universal Air Knife Mounting System is just what you need.

If your project needs something longer than our stock Air Knives, or if you want to manage different sections of the air flow separately, our Coupling Bracket Kits are ideal.

And if you want to simplify the plumbing for your Air Knife, don’t miss our Air Knife Plumbing Kits. They’re suitable for all Air Knives that are longer than 24 inches.

If you’re looking for plumbing options, we’ve got a range of compressed air hoses and fittings that will simplify things for you.

Our Coiled Hoses work great with our Safety Air Guns, giving you more freedom of movement while you work.

Our Compressed Air Hoses are often used alongside our Industrial Housekeeping products to provide the necessary reach for the drum and dolly.

Finally, if you’re looking for a way to mount or position your Air Nozzles, check out our Magnetic Bases, Stay Set Hoses, and Swivel Fittings that can help create a complete setup.

No matter what your application requires or the product you need, we’ve got a variety of complementary accessory products that will simplify installation and adjustments. If you have any questions about these or any other EXAIR products, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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