One morning last summer, I turned on the water in the shower and waited for it to warm up. And waited…and waited. It was clear something was wrong, so I checked the water heater to find it emptying its contents into the floor drain, through the bottom of the tank, which I found later had rusted away. Between my better-than-average plumbing skills, having a son home from college, and finding out I could keep about $800 in my pocket if I bought a new one and replaced it myself, I woke the boy up (which turned out to be one of the more difficult tasks in the process), drove to my friendly neighborhood home improvement center, and bought myself a new water heater, and we had hot water by the time my wife got home from work that afternoon. Considering the way it started, it turned out to be a pretty good day. Not only was it more efficient (and therefore cheaper to run) than the one I replaced, the water heater I bought also qualified for a rebate, which increased my savings on the project to almost $900. That was some FANTASTIC icing on an already pretty decent cake.
Rewards like this for being energy conscious have been routinely offered by utility companies for years now. One time, I got a box of LED light bulbs, enough weather stripping for TWO houses the size of mine, and water-conserving shower heads, for free, from my electric company as part of a home energy audit. That was a pretty good day too.
Many utility companies across the country have similar programs for residential customers, and commercial ones too. Duke Energy (my free light bulb folks), for example, has a program they call Smart$aver that offers rebates and other incentives to companies for making energy-efficient improvements. Equipment that qualifies for these incentives includes process pumping systems, insulation for injection molding machinery & pellet dryer ducts, low friction v-belts for rotating machinery, and compressed air equipment.
That last one is what I wanted to write about today. It includes improvements to the supply side:
EXAIR can help you out with the ones on the demand side. Consider:
Ultrasonic Leak Detector: this handheld device allows you to quickly & easily find leaks in your compressed air system.
EXAIR Model 9207 Ultrasonic Leak Detector filters out audible sound waves and focuses on the ultrasonic sound generated when compressed air finds its way out of a loose fitting, crack, etc. The parabolic disc (left) lets you find the area of the leak(s) and the tube extension (right) directs you to the precise location.
The copper tube used to have a crimped end that was aimed at the part in the chuck. They simply cut it off and used a compression fitting to install the Super Air Nozzle.
Super Air Nozzles: not only will these products get you a rebate, they’ll cost less to operate and will ensure OSHA compliance with regard to your use of compressed air. And they’ll do it quieter, to boot.
Replacing open-ended blow offs with Super Air Nozzles is oftentimes quick and easy. Compression fittings can be used to install them directly onto the ends of existing copper tubing. Stay Set Hoses can replace modular hose, which is great for machine tool coolant delivery but often misapplied for air blowing.
And frankly, I think the engineered products just look better too.
The Duke Energy Smart$aver program is for their customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. If that’s not you, though, North Carolina State University’s NC Clean Energy Technology Center has a comprehensive Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency – DSIRE – that’ll help you find what’s available in your area.
If you hang around with me for long enough, you will grow to understand that I love comedy movies. One of my favorite production groups is Broken Lizard. You might know some of their work and, just to be clear, I have seen all the movies, watched two of the guys’ TV shows, and listened to some of their podcasts. When trying to come up with a title for today’s blog, I looked up synonyms for “Accessorize”. The picture below shows the results.
If you haven’t seen Super Troopers, then I am not sure if we can continue to be friends. Actually, I won’t hold it against you. There is a scene in the movie where they are trying to get some information from a photo and so Ramathorn is sitting at a computer and working on the photo. He continually types and says, “Enhance” several times until the chief briskly informs him to just print the photo already. Unfortunately, I can’t share the clip here because there may be some inappropriate language at the end of the clip, so just believe my poor description that it is funny.
Well, all the products EXAIR offers in our Accessories catalog section will ENHANCE your point-of-use compressed air application. Whether it be a point-of-use filter/ oil removal filter, and a regulator with mounting brackets and coupling kits to ensure you have clean air being utilized. See the video below for just how well they work and why they are important to an installation.
Items like Swivel Fittings, Stay Set Hoses, and even lengths of Air Hose can give versatility in locations where hard piping and getting precise alignment of the air stream are needed. This can save the installer of a blowoff many fittings and hours of time on installation. The Swivel Fittings give a lock-in-place adjustment capable of 25° from centerline at 360° of rotation.
The Stay Set Hoses are another tool-free adjustable mounting option for point of use compressed air products. The ability to get rid of copper tubing, which is costly and can kink if proper tools aren’t used to bend it, is great for easy installation in the field. To see how easily they can be used, check out the video by John Ball below.
Even after these products we still offer a number of accessories that will aid operators in their production environment. If you want to discuss any part of the EXAIR product offering, please contact an Application Engineer today.
Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS National Business Development Manager
This is a fairly common question for the Application Engineering team. The quick (and fairly accurate) answer is: “Any way you want.”
Let’s unpack that a little, though. We’re obviously constrained by the laws of physics, so the method of mounting it has to be structurally sound enough to support the Super Air Knife’s weight, and the reaction force of the compressed air discharge. 3″ Super Air Knives can actually be mounted (and supplied with compressed air) using Stay Set Hoses, if you have an air line ‘drop’ nearby. If not, you can use a Magnetic Base to hold the Stay Set Hose and the Super Air Knife:
Compact, efficient and quiet, the EXAIR 3″ Super Air Knife is an ideal blow-off solution for a variety of applications. Installation is quick & easy with a Stay Set Hose and a Magnetic Base.
Because of their design, though, there are a number of other ways to mount a Super Air Knife. If you’re using hard pipe to supply compressed air, a shorter-length Super Air Knife will essentially be as well-supported as the pipe itself. I’ve talked to users who have successfully installed 6″ and 9″ Aluminum Super Air Knivesin this manner. We wouldn’t recommend doing that with anything longer than that, due to concerns about overhung loading. The exception to that would be a Super Air Knife installed vertically…and even then, I’m unaware of anyone doing that with any Super Air Knife longer than 12″.
Curiously, though, you can use the supply piping for longer models. A Super Air Knife over 18″ in length will need to be supplied with compressed air to both ends. A properly supported pipe holding up either side offers a great deal of stability.
This Model 110054 54″ Aluminum Super Air Knife is well supported by its black iron supply pipe.
Super Air Knives also have 1/4-20 threaded holes along the bottom of the body. These are the ‘leftover’ threads below the cap screw ends that hold the cap to the body. Those cap screws can also be replaced with longer 1/4-20 hardware. That allows you to use a bracket of your choosing to mount it. We have customers who have gotten downright creative with those:
Yes, that’s a door hinge. No, it wasn’t my idea, but I kind of wish it was.
No matter which Super Air Knife you’re using, and what you’re using it for, there are always options for mounting. If you’d like help in determining which one(s) is best for you, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
I was once on a local theater’s website, ordering tickets to an upcoming show that my wife and I were excited to see. I had the option to pay online and have a digital code emailed to me in lieu of a real live paper ticket. Can you believe they wanted to charge me almost $2 A TICKET for that?!? I adamantly refused (by that I mean I clicked the mouse extra hard on the “Will Call” button before completing my payment)…and saved that $4 (almost) for something REALLY important.
The night of the show, there was a 20-minute line at the Will Call window. Folks who had opted for the digital code were doing a quick scan with their smartphones and walking straight into the theater. I used the $4 I saved to partially pay for a $10 glass of wine from a concession kiosk in the lobby, as a peace offering for my lovely bride. That was indeed “something REALLY important.”
Another time, I was ordering a sump pump backup system for our house. I had the option of paying extra for the deluxe system, which came with all the fittings and a special tool to make installation a bit easier. Even though the ‘deluxe’ system adder was probably a bit more than the cost of the fittings from my local hardware store, I paid the “convenience fee” and got the deluxe system anyway. For the record, during the installation, I realized I would have bought an incorrect fitting at the local store which would have forced an emergency trip while I had the water turned off in my whole house. THAT was an inconvenience I was glad to have avoided.
Similarly, you can buy any EXAIR product with, or without, accessories that’ll make for simpler installation, improved performance, and to ensure it does what you want it to do. Some of these are product-specific, but many are suitable (and recommended) for use with any of our products:
Filter Separators
Good engineering practice calls for point of use filtration for any compressed air operated device. Even if you have the best intake & discharge filters on your air compressor, trace amounts of contaminants can sneak through, pipes can rust, and water vapor that the dryer doesn’t catch can condense. Particulates can build up and eventually clog the tight clearances in many engineered compressed air products, and if you’re using air for cleaning, drying, etc., keep in mind that whatever’s in your air will get on your product. Moisture isn’t always as big of a deal, but it can freeze inside Vortex Tubes, Spot Cooling Products, Cold Guns, and Cabinet Cooler Systems. That’s why we include Filter Separators in our Air Knife, Air Wipe, Static Eliminator Products, Line Vac, Adjustable Spot Cooler, Cold Gun, and Cabinet Cooler System Kits.
Automatic Drain Filter Separators come in sizes from 1/4 NPT to 1-1/4 NPT, for compressed air flows up to 400 SCFM.
Oil Removal Filters
These aren’t always needed, but we have them if your application calls for it. Some of the “usual suspects” are food & Pharma (see above “whatever’s in your air will get on your product”), blowoff prior to painting (the smallest amount of oil on the surface causes a phenomenon known as “fish eye” and it looks exactly like that sounds), or when your compressor is known to have oil carryover.
When properly installed downstream of an Automatic Drain Filter Separator (left,) an Oil Removal Filter (center) will provide clean, oil free air to the Pressure Regulator (right) and all downstream components.
Pressure Regulators
One of our Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System is to control the air pressure at the point of use to minimize air consumption. In other words, find the supply pressure for your product that gets the job done, so you don’t use any more compressed air than you have to. Like the Filter Separators above, these come with many EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product Kits.
Pressure Regulators “dial in” performance to get the job done without using more air than necessary.
Mounting Brackets and Coupling Kits
Most of our Filter Separators, Oil Removal Filters, and Pressure Regulators can be attached to a wall, panel, etc., with a Mounting Bracket, and can actually be attached to each other with a modular Coupling Kit. These parts simplify the installation, ensure they are oriented correctly, and minimize the chance for air leaks.
Filters (left) and Pressure Regulators (center) can be mounted using Brackets, and they can be connected together with Modular Couplers (right).
Silencing Mufflers
Many EXAIR products are engineered to develop a boundary layer of low velocity air flow that greatly reduces the sound level during operation. Other products use a venturi mechanism to draw a vacuum (Reversible Drum Vacs and E-Vac Vacuum Generators) or a Vortex Tube to generate cold air flow. The air flow from these products cannot be subjected to back pressure, and, without anything to mitigate the sound pressure generated by the rapid pressure drop as the air exits, they can be quite loud. For these, we have Silencing Mufflers that, except for the largest & most powerful of these products, reduce the sound level to be compliant with OSHA Standard 1910.95 Maximum Noise Exposure Limits.
From left to right… Reclassifying Mufflers offer the highest noise level reduction, eliminate oil mist, and come in sizes from 1/8 NPT to 1 NPT. Sintered Bronze Mufflers are low cost and compact, with threads from #10-32 to 1-1/2 NPT. Straight Through Mufflers use an internal sleeve of sound reducing foam, with threads from ¼ NPT to ¾ NPT, with male threads on one end and female threads on the other. Heavy Duty Mufflers have an aluminum shell and an internal stainless steel screen that keeps contaminants like rust from being ejected in a dangerous way. We have them in ¼ NPT and ¾ NPT sizes.
Solenoid Valves (left) are available for 120VAC, 240VAC, and 24VDC in sizes from 1/4 NPT to 1 NPT. We offer manual Ball Valves in sizes from 1/8 NPT to 1-1/4 NPT.
Swivel Fittings, Stay Set Hoses, and Magnetic Bases
EXAIR Super Air Nozzles are threaded for installation with common air pipe & hose fittings. If the pipe isn’t pointed in the exact right direction, a Swivel Fitting gives you 50° of adjustability. If the pipe isn’t quite close enough to what you want to blow off, Stay Set Hoses come in lengths of 6″ to 36″, and when bent to aim the Air Nozzle, they ‘stay set’, as advertised, until they need to be moved. If a pipe doesn’t exist and you need to run an air hose from the nearest drop on the header, Magnetic Bases can support the Air Nozzle and a Stay Set Hose to get the air where you want it. They even have shutoff valves to turn them off when they’re not in use (that’s a good thing; see above).
Save installation time AND get your blowoff pointed in the right direction!
Hoses and Compressed Air Fittings
If you need one of the aforementioned air hoses to reach a Magnetic Base or to supply a Safety Air Gun, we have two diameters to choose from – 3/8″ ID (1/4 MNPT threads on the ends) and 1/2″ ID (1/2 MNPT threads on the end), and we can make them to any length you need. And, while our selection probably isn’t quite as comprehensive as your local piping supply shop, we stock a number of pipe nipples, Couplers, Reducers, Tees, and Elbows that are commonly used with our products. So – like my backup sump pump deluxe kit, we can put all the fittings you may require in the same box for you.
Contact an Application Engineer if you have ANY questions about how to properly supply compressed air to your EXAIR products.
At EXAIR, we’re here to make sure you get the most out of our products, and your compressed air system. If you need accessories to help with that, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
