Tech Articles

Everything in our lives requires a check-up, and in most cases routine maintenance. This ensures proper functionality when needed most. Human health certainly requires regular check-ins and vital requirements like eating, hydration, and sleep. Our vehicles, homes, and almost every other system in life require routine care. You would not allow your body, car, or home to go without the things it requires, so why let your compressed air system. Skipping maintenance requirements lead to higher costs in one way or another, whether it is replacing a part or the whole machine.

It is no different in the case of a production facility, hospital, refinery, food manufacturing plant, automotive service shop or any other place that requires their systems and equipment to work and perform when needed. Uptime and performance are critical elements in every industry. All manufacturers have a minimum required service or maintenance interval for their products. Developed by industry experts with experience in applications across the board, these standards are an asset to the end-user.

Air compressors in a facility or shop are a vital component just like other utilities. The compressor system is no different from the scenarios mentioned above. The tools, controls, valves, production equipment, etc. that require compressed air from the system all depend on it being available on demand. If the machine runs without being monitored, it can overheat and shut down.

If the filters are not changed at regular intervals the difference in pressure (Delta P) increases operating costs. The higher the heat load from lack of maintenance also decreases the life of the compressor lubricant. This will require more frequent changes and added costs to replace and dispose of the used oil.

Increased operating temperatures can cause a multitude of issues. The internal components will prematurely wear, the electric motor will run at higher amperages, which is a higher operating cost, plus the motor is at risk of premature failure under these conditions. It can add more condensate being generated within the system. This requires the drains to be functioning in order to properly remove the water and ensure it goes into the production side through the piping system.

Another imperative reason for doing required routine maintenance is safety. This helps prevent catastrophic failure such as a fire. It is not uncommon to see compressors shutting down due to high temperatures. In most cases had routine care been completed these types of interruptions and costly occurrences could have been averted.

Proper routine maintenance can save time and production costs.  When failures or unplanned downtime occurs, it becomes an emergency. The costs of service, repairs, parts, production, and losses all increase drastically.

The major benefits of doing required compressor preventative maintenance are cost savings, decreased equipment downtime, improved safety & reliability, and peace of mind from protecting your assets.