Air Leaks Survey – by Liane Harris, ECS2 Group
 

They say everything leaks. That’s true.

Some leaks are valid, some are not. Some are acceptable, some can not be tolerated. Depending on what is leaking, where the leak is at, and how much is leaking, will dictate the appropriate response. If water is sipping into your basement, that’s not acceptable. If air is leaking out from a helium balloon, you won’t have an inflated balloon.

In facilities that produce compressed air, this air has a purpose. It was produced to do some thing – to aerate, to clean, to operate an instrument, or to run an operation.

However, if part of that compressed air produced is just going out through various leak paths, then there’s less air to do the work. Usual remedy is to ran the compressor more to meet the demand. If the compressor is maxed out in its capacity, then you will be renting a portable unit at a cost of ….. a few thousands a day.

Oh by the way, the leak paths also demand compressed air. You have to feed these leaks. Thus, more air leak out into the environment without doing any work that was intended to do. It’s like working hard and throwing a portion of your hard earned money into a deep well never to be seen again. Now who would do such a thing? I hope no one.

Before you cut costs to improve the bottom line, take a look at your wastes and cut there. Energy wastes are expensive! Make sure you have a good Energy Management program.

Every cubic feet per minute (cpm) of leak has a dollar value attached to it. In one of the Air Leak Surveys that we did for a customer, one of his leaks was costing him $30,000 per year – continuously! It was from an 1/4″ line that was supposed to connect to a pressure release valve (PRV). The PRV was taken out of service and the 1/4″ air line was left blowing out good quality compressed air 7 times a day, 24 hours a day. Sad waste!

We can preach about compressed air leaks and how much it costs which we love to do and we can also teach you how to effectively do the compressed air leak survey so you can do it yourself in your facility. We have been doing Air Leak Survey for 18 years and we have a lot to share with you.

Spend a day with us during our Air Leak Surveyor’s Course and you will get not only the Theories and Principles but also hands-on learning. You will actually look for leaks and calculate the savings. You will be taught and tested, taught and tested until you know what you are doing with confidence and appreciation of your new capabilities.

Contact us. We love to hear from you.