Compressor Air Quality Testing
Compressor Air Quality Testing
If your compressed air comes into contact with products or your employees use breathing air sets while at work, you are legally obligated to comply with air quality standards. These standards protect you, your workers, the public, and your bottom line. For a host of reasons, professional compressor air quality testing is essential for more than just abiding by the law.
Compressed air contaminated with oils, dust, and other particles can cause your industrial tools and equipment to degrade prematurely. This can lead to unnecessarily high repair bills in the long run. More importantly, you must keep your air quality optimal to guarantee a flawless finish with your end products.
On top of all that, compressed air quality testing can streamline your overall operations and minimise the risk of business downtime, which can result in a loss of revenue and a tarnished reputation. Fortunately, if you need expert air quality testing from a team of highly qualified technicians, you have come to the right place.
At Search Air, we have been a Premier Distributor for Atlas Copco since 2001, ensuring we only supply and install the highest quality compressed air solutions on the market. Our Atlas Copco-certified engineers use the latest diagnostics equipment to test the quality of your air. Better still, we aim to do it for an unbeatable, high-value price.
Why is Compressed Air Testing Essential?
Here are three key reasons why testing is crucial:
Health and Safety
You might assume that compressed air systems pose little risk to employee health, breathing air testing needs to be carried out every three months. Contaminated compressed air poses a serious risk to your health, even when inhaled in tiny quantities in some cases. Sources of contamination can include onsite industrial or manufacturing processes, vehicle exhaust fumes, filtration issues, and problems with the compressor’s overall performance.
There are many ways in which low-quality compressed air can be hazardous. Low or high levels of gases including oxygen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and oil particles, can all pose a risk to human health.
Compliance
Low-quality and contaminated compressed air and gases like nitrogen can be harmful, so regulations are in place for safety reasons. You may be obligated by law to undergo periodic air testing in line with industry standards such as the ISO 8753 and the EN12021.
These standards contain minimum requirements to meet purity classes for your industry.
Fortunately, while compliance seems more like a must than a benefit, it does ensure that your workplace remains operational and safe. It also leads us nicely to the next point.
Equipment and Product Protection
You might think slight alterations in compressed air quality and purity would make little difference to your end products or services. It is easy to see why a petrochemical plant requires a stable level of quality, but the benefits of high-quality air in small workshops may seem less obvious.
However, clean, uncontaminated, high-quality compressed air can extend the lifespan of every piece of equipment that connects to your compressor. You could save a small fortune on repairs in the long run.
Most Common Types of Contaminants in Compressed Air Systems
Compressed air systems are exposed to various contaminants in all industrial environments, which is why frequent and professional air quality testing is essential. Some of the most common contaminants include:
Particulates
Small amounts of dust, rust, dirt and other particles transported inside your property from outside can all contaminate your compressed air system. These contaminants are abrasive and can cause early wear and tear on any piece of equipment powered by your compressor.
Moisture
Excess moisture or humidity can lead to microbial growth, especially in food-grade air applications. It can also cause components in pneumatic systems to freeze and rust, especially in colder and humid environments.
Oil Residue
Oil vapours from other compressor components can find their way into your air stream. They can also be present in the air your system initially compresses, even if filters remove most of them. This can lead to clogged filters and expensive mechanical problems without being addressed.
Industry Standards for Compressed Air Quality
Some of the most common industry standards that you may need to comply with include:
ISO 8573-1:2010
This widely accepted standard defines the minimum acceptable levels of particulates, oil vapour, and moisture for compressed air. Classifications range from very pure to general use, depending on your industry and application requirements.
ISO 12500
This standard relates to the performance of your compressed air system’s filters, specifically with regard to oil aerosols, water vapour, and solid particles.
Our Advanced and Certified Testing Methods
We use advanced testing equipment to accurately measure carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, oil, and carbon monoxide levels in your compressed air, compressed air components such as filters, and your breathing air. We are fully qualified to perform these tests in line with UK regulations. We also provide you with a certification of the results so that you know where to make improvements if necessary. With our help, you can stay on the right side of the law while ensuring your workplace remains safe and productive.
Learn More about Compressed Air Quality Testing
Tasks like professional compressed air quality testing in the name of compliance can often seem like a burden – a financial one at that. However, testing is not just about staying on the right side of the law. It is about maintaining workplace safety for your employees, extending the lifespan of your valuable industrial equipment, improving efficiency where possible, and remaining competitive in an increasingly competitive world.
At Search Air, we have been testing compressor/breathing air quality and maintaining compressed air systems for industrial businesses of all sizes for decades. You can feel confident that we will leave no stone unturned when it comes to your safety. We can also highlight ways for you to make improvements that could boost your bottom line. Call us today, and we look forward to providing you with more information.