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.
Compressor Air Quality Testing
Most Common Types of Contaminants in Compressed Air Systems
Compressed air systems are exposed to a wide variety of major contaminants, making regular air quality monitoring essential. Even small impurities can affect the quality of your compressed air, damage equipment, and impact product quality in industries such as food, electronics, and healthcare. Some of the most common contaminants include:
Particulates
Dust, dirt, rust, and ambient air fibres can enter the air supply and be compressed. These contaminants are highly abrasive and can shorten the life of process air equipment. Testing compressed air samples with tools like a laser particle counter helps ensure your system meets ISO 8573 compressed air quality standards.
Moisture
Compressed air is often saturated with water vapour. Moisture condenses into liquid without proper air treatment, leading to corrosion, microbial growth, and equipment failures. Air dryers are vital to control the dew point and maintain compressed air purity, especially in critical industries.
Oil Aerosols and Vapours
Oil vapours may originate from lubricated compressors or ambient hydrocarbons. Left untreated, they can clog filters, damage pneumatic tools, and compromise process air applications. Purity levels must be maintained according to ISO 8573 standards, particularly where class 0 air is required.
Micro-organisms
Moisture and warm conditions inside compressed air systems create an ideal environment for bacteria, mould, and fungi. This is especially problematic for compressed breathing air systems and industries needing strict air purity.
Other Gases
Contaminants such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide can enter the system from external sources. For applications involving gas for breathing, the breathing air standards outlined in EN12021 must be met to ensure safe, high-quality air for employees.
Industry Standards for Compressed Air Quality
To ensure compressed air is safe, reliable, and fit for purpose, international standards must be met. These standards define major contaminants in compressed air – particulates, water, and oil – and set clear thresholds for maintaining compressed air purity across different industries.
ISO 8573-1:2010
ISO 8573 is an internationally recognised standard that outlines compressed air quality classes. It presents a comprehensive system for air purity, categorising particulates, dew point, and oil content levels. Class 0 air is required for sensitive industries such as food and pharmaceuticals, while other classes are suited to general industrial air applications.
ISO 12500
This standard focuses on testing the performance of air treatment components, including air dryers and filters. It ensures that equipment can consistently remove oil aerosols, water vapour, and solid particles, supporting long-term compressed air purity testing.
EN 12021
For compressed breathing air systems, EN 12021 ensures that the breathing air meets safe quality standards, setting limits for oxygen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oil, and moisture. Compliance is critical for employee safety, particularly under COSHH regulations in the UK.
Regular compressed air purity testing against these standards protects your processes, products, and people, ensuring your air meets the demands of a wide variety of manufacturing and commercial environments.
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.
FAQ
What is the purpose of compressed air quality testing?
Compressed air is used in a wide variety of industries where maintaining safe, reliable air is critical. Testing can be used to check that the air meets the quality required for each application, whether for production processes, breathing air, or sensitive environments such as food and pharmaceuticals. Regular testing ensures that the system continues to deliver quality air and prevents contamination risks.
Which standards define the quality required for compressed air?
ISO 8573-1 is an internationally recognised standard that defines major contaminants in compressed air, including particulates, water, and oil. It presents a comprehensive system for air purity designations to suit different industrial and commercial applications. EN 12021 also sets the standard for compressed breathing air, ensuring that the air supply is safe for human use.
Who should carry out compressed air quality testing?
Compressed air testing should be completed by an accredited laboratory or qualified technicians using recognised methods. Testing covers factors such as dew point, oil content, and gas purity to ensure the air supply meets the quality required for its intended use. Accredited testing provides confidence that your air complies with industry standards and protects both your products and your people.