Frequently Asked Questions

1. Top 10 Air System Mistakes
2. Contamination from piping system

Contamination from piping system

The following are two common mistakes made during the installation of the piping system:

1. Dirt, rust, and liquids are commonly found in the piping of a compressed air system. These cause maintenance and interrupt the supply of air. The amount of these contaminants that are carried along with the air stream will increase when the air velocity increases. Air velocity increases as the pipe size goes down. It's acceptable for the interconnecting pipe (from compressors, dryers and inline filters to main header) and main air header pipe to have a different air velocity specification than the piping from the main header to the points of air usage. The interconnecting pipe and main header should have an air velocity between 20 and 30 feet per second (not to exceed 30 feet per second). The air lines running to the points of air usage should not exceed 50 feet per second. You can calculate the air velocity of your system. The formula is Flow in CFM divided by compression ratio in the pipe divided by the area of pipe divided by 60. This will give you the velocity in feet per second.
2. The piping system should always take the air off the top of an air line when running a line from a header to the point of air usage. This will prevent condensation and trash from migrating to the air usage equipment.