What’s C.A.G.I. do for the compressor user?

The Compressed Air and Gas Institute uses the acronym C.A.G.I.

This “for profit” organization provides subscribers with information about compressed air, and other gases. To get the information requires you to subscribe to the service from their home page.

Their site offers the person or company information on how to objectively compare information from different compressor manufacturers.

If you are interested, here’s their site.

My compressor won’t shut off

I’ve received a number of questions on my ASK page wondering what’s wrong with a compressor that it won’t shut off. Further to that, one writer indicates that the PRV (pressure relief valve) pops every time he uses his compressor.

If your compressor won’t shut off, you are flirting with a very dangerous situation. The compressor will keep compressing air into the tank until:

a)it can’t compress any more because there’s more pressure in the tank than the compressor head can overcome

b)the pressure relief valve opens to safely vent tank overpressure

c)neither of the two above happen, and your compressor tanks undergoes catastrophic failure, with significant risk to all and sundry around

We hope that the PRV works.

Regardless, if the compressor won’t shut off, you need a new pressure switch RIGHT NOW. Don’t delay. Your compressor is in trouble, and so could you be if you don’t replace the switch. Here’s one source. But regardless of where you get one, get your pressure switch replaced.

I’ve heard of sand blasting…but ice blasting?

Another interesting use for compressed air.

Over the years I’ve been in many plants that sand blast parts or equipment for cleaning, usually prior to priming and painting them. I also wondered what happened to the sand / paint chip mix in the bottom of the tray inside the blast shroud when the job was done. To me the residue seems to cry out “hazardous waste”.

Now, along comes a company that uses compressed air to sand blast, but instead of sand, they use ice.

I quote their web site:

Dry ice blasting:

• is a non-abrasive, nonflammable and non-conductive cleaning method
• is environmentally-friendly and contains no secondary contaminants such as solvents or grit media
• is clean and approved for use in the food industry
• allows most items to be cleaned in place without time-consuming dis-assembly
• can be used without damaging active electrical or mechanical parts or creating fire hazards
• can be used to remove production residues, release agents, contaminants, paints, oils and biofilms
• can be as gentle as dusting smoke damage from books or as aggressive as removing weld slag from tooling
• can be used for many general cleaning applications

Neat stuff. You can get more info on this company and their products here.