Not hot (compressed) air at all…

Thanks to all of you. The dozens that read this blog every day, and the hundreds from around the world that visit my compressed air information site daily.

In North America, as it is around much of the world, this is the time of year for celebration of Christmas. If that’s your religion, then merry Christmas to you. For those that share other beliefs, enjoy this break from your everyday working world if you get one.

And to us all, let’s put doom and gloom aside, relish the fact that we are yet still alive, and plan on having a healthy, successful and profitable 2009.

If  you get the chance, why not perform a random act of kindness?

Cheers,

Bill Wade
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The absence of air.

The vacuum in your workshop has a lot in common with your compressor.

The vacuum removes air from somewhere, and the compressor pumps air into an air tank or air system.

The end result of both is stored energy. If your vacuum, was used to pull air from a tank, and that tank was then sealed, you would have stored energy in the form of absence of air. In your compressor tank, the charge of air at 120 or 150 PSI (or whatever your compressor is rated for) is stored energy.

Both the vacuum tank and the compressed air tank use the phenomenon that nature wants things to be in balance to do work.

In the case of the compressed air tank, when the air tool is turned on or the downstream valve is activated, it’s that air rushing from a high pressure area back to atmoshpere that we use to do work.

In the case of the vacuum tank, it’s the air rushing from a higher pressure area into a very low pressure area that we use to do work.

What prompted this post is this article I read about a central vacuum system in the UK that’s a cut above your typical vacuum system. This is very interesting reading.

If you need some help understanding or using compressed air, here’s the place.

That air tank thing

I get a lot of inquiries at my compressed air information website about tank size. Mostly about whether a bigger tank has more compressor power an so on.

To make the whole air tank issue a little more simple, consider the air tank on a compressor  like the battery of  a rechargeable flashlight.

When the battery is discharged, you have to recharge it. When the air tank on your compressor is discharged (zero pressure), you have to recharge it (run the compressor).

On the flashlight, the larger the rechargeable battery, the longer the flashlight will run without recharging the battery.

On the compressor, the larger the air tank, the longer the compressed air will flow to the tool before the tank has to be recharged.

When you are using compressed air continuously, you need a larger HP compressor AND a much larger air tank to ensure that air tools aren’t starved for air. For us DIY workshop type compressor users, a bigger tank provides some benefit, but usually the difference in tank size means only a few seconds longer supply of compressed air, and we still have to wait regularly and often for the air compressor to kick in and bring the charge of compressed air in the tank back up to a usable level.

When it breaks!

On my compressed air information website, I get many questions from folks that have a compressor that’s got some years on it, it’s broken, and they can’t find parts.

If you buy an older compressor, that’s a risk you take.

When you buy a new compressor, take the time to find out who the manufacturer is, where they are located, where you buy spare parts and who fixes it under warranty if the compressor fails.

In the era of low cost compressors, that information may be hard to find.

The Big Box stores have a “house brand” of compressor that’s built for them by a faceless company in another country. Every few years they change brands, and all of a sudden they are selling a different brand of compressor, with another source, and the trail for parts and repair of the older unit becomes blurred and ultimately forgotten.

That’s the price we pay for getting cheap compressors.

On the other hand, if you’ve paid $199 for a compressor, does it make any sense to spend almost that amount for a professional to diagnose and repair it when it fails sometime down the road?

It’s your call. But if you can find out the repair details for your compressor when you buy it, then when it ultimately fails, you can make an informed decision about repair or replacement.

Thanks Simon for the “Trompe” information

Visitor Simon sent in some information on an older form of air compression.

I don’t have any information on The Trompe, but if any of you do and wish to contribute, please feel free.

For information on more modern air compressors and using compressed air, there’s always this site.