Air Compressor Works
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These 10 observations may seem obvious, but they are true and may cause you to rethink a situation on your air system.

Over the past 45+ years in this business, we’ve seen a number of bizarre things that have been done to a compressor and the components in the system. People then wonder why their system starts to not run well or the system provides bad air. Ignoring the fact that the power costs might be out of control and other OSHA issues are all over the place.

Here is a list of the top 10 worst offenders that we’ve seen on an air compressor system:

1. Duct tape. This should not be used as a long term repair for a leaking air tank.
2. Shipping pallets. These are not meant to be the permanent base for your new compressor.
3. Not changing the oil. Oil changes are not an every 5 year event, we suggest you to change them sooner than that.
4. PVC schedule 40/80 piping. This should not be used for compressed air – stand back here it comes.
5. No filters. You should not leave off the air filter just because it is dirty.
6. Old baseboards. Using an old baseboard radiator for aftercooler is not a great idea.
7. Rivets. If your air tank still has rivets holding it together it’s probably a good idea not to use it anymore.
8. Unsafe wiring. It’s not really okay to wire the safety valve together because it is noisy and annoying.
9. Oily water. No problem just piping all the oily water down the outside of the building – nobody will notice just because it’s near the entrance.
10. Nothing at all. No dryer, no filters, and an old hose for the breathing mask. We hope they had good insurance because that was a scary sight to see.

So that’s our recap of the top 10 worst things we’ve seen done to an air compressor. Some have occurred in the US but more so in other parts of the world.

See something strange going on with an air compressor? Let us know. We would love to hear about any unusual air system observations that you may see. Be aware and be safe.