Your Guide to Finding and Fixing Compressed Air Leaks

Air leaks in a compressed air system are common. Although you may deal with air leaks frequently, they can still have a significant impact on the efficiency and affordability of your compressed air system.

The ability to quickly find and fix any air leaks affecting your equipment will allow you to reduce your expenses and maintain the integrity of your compressed air system over time.

Finding Air Leaks

The first hurdle you will face when it comes to addressing an air leak in your compressed air system is identifying the source of the leak. Depending on the severity of the leak, this can be a more difficult task than you would expect.

There are two common approaches used to find the source of a compressed air leak - listening for the leak and using an ultrasonic acoustic detector.

1. Listen for the Leak

Some compressed air leaks will produce an audible sound as air escapes from the system. A leak must be fairly significant in order to be audible. You can attempt to find a leak by slowly walking around each of the components and tubes within your compressed air system.

Listen closely for the sound of hissing or gurgling, as these are indications that a leak might be present. Unfortunately, many leaks are too small to be heard above the sound produced by the compressed air system when it is in use.

If you are unable to pinpoint the location of your air leak using your ears alone, it's time to use an ultrasonic acoustic detector.

2. Use an Ultrasonic Acoustic Detector

Air leaks produce a high-frequency sound wave. An ultrasonic acoustic detector is a device that is designed to pick up on these sound waves while filtering out any background noise that might interfere with the device's reading.

Ultrasonic acoustic detectors can either connect to a set of headphones and produce a sound whose volume increases when near a leak, or they can display ultrasonic waves visually on an attached screen.

Fixing Air Leaks

Once you have accurately identified the source of a compressed air leak, you must work quickly to repair the source of the leak and preserve your system's integrity. The difficulty and cost of the repair will depend on the source of the leak.

Some of the most affordable repairs simply require the tightening of a connection or the replacement of a damaged hose.

Other repairs can be more labor-intensive. You may find that you have to shut down your compressed air system and replace some couplings, install new pipe, repair damaged joints, or clean out clogged drains and traps to eliminate air leaks.

These types of repairs can be costly since you must both cover the cost of the repair and account for any production losses caused by your compressed air system being out of commission.

Compressed air systems play a major role in the function of many industrial facilities. The loss of compressed air could be devastating for your business.

Air leaks within a compressed air system are common, but they have the potential to create massive equipment failure if they are not addressed quickly. Finding and fixing leaks must be a constant process if you want to maintain the integrity of your compressed air equipment.

At Compressed Air Systems, we understand how important compressed air is to your business. We can inspect your system for air leaks at any time, and complete repairs quickly to reduce potential downtime.

Contact Compressed Air Systems for help finding and fixing air leaks today.