Approximately 70% of all manufacturers have a compressed air system. Thus, it is quite easy to understand why this is an important tool used by many Americans. If this is something that you use or are around then make sure you are informed of how compressed air piping design works so that you can be well-informed.

Compressed-air system leaks can be costly; a one-eighth inch diameter hole in a 100 psi system can cost you more than $1,200 per year in wasted energy, so it is worth maintenance time to fix all sizeable leaks. It is always better to pay a smaller price for an easy fix then to spend a lot of money on a difficult fix. This logical not just for compressed air piping design but for almost every single area of your life as well.

Energy audits conducted by the United States Department of Energy, shortened to DOE, suggest that over 50% of compressed air systems at small to medium-sized industrial facilities have low-cost energy conservation opportunities. If you have some compressed air piping design installed in your building then check out the low-cost energy conservation opportunities available to yourself and your building money!

The compressed air piping design is important for any building that is used as a warehouse or manufacturers parts. The compressed air piping design is responsible for providing all of the compressed air used within this building throughout the day. Pressure loss in a properly designed system will be less than 10% of the compressor’s discharge pressure, found on a gage on the outlet of the compressor.

If pressure loss is greater than 10%, evaluate your distribution system and identify areas causing excessive pressure drops. Every two pounds-per-square-inch decrease in compressor pressure will reduce your operating costs by 1.5%. If you do not understand or know information like this then you should hire some experts to help you out with your compressed air piping design!

Artificial demand is created when an end user is supplied air pressure higher than required for the application. If an application requires 50 psi but is supplied 90 psi, excess compressed air is used. Use pressure regulators at the end user to minimize artificial demand. If you are not equipped to do this then you need to go and get someone who is expertly trained to deal with it.

The compressed air piping design in a building can also help provide some form of heat. Understand that as much as 80 to 90% of the electrical energy used by an air compressor is converted to heat. A properly designed heat recovery unit can recover 50 to 90% of this heat for heating air or water.

Approximately 50,000 British thermal units, abbreviated to Btus, per hour is available per 100 cfm of compressor capacity when running at full load. Unless you are an engineer then trying to understand these different quantitative measurements is not easy. Get someone who can handle your compressed air piping design whenever you need as opposed to doing the work yourself and messing things up.

If your compressed air system does not have an air receiver tank, add one to buffer short-term demand changes and reduce on/off cycling of the compressor. The tank is sized to the power of the compressor. For example, a 50 hp air compressor needs approximately a 50-gallon air receiver tank. Handle your compressed air piping design with the best types of work!

When intaking cooler air, which is denser, compressors use less energy to produce the required pressure. For example, if 90 degrees Fahrenheit intake air is tempered with cooler air from another source to 70 degrees Fahrenheit the 20 degrees Fahrenheit temperature drop will lower operating costs by almost 3.8%. Working with this type of machinery is not a small task!