Summer Maintenance Tips for Portable Air Compressors

It’s crucial to keep your portable air compressors in good shape all year long, but especially now that summer is here.

Users should make sure their air compressor is in good condition to survive the summer heat, since hot and humid conditions might cause it to strain when operating. If you’re uncertain about where to begin, here’s a quick maintenance and service checklist for your portable air compressor system to ensure peak performance.

How Are Portable Air Compressors Impacted by Heat and Humidity?

Air compressor equipment is impacted by summer weather in a variety of ways:

• Increased Contaminants: In addition to heat and humidity, summer also brings pollen and other airborne irritants. Pollen allergies may affect the rest of us, but these particles may also make compressor filtration systems full more rapidly, which makes intake and compression work harder.
• Lower Air Density: Since hotter air is less dense than colder air, less air normally enters the compression chamber when the compressor is operating. With a decreased density, more air must be compressed to reach the required compression pressure, which makes the machinery work harder than usual.
• Increased Oil Turnover: Compressor oil is likely to be used up considerably more quickly with more moisture and impurities in the air, necessitating more frequent replacements.
• Increased Moisture: Higher humidity always results in more moisture in the air at all levels. This puts an extra burden on drying systems by making it harder to chill and dry the air. Additionally, too much moisture makes filters fill up more rapidly, which might lead to operational inefficiencies because it takes more effort to move air through clogged filters.

Maintenance Checklist for Portable Air Compressors

Even while it is difficult to completely remove excess moisture or heat from the air, there are strategies to reduce these dangers and drawbacks. This readiness and maintenance checklist for portable air compressors can help to maintain air quality, equipment performance, reduced energy costs, and efficiency levels.

Increase Ventilation Surrounding the Compressor

Depending on the configuration of your system, adequate ventilation and airflow around the compressor can provide the following advantages:

• Reduced temperature in the area around the compressor and its parts. Despite the equipment working harder, this enables lower operating temperatures
• A decrease in ambient air temperature will mitigate the air density problem and make cooling and drying easier consequently saving energy

Increase ventilation around the portable air compressor and system by being as proactive and creative as you can, whether through ducts, fans, doors, windows, or other techniques.

Increase Frequency of Oil Changes

You should change the compressor oil once every three months. However, during the summer, this might not be enough, since the oil becomes quickly polluted with pollen, water, and other particles. As a general rule, replace the oil halfway through the summer. Once the temperature drops, return to your regular routine. Additionally, you might want to check your oil more often. Oil that is worn out or dirty might affect performance and put your equipment at risk.

Increase Moisture Extraction

Compressed air puts a greater strain on moisture drains which means they need to be cleaned more regularly. Check drains often to make sure they are not blocked, and that flow continues even during periods of increased workload.

Maintain the Coolers

While there isn’t a set maintenance frequency for the coolers, neglecting them might lead to the compressor overheating and losing its dependability. Clean the coolers as often as necessary. Cleaning will be more frequent in a dusty or filthy environment than in a pharmaceutical application.

Clean or Change Filters More Often

You may get around this problem by increasing the frequency of filter inspections, as filters are prone to getting clogged with pollutants and moisture more rapidly during the summer. Make sure to replace or clean dirty filters before they seriously affect efficiency. Air compressors are constantly running, even during the sweltering heat. In reality, air compressors are subjected to working harder than ever because of the increasing heat and humidity. The added strain and workload that these circumstances inflict can significantly affect the equipment’s efficiency, performance, maintenance requirements, and even overall durability. You can hire or request a backup portable air compressor so that your business doesn’t come to a stop. If you need advice or information on portable air compressors, whether it be renting or maintaining, contact the experts at Air Power East today.