It is just a little leak. Is getting around to fix it NOT a Priority?
Your thinking: “it’s just a little leak and it is not really a problem. ”Finding” time to go out and locate the leak and fix it is not high on your priority list of maintenance that you need and have scheduled to perform.
But that little leak holds significant consequence to your plant operation.
How significant is a little leak to my plant operation and profitability?
Consider one little leak multiplied by several little leaks and your equipment is forced to runlonger and harder to supply the critical air you need to produce your product.
There are two direct consequences to your air leaks:
1. Driving your equipment for longer periods and harder to make up airrequirements will beat up your equipment. Assuming your equipment is designed tooperate for 10 years, the additional wear and tear will reduce your equipment lifeprematurely. With Capital restrictions, replacing or having to upgrade your equipmentdue to premature end of life can be a challenge. And it happens when you leastexpect it to occur.
2. You are taking money directly out of the profits of your company and allowingthat “free air” to evaporate without a return on investment. Our electrical costs areincreasing and the loss of compressed air is one of the costliest invisibleexpenses you have in operating your business.
How difficult is it to find a leak and determine the volume of losseswe are experiencing?
If you have never had an air leak audit performed in your plant, you will likely be surprisedby the simplicity of the audit and the value of air that is being produced and wasted in yourplant.
Using an Acoustic Ultrasound detector, a certified technician will perform a walk throughyour plant beginning at the compressor(s) and follow the airlines that weave through yourplant. Where a leak is detected, it will be measured in decibels so as to calculate thevolume of air escaping. The leak will be tagged and recorded with a picture so thatmaintenance can see where the leak is located.
With you providing the cost of your plant electricity and knowing the air pressure of thelines, a valuation of air volume and cost of the escaping air can be determined. In Ontario,at the time of writing this article, the blended rate for electricity over a 24-hour period is$0.144 per kilowatt hour.
A 100 HP AC motor will cost $94,103.42 per year running 24 hours a day for 365 days whileusing 635,496 kilowatt hours of electricity. That is a staggering amount of money to produceair. … and this is assuming you have a 100 HP motor. A smaller 30 HP AC motor, will utilize196,049 kilowatt hours and cost $28,231.03 to operate over the same period.
So that small leak that is generating 1 cubic foot of air per minute [CFM] is costing you about$248.00 / year.
Let us say you have 10 hose drops and each is leaking 1 CFM, you can add $2,480.00directly to your bottom line. You think you have more than 10 leaks because you can hearthe noise of leaking air when the plant is shut down; the savings add up quickly.
If you have specialty gas such as Argon, your cost savings can be much larger.
We will help save you lost profits by conducting an air audit of yourplant?
Ready to elevate your performance?
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