One of the best ways to protect your compressed air system is to keep up with a thorough preventative maintenance routine. Preventative maintenance helps you avoid costly damage to the air compressor and unnecessary downtime, all while lowering energy costs and extending service life. To keep your air compressor running smoothly and efficiently, there are a few steps we recommend you add to your maintenance checklist:
Daily:
- Do a visual inspection of the air compressor daily to check for leaks and make sure it meets all requirements for safe operation.
- Check the belts on the air compressor. Belts typically won’t need to be changed until a year or so, but it’s good to be regularly checking them for damage.
Weekly:
- Clean aftercoolers on a weekly basis to remove any built-up dirt. It’s important to keep these elements clean so they can properly dispel heat. Buildup can lead to the air compressor overheating, causing damage and costly downtime.
- Check over the air compressor and its hoses for any leaks that might be increasing energy consumption.
Every 2,000 hours:
- Request an oil analysis every 2,000 hours. Over time, the oil in your compressor can begin to breakdown and cause varnish. To prevent this from happening it’s important to get an oil analysis and get oil changed when necessary. Call our team at Harris Equipment for an oil analysis today.
- Change your oil filter every 2,000 hours. This is a critical and inexpensive part of the air compressor to replace. Adding this step to your maintenance routine can help prevent severe damage to the compressor.
Every 8,000 hours or annually:
- Change air/oil separator every 8,000 hours*. As contaminants build up in your rotary screw compressor’s air/oil separator, it causes an increase in pressure drop. Changing this component helps prevent this from happening and keeps oil carryover and lubricant consumption low.
*For food-grade applications, we recommend changing the air/oil separator every 4,000 hours. Call Harris Equipment for more information.
A good preventative maintenance routine helps protect your air compressor and may ultimately save you time and money. When it’s time for a full preventative maintenance checkup, or if you’re in need of a repair, give our team at Harris Equipment a call. Our technicians can help you with all your air compressor maintenance and repair needs and are available 24/7 for emergency service.