For industrial facilities and plants, vacuum, compressed air, and gas systems are important sources of converted energy. Much easier than electricity and other resources, you will find compressors almost everywhere in factories. They help to run robotics, product handling systems, lasers, tools, and machines. Yet most compressed vacuum, air, and gas systems get compromised by wear as well as poor maintenance practices, contributing to the waste of ever-present leaks. The leaks can hide at connection points, in cracked worn hoses/pipes, overhead in a fixed pipe, and behind machines. The waste will add up so far and even result in downtime.

What Are Leaks in a Home?

They are openings or gaps in a home where air seeps in or escapes. Air leaks are very common since it is natural for a home to shift, settle, and develop gaps over time. For homeowners, home air leaks are a nightmare. They tend to overwork HVAC systems. If you fail to fix the problem on time, your heating and AC units can find it difficult to maintain the temperature, raising utility bills, shortening their lifespan, and making your home drafty during winter and stuffy in summer.

How Common Are Air Leaks?

Leaks are common, especially in every compressed air application. On average, between 20% and 30% of the energy consumed energy is used to power pneumatic equipment and air tools. High leak loads mean you have less air for the work, and your system should work extra hard to maintain the normal operating pressure, affecting production as well as resulting in decreased service life for air compressors. If leak loads are high enough, you can end up adding unnecessary capacity to the compressor to compensate.

Why It’s Important to Detect Air Leaks

Apart from leaks being sources of wasted gas or air and increasing operating costs, they may as well allow contaminants to enter your system. They can propagate and worsen with time if you don’t take remedial steps, making small leaks grow into high hidden costs. Industrial plants have a high level of noise and mask obvious evidence of minor leaks, making it difficult to know the magnitude of the problem. This becomes a hidden expense for maintenance planners and plant operators. This is why it is important to use tools, like ultrasonic air leak detection equipment, to identify every leak point and rectify all the faults so as to improve the delivered gas/air quality and minimize operating costs. By doing so, you can also avoid the following risks:

  • Environmental concerns – All leaks simply mean there is more consumption of power without its actual use. Wasting air can result in straining your energy resources and unnecessary carbon footprints.
  • Personal injuries – One of the personal injuries you can get is an ear injury that results from loud noises because of a sudden air release. More gravely, you may suffer lacerations, abrasions, cuts, and more severe injuries from damaged equipment or projectiles.
  • Physical hazards – A sudden air release may propel some objects at a high speed, harming bystanders and damaging infrastructure. The force that leaks generate may turn tiny particles into dangerous projectiles.

Detecting Air Leaks

Detecting air leaks is crucial for ensuring regular maintenance and saving energy. Several methods can help to detect air leaks. Some of these methods include the following:

  • Ultrasonic Leak Detection

A compressed air leak may easily become a source of wasted energy, especially in industrial facilities. As mentioned, this waste can be up to 30% of the compressor’s output. However, if you are unable to see leaks, how can you possibly detect them? Many experts will agree that using ultrasonic acoustic detectors is one of the best ways of detecting leaks. These devices help to recognize a high level of hissing sound that is linked with air leaks and often use various audio/visual indicators to identify the location of the leaks. In addition, ultrasonic leak detection is a versatile form of detecting air leaks because of its capability to adapt to various situations of detecting leaks. Its sensors mainly concentrate on noise fluctuations so as to identify the location of mid and large-sized leaks. Since ultrasounds are a short wave signal, they may identify the location of leaks by honing in the level of the loudest sounds.

  • Soapy Water

You can apply some soapy water to all suspected leaks. If there are leaks, then you will start to see soap bubbles forming. Although this is more dependable than listening for a leak, it consumes time and may require you to have physical access to your entire piping unit. Another disadvantage of this technique is that you will not get information on the leak’s volume. Therefore, you can’t make any decision on which leaks waste more air.

  • Professional Inspection

You may hire an expert to help you identify any air leaks by simply carrying out an audit of your home energy. The process will include carrying out blower door tests, where powerful fans are often mounted to the exterior door’s frame. These fans then pull the air out, decreasing the pressure inside and allowing high air pressure outside to flow in via cracks as well as other openings. Professionals also use a smoke pencil to spot leaks. This helps to locate air leaks and assess the air tightness in a home.

  • Flame Tests with Candles

If you are unable to feel or see air leaks, consider conducting flame tests using candles. Light candles and trace your window’s outline. If the smoke and flame pull in just one direction, then it means there is an air leak. If this is not clear, ask someone to stand outside your window with a hairdryer, and then trace the window’s outline once again. If your candles flicker, then it means your windows are allowing air to go through them.

  • Air Flow Meters

By installing an air flow meter at several strategic points in a system, you can know when there is a pressure drop. A meter that uses IO-Link technology may provide you with real-time reporting. With this, you can address small issues before they become more costly and serious to repair.

In conclusion, detecting air leaks is important for ensuring regular maintenance and reducing operating costs. For this to be possible, use tools like air flow meters and ultrasonic air leak detection equipment to conduct and detect air leaks by-annually or quarterly.