Oil Free Compressors Generating Oil Contaminated Air

Following on from and earlier blog dated 16th November with reference to the fact the oil free air can be generated via both oil flooded and oil free air, the important part of the system being the filtration, Beko Technologies have independently proven my point..

Beko Technologies, an important player in the world wide compressed air market, have developed a sensor that can detect, in real time, oil vapor content in compressed air down to 0.001 mg/m3, or is ISO terms better than class 1.

As part of the roll out program Beko installed an oil sensor on both an oil free system installed by the major oil free compressor manufacturer and also on an oil flooded compressor system. The oil flooded system showed an oil content that exceeded class 1 specification where as the oil free compressor surprisingly failed as it showed oil levels of up to 0.5ppm in the compressed air.

The reason behind the oil free system failing was the inadequacies of the post air compression filtration. On the oil free system the compressor was sucking in carbon, in this case generated by car fumes, and as they say what goes in must come out, hence the oil contamination in the air. On the oil flooded system in a similar setup the air exceeded class 1 oil levels due the air filtration including an activated carbon filter.

The lesson here is Oil Contaminated Air

1) Oil Free Compressors don’t provide oil free air without adequate filtration
2) Oil Flooded Systems produce oil free air with adequate filtration. Oil Contaminated Air

As discussed in earlier topics oil free compressors cost much more to purchase, are more complicated units, cost much more to maintain and require more energy to run.

The simple answer is if you require oil free compressed air then the logical choice is to use oil flooded compressors with the correct ancillary equipment saving not only on investment costs but also on future maintenance costs and running costs. Of course the correct design of the system is imperative as is the correct maintenance. Finally using a Beko oil sensor you can have the peace of mind that the air you are generating is of the correct quality.

Glaston Compressors are an authorised distributer of Beko products and if you have any questions on the above please feel free to get in touch and contact us through our secure form or on the phone. You can also speak to us about other services, such as nitrogen generators and vacuum blowers.