By: Michael Lee

Michael Lee — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 13:56:55 +0000

When I started reading this article I thought that having the cost to purchase at 12% was pretty low, but it really makes sense to me that electricity would make up most of the costs. I have an air compressor that is in for air compressor repairs right now. Currently, the system is not old enough to be thinking about replacing it, even if the newer systems are more efficient.

By: John McDonnell

John McDonnell — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 21:58:41 +0000

Hi Ron:
If the compressor requiring repair is more than 30 years old and a reciprocating unit, it’s most likely much more efficient than the modern rotary compressors, by as much at 10-15%. Of course, that does not take into consideration the more modern VSD controls, yet those add significant cost, complexity, and long term maintenance cost to the equation.
I speak for experience. First, I was a product manager at Atlas Copco before moving to Htiach to market industrial controls, including VSD drives and programable logic controllers, the heart of advanced compressor controls.
Industrial users abandoned large reciprocating compressors to avoid the high maintenance costs, primarily on valves and pneumatic controls. The comporessor OEM’s moved to rotary compressors, especially screw type, to lower their manufacturing costs, even though rotary units are much less efficient. If we would redesign large recips using modern material, we could dramatically extend maintenance intervals while enjoying the higher inherent efficiency,.
Alas, the few surviving large compressor manufacturers will not follow this path and most compressor application engineers have never worked with large recips so do not know of the higher efficiency.
regards,
John

Comments on: Air compressor failures: Fix or replace?

By: Michael Lee

By: John McDonnell