Compressed Air Quality

Get high quality compressed air by installing the right equipment and remove
water, oil and dust from your compressed air.
The quality of your compressed air is very important for the good operation of your equipment
like air tools and pneumatic machines. Although its important, compressed air quality is often
neglected or not given enough attention.High compressed air quality will dramatically reduce
maintenance and breakdowns on air tools like grinders and nailers, and machines with air
cylinders and moving parts. It will also reduce rust and dirt in your compressed air piping
system.Dirt, water and rust will get stuck inside your pneumatic equipment. Valves will get stuck
or wear down, same for cylinders and air tools. Its like the difference of breathing air on a dusty
construction site, or in the middle of a nice forest.

What is quality air?

Alright, so we need quality compressed air. But what is exactly quality air? There are several
things we look for when checking air quality:

Water in the air

Dewpoint / pressure dewpoint

Oil in the air

Dust

Contaminations like smells and micro organisms

All those things together contribute to the overall ccompressed air quality. Of course, use your
common sense and decide which factors are important to you.
Water in the air is a common problem, probably important for all compressed air systems. Oilfree air on the other hand is not a big issue for many people, but is is a big issue for people
working in the chemical or food industry.
On the clean compressed air page theres a list of stuff that will determine the quality of your
air, plus info how to get rid of it.
Bottom line: think for yourself what is important for you. Dont believe the salesman that tries to
sell you expensive equipment to get super high quality air, when you dont really need it.

Figure out what is important for YOU. Check the manuals of your equipment, it will often tell
you what quality of compressed air is needed (like the dewpoint / amount of water and oil that is
allowed, are there any special filter requirements?).

Equipment to create quality compressed air

Equipment to upgrade your air quality is available from most compressor manufacturers. For
example: compressed air dryers, oil filters, dust filters, water traps.
It doesnt really matter what kind of compressor you have. There are only two types of
compressor, as far as air quality is concerned: oil-free compressor and oil-lubricated
compressors. The oil-free compressor is more expensive but doesnt use any oil, so the
compressed air produces is completely oil-free.
A more expensive compressor will not give you better air quality. All compressors suffer the
same problems with regards to water and dust in the air. The only exception being oil. Oil-free
compressors give oil-free air, and piston compressors tend to spit-out more oil compared to
screw-type compressors.

Costs and paybacks / pros and cons

In short, this is what I could come up with, in terms of pros and cons of quality compressed air:
Pros of high quality air

Less maintenance of pipe system , easier piping installation (clean, dry air)

Less maintenance of equipment

Less breakdowns, resulting in higher machine uptime

Cons of high-quality air

Cost of equipment like filters and air dryers

Pressure drop over dryer (will result in increased energy consumption)

Pressure drop over filters (will result in increased energy consumption)

Replacement filters costs (filters need to be replaced every once in a while)

As I said before: figure out what is important for you. What do you really need? Remember, the
less stuff you have (dryers, filters, etc), the less can go wrong or break down. Keep it simple.

You could buy a standard refrigerated compressed air dryer, or a more expensive desiccant
compressed air dryer. If you dont need the very low dew point, why spend the money on an
expensive air dryer? Do you need an air dryer at all?
On the other hand, if the air is used as breathing air, of course you need all the dryers and filters
(and re-humidifiers)! It all depends on the application

Quality classes
To make it easier to compare air quality between systems and to rate equipment like filters and
dryers, an ISO standard is produced, to classify the compressed air quality. Class 0 is the highest
quality, super-clean air.
CLAS
S

WATER @ 7 bar /
100 psiPressure
Dewpoint

SOLID / DIRT
Particle size in micron

OIL
(including vapor)

0.10<d<0. 0.5<d<1. 1.0<d<5.

5< p=""> 0< p=""> 0< p="">
</d<0.5<> </d<1.0< </d<5.0<
>
>
Max number of particles per
m3
0

How to use the

table

As specified

Mg /m3

The ISO standard

gives quality
ratings for solid
particles, for water
and for oil. To
completely
belong to a class,
all requirements
must be met
(solids, water and
PPM
oil).

For example, air

with 2.000
particles of 2.0 um
and a pressure
0.008 dewpoint of -20
degrees Celsius
will be class 5.
0.08
2.000 particles of
2.0 um will give
0.8 us class 5 for solid
particles/dirt. -20
degrees Celsius
will give us class 3
4

As specified

As specified

100

-70

-94

0.01

100.000

1.000

10

-40

-40

0.1

10.000

500

-20

-4

1.000

+3

+38

20.000

+7

+45

25

21

+10

+50

for water. The overall class of the compressed air will be 5, although for water only it will be
higher: class 3.
Again, use your commons sense. You might not be interested in oil in your air, but dust and
water might be disastrous for your equipment. Heres a small list of general recommendations for
air quality classes for different kinds of equipment / use.
Air tools with air motors (like grinders):
Dirt: 2
Water: 5
Oil: 4
Other hand tools:
Dirt: 5
Water: 5
Oil: 4
Machines with pneumatic cylinders:
Dirt: 4
Water: 4
Oil: 4
General workshop air:
Dirt: 4
water: 5
Oil: 4

Compressed air quality testing

It is possible to test the quality of the air on-site. But this is usually quite an expensive option, as
the equipment needed to measure all the variables is quite expensive.
However, if you still want to have some assurance about the quality of your compressed air: buy
filters and equipment that are rated to a specific quality class.

If you buy a dirt filter of class 2, you can be sure that the air quality will be according to class 2,
for dirt. If you need the same quality for water and oil, you need to also install the correct dryer
and oil filters. Keep in mind that there are best practices when designing your compressed air
system. Do you install the oil filter before the air dryer or after the air dryer?
Also, keep in mind that filters will get dirty. Depending on how well your system is designed, the
kind of compressor and the amount of dust, water and other contaminants in the surrounding air,
filters will clog up sooner or later.
So there is no way of telling in what air quality class you are when your filters are all 1 year old.
But with regular maintenance (and keeping to the manufacturers recommendations), you should
be ok.
Learn section below content sample content
http://www.air-compressor-guide.com/learn/compressed-air-systems/compressed-airquality