| Have you considered your air compressor as a | | | | cooling tower where the heat can be taken away to |
| potential bomb? | | | | theatmosphere. |
| If you have not, then you better! | | | | The flow of coolant can sometimes be the culprit. |
| Although air compressors are built to withstand high | | | | When thecooling pump fails, or the driving belt snaps |
| pressures,and will have all the necessary relief valves | | | | there will be alack of coolant flow. One must also find |
| to take care ofnormal occurring overpressures, | | | | out whether the valvesfor coolant have been |
| explosion involving firepropagation is another matter. | | | | accidentally closed or not. |
| How can a fire occur in an air compressor? | | | | Very often, the effects build upon one another in a |
| In order to understand the phenomenon of explosion, | | | | vicious cycle |
| wehave to understand the nature of fire, because, | | | | - poor heat transfer leads to more heat that |
| after all, anexplosion is a very rapid propagation of | | | | carbonizes more oilwhich coats the heat transfer |
| fire. | | | | surfaces more...which leads toworse heat transfer... |
| A fire will only start whenever three conditions are | | | | Therefore use oil lubricated air compressors with |
| met - fuel,oxygen and heat. | | | | caution. Ifyour air compressors have been running for |
| An air compressor when operating will have a very | | | | a long time, chancesare, your air compressor pipelines |
| rich supply ofoxygen already in place - pressurized | | | | may have already accumulated asizable amount of oil |
| oxygen. | | | | carried over together with the air flowduring |
| Where do we get the fuel? | | | | operation. |
| If you use oil lubricated air compressors, the | | | | Does your air compressor work non-stop? Is the |
| lubricating oilcan become the source of fuel. It can | | | | inter-cooler orthe after-cooler efficient? Is your |
| also be in the form ofcarbon dust. Carbon is formed | | | | compressed air hot? These arethe questions you |
| when oil is heated to hightemperatures. | | | | have to ask yourself. |
| How is it possible to have high temperatures to ignite | | | | The oil film in the pipes turns to carbon with heat. |
| thecombustible mixture? | | | | Theoxygen-rich and moist atmosphere inside the |
| There can be a lot of reasons - lack of lubrication | | | | pipes can turn theoil into acids that can further |
| due to oildeterioration, reduced lubricating quality of | | | | deteriorate the oil to form otherorganic compounds, |
| the oil, oil pumpmechanism fault, oil filter choked, | | | | perhaps some highly flammable products. |
| worn out parts leading tolessen oil pressures, etc. | | | | It just needs a spark or a hot spot to ignite this. |
| Whenever there is a hotspot sufficientto ignite the | | | | Boom!! |
| combustible mixture an explosion will occur. Thatis the | | | | Did I frighten you? |
| extreme case. | | | | What you need is good preventive maintenance. An |
| Let's see what can happen that can lead to that | | | | air compressorworking at peak condition with good |
| extreme case ofan explosion. | | | | cooling, good lubricatingpressures, and good lubricant |
| All the above reasons for lubrication failure or | | | | and good parts should givetrouble-free performance |
| deteriorationwill gradually cause the machine to | | | | throughout its lifetime. |
| operate poorly, wear out themoving parts, cause oil | | | | Sometimes the compressor may have reached the |
| spills and carry over of the oil in theair passages and | | | | point of no return |
| increased heat built-up. | | | | - coated coolers leading to high temperatures that |
| Now comes the cooling part. Is there a lack of | | | | lead to morecoated cooling surfaces that lead to |
| cooling? If thehigh temperatures due to rubbing of | | | | higher temperatures... Inthis case it is safer to discard |
| parts from the above are notcooled down | | | | the compressor altogether andobtain an entirely new |
| sufficiently, the heat will build up. Theintercoolers play | | | | compressor unit. It could be moreeconomical - and |
| a very important role in removing the heat? | | | | safer! |
| There are also many other reasons for the lack of | | | | If you do that, do ensure that preventive |
| cooling. | | | | maintenance is doneregularly to keep the unit at peak |
| When the heat transfer surfaces have been coated | | | | operating conditions all thetime. |
| by films ofscale or carbon it will definitely affect the | | | | An explosion in an air compressor can have grave |
| cooling process. | | | | consequences. |
| The heating surfaces may have been reduced due to | | | | Don't take any chances. Perform regular preventive |
| choked passagesfor the cooling medium in the heat | | | | maintenance orbuy a new unit before an explosion |
| exchanger. The cooling mediumitself may be too hot | | | | occurs. |
| probably due to a fault in another machinelike the | | | | Until next time... |