Manual Drain vs Automatic Drain
Posted on Wed, Jun 29, 2011 @ 01:46 PM
The standard drain for the air filter in an industrial compressed air system is a manual one, meaning that a maintenance person has to visit the location on a regular basis to ensure that free water and the “soup” of contamination that the filter strips from the air is drained before it can be entrained into the air stream.
Depending on the size of your compressor and the length of time that your compressor runs each day, it might be necessary to drain water more frequently than once a day. Better to drain it too often than not enough.
The use of an air filter auto-drain will ensure that the filter bowl is drained as necessary, without operator intervention, with long-term positive effects on the downstream compressed air components that the filter precedes.
Automatic Drain Valve Benefits:
- Improves air quality
- Eliminates the need for periodic adjustments of interval and cycle times
often associated with timed drains
- Eliminates clogging and pressure loss associated with float operated valve
- Reduces energy cost by eliminating air purge
- Lowers maintenance
- Find our available automatic drain valves
How To Calculate Your Air Loss
Please use the calculation below to estimate your compressed air savings when switching from a manual to automatic drain.*
* Assumptions: There is 85 CFM when the drain is operating with 100 psig on the system at $0.25 per 1,000 CF of compressed air. The Best Practices for
Compressed Air System uses a $0.18 to $0.32 range. Your compressed air system can properly adjust and capture the reduction in air loss.
** This example is an estimate only and should be used for illustrative purposes only. Your results and savings may vary.
For more information, visit our website or contact our customer service team by calling toll-free: (866) 650-1937 or emailing sales@ecompressedair.com.