You rely on your air compressor, and, day-in, day-out, it provides the compressed air you need to power equipment, generate gasses, or run processes. One of the reasons the air compressor is so ubiquitous in industry is its steadfast reliability. However, almost every air compressor is having to work a bit harder than it needs — and possibly costing a lot more than it should — due to air leaks.
Leaks in compressed air systems are inevitable and will often go unnoticed by the human ear. In fact, many studies show that a poorly maintained system can lose 20-30% of its total air production through leaks alone. But each one will have an impact, reducing pressure and performance, making regular leak detection critical.
Why leak detection is critical for your business
Leaks in your air compressor system may seem minor, but they can significantly impact costs and operational efficiency. Detecting and repairing compressed air leaks ensures your system operates efficiently, saving energy and reducing unnecessary expenses.
Energy and Cost Savings
Even the smallest leaks in your air compressor can lead to substantial energy wastage, increasing operating costs. To put this in perspective, a single 3mm leak in a compressed air system operating at 100 psi could cost a UK business over £1,000 per year in wasted electricity, based on current high energy rates. Up to 30% of compressed air energy could be lost through leaks, so this is a critical area to optimise. Regular air compressor leak detection helps pinpoint and fix these leaks, ensuring your system runs efficiently and controls your energy usage.
Environmental and Compliance Benefits
Air leakage detection helps reduce your carbon footprint by preventing excessive energy consumption. It also aids in compliance with UK industry standards and energy management schemes like the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) and ISO 50001, helping your business avoid potential fines while contributing to sustainability.
Enhanced System Reliability and Productivity
Unchecked leaks can increase wear and tear on your equipment, shortening its service life and causing downtime. By using ultrasonic leak detection equipment to locate and fix leaks, you can maintain your system's reliability and the efficiency of your system, ensuring consistent production quality.
In short, regular air leak detection is essential to maintaining efficiency, reducing costs, and ensuring the long-term reliability of your compressed air system.
What causes leaks?
Leaks are a fact of life for compressed air systems, and even the best installed pipework will, in time, have leaks which can be caused by several things:
- Vibration: A common cause of leaks is vibration. Over time, this increases wear and tear at joins, couplings, and fittings, allowing leaks to develop.
- Corrosion: Corrosion can affect systems. Again, areas like valves and joints are particularly susceptible.
- Material failures: Even high-quality materials can sometimes fail, especially when installed in demanding environments. Seals and hoses can also degrade over time.
- Oversights: Human error is always possible, and things like not opening or closing values, or mismanaging pressure, can all put strain on a system that can develop into leaks.
- Accidental damage: It’s impossible to prevent pipework from the occasional knock. While these will usually make no difference, they can sometimes create leaks at the accident site, or even further along if they dislodge a join.
How we detect leaks
Many assume that leaks are obvious, but, in fact, most are all but invisible to the human eye and ear. Even in sites we know are impeccably maintained, we expect to find at least 20-40 leaks in a regular check.
Our specialists use two primary state-of-the-art methods for industrial air leak detection:
1. Ultrasonic Air Leak Detection
We will use an ultrasonic air leak detector to complete a thorough audit of your compressed air system. This helps us pinpoint every single leak. This equipment means that, even though humans could never hear the leaks, we can conduct compressed air leak detection even with background noise, so there's no impact on your operations. This technology detects the high-frequency "hiss" of escaping air that is inaudible to the human ear.
2. Advanced Acoustic Imaging
For the most complex or noisy industrial environments, we also utilise advanced acoustic imaging cameras. This technology, similar to that used by Atlas Copco, employs an array of sensitive microphones to "see" sound. It provides a live visual map of the leaks, overlaid on a digital image, allowing our engineers to pinpoint the exact source and severity with incredible speed and accuracy, even from a distance.
What we report - The Leak Tagging Program
We provide a thorough survey report detailing every leak we find. This will not just provide an identifier and photo of each leak, so you know exactly where it is, it also estimates the cost implications (in £) and the CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) loss.
As part of our professional Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) program, we use a systematic "leak tag" system. Each leak is physically tagged on-site, and a corresponding entry is made in the report. This means that, once the survey is complete, you can prioritise repairs based on the most significant financial impact and will know exactly how much you are saving.
The benefits of a leak detection survey
Comprehensive Leak Detection
Our leak detection surveys go beyond basic checks, using advanced ultrasonic tools to locate leaks that are often invisible to the naked eye. New leaks can develop over time, even in well-maintained compressed air systems, making regular detection essential. This thorough approach ensures that no leak is missed, giving you a complete view of your system's efficiency.
Immediate and Long-Term Savings
Repairing leaks promptly leads to immediate cost savings by reducing energy waste. The leak rate can significantly impact your energy bills, and by addressing these issues early, you ensure that no energy is unnecessarily lost. Over time, these savings compound, significantly lowering your operational costs and providing a strong return on investment.
Improved Efficiency and Reliability
Eliminating leaks enhances your system's performance, ensuring consistent pressure levels and reducing the risk of downtime. This means more reliable operations, allowing you to meet your production needs without stopping production unexpectedly.
Extended Equipment Life
By reducing unnecessary strain on your compressor, you extend its lifespan, lowering maintenance costs and maximising your investment in the equipment. Even high-quality systems like those from Atlas Copco can benefit from regular leak detection to maintain peak efficiency.
Environmental and Compliance Benefits
Leak detection helps reduce your carbon footprint by minimising energy wastage, and it ensures compliance with industry standards. This supports your business's sustainability goals and helps you avoid potential fines.
With Anglian Compressors, a branch of Atlas Copco, you’re not just addressing air leaks — you’re investing in long-term efficiency, reliability, and energy savings.
Your Local Partner for Compressed Air Leak Detection Services
While leaks are a universal problem, you need a local, responsive partner you can trust. Anglian Compressors, a branch of Atlas Copco, is proud to be a leading provider of compressed air leak detection services across the region. We are on-site with clients daily, conducting surveys in Peterborough, Stamford, Grantham, Kettering, Kings Lynn, and across the wider Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Northamptonshire areas.
We recognise the unique needs of industrial facilities in our service area and provide a fast, reliable service to help you stop wasting money and improve your system's integrity.
Book a leak detection survey
We offer a comprehensive leak detection survey for an all-in-one fee. And as many of our customers will attest, a regular survey often pays for itself quickly, saving them the time-consuming task of air leak detection, and allowing the prompt repair of leaks that would have gone undetected, but proven costly otherwise.
Contact us today, and we can take you through our process and give you details of how quickly we can start saving your money.
Frequently Asked Questions about Leak Detection for Air Compressors
An air leak detection survey uses advanced tools like ultrasonic leak detectors and acoustic imaging cameras to pinpoint all air leaks in your system. Identifying and repairing leaks can prevent air energy loss, increase efficiency, and save thousands of pounds in energy costs.
The survey results in a comprehensive report that details the precise location and estimated cost of each leak, allowing you to prioritise issues quickly and maximise energy-saving opportunities.