Finding leaks is like finding money!
Compressed air is energy. Leaking tubes, hoses and fittings are sources of energy loss. In in the eyes of many these are regarded as very small holes, but they can cause significantly higher energy losses than you might think. Here's a little indication:
| Air leakage* | Ø 1 mm | Ø 2 mm | Ø 3 mm |
| Per minute | 73.8 liters | 297 liters | 668 liters |
| Per hour | 4.4 kbm | 17.8 kbm | 40.02 kbm |
| Per day | 105.6 kbm | 427.3 kbm | 962 kbm |
| Costs at 25 öre/kbm | 9636 Kr | 38982 Kr | 87783 Kr |
| Costs at 20 öre/kbm | 7708 Kr | 31186 Kr | 70226 Kr |
| Costs at 15 öre/kbm | 5781 Kr | 23389 Kr | 53670 Kr |
* Calculated based on 7 bar, 24 hours 365 days
That’s why to find leaks is like the title says – to find money. You don’t need to find many leakage points for it to be worth the effort. There is hardly any compressed air system that does not leak to some degree.
The problem is many cases is to find the leak and find time to fix it. A common belief is that it will be easy to detect a leak by simply listening when the production is not running. But as most people know it's not always the big holes that can be heard, as it depends on how air passes through the edges of the hole which determines the noise level. One can compare it to whistle or blow! That’s why at W&S LeakLess AB we work with ultrasonic instruments, with a patented technology that filters out background noise and distinguishes it from the sounds that emit leak. Therefore, we can perform leak detection even in a difficult and noisy environment and at any time during production time.
Here you'll find leaks
There is a variety of leakage points that exist in an equipment. You can find leaks in basically all pressurized tubes and parts, even in the trunk lines. Age of the equipment, compressed air quality, general maintenance, obviously have an influence.
The following parts are some of the points where leaks can be often found.
Leaks are also an environmental issue
By reducing leaks and compressed air consumption you make a bigger contribution to the environment than you might think. Almost 10% of a country's electricity consumption is used to produce compressed air. In Europe, the estimated consumption of compressed air is more than 80 TwH, which is more than Sweden's total nuclear power production. Since there are significant opportunities for energy savings in all compressed air systems, an increasing number of countries and businesses face a need to meet the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol and ISO 14000.
