Home / Compressed air tools
Compressed air tools for plant and maintenance engineers.
Map where your compressed air dollars go, test for leaks, size pipe, dryers and storage, and check variable speed, heat recovery and nitrogen. Every tool lists its assumptions.
Compressor room planner
Size the compressors, dryer, filters and tanks for your demand, with floor space, electrical feed and cooling air, next to a 3D utility room walkthrough.
Planning estimate. Power is corrected to your pressure at about 1% for every 2 psi, a common rule of thumb for screw compressors; ask each supplier for the CAGI data sheet at the pressure you will run to confirm. Fixed speed load and unload uses 30% of full load power unloaded with good storage. Variable speed interpolates the half flow figure you enter, or assumes specific power rises about 5% at half flow if you leave it blank, and loads and unloads below its turndown. Hot intake air and altitude cut actual flow, so check the data sheet's inlet conditions against your room. Maintenance and price are your quotes.
Have two quotes on your desk? Send them and we will check the data sheets against your measured demand and pressure.
Check my quotesPlanning estimate, not a bill forecast. Class B multiplies compressor kWh by your GA rate. Class A uses your own GA cost per kW of peak hour demand, which assumes next year's provincial GA total is similar to last year's. The base period runs May 1 to April 30 and the five peak hours are only known after the fact, so plants watch peak alerts through the summer.
Class A, or close to the 500 kW line? We look at what your air system can do in a peak hour without touching production.
Talk about peak hoursWhat to fix first
Planning estimate. Assumes lubricated rotary screw compressors at about 4.3 cfm per hp and 18 kW per 100 cfm at 100 psig, 1% more energy for every 2 psi, typical part load curves for each control, and 10 psi of allowed drop between the compressor and the machine. Heat recovery assumes 75% of compressor power can be recovered.
These are typical curves. A one week logging run replaces every assumption with your measured kW, pressure and flow.
Book an air audit| Hole size | cfm each at your pressure | Cost each per year |
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Leak % = loaded time × 100 ÷ (loaded + unloaded time), the method taught in the Compressed Air Challenge Fundamentals course. A well kept system loses under 10%. Hole flows are for rounded orifices at 100 psig scaled to your pressure. Sharp edged leaks pass about 60% of that. Cost uses 18 kW per 100 cfm.
An ultrasonic survey finds and tags every leak, with a repair list sorted by cost.
Book a leak surveyTypical part load curves: load and unload 30% + 70% of load with good storage, 45% + 55% with a small tank, modulating 70% + 30%, variable speed 8% + 95% of load. Projects that cut electricity use often qualify for Save on Energy incentives with pre-approval before purchase.
We log the real load profile before anyone buys a drive, so the savings hold up in an incentive application.
Log my compressor| Size | Drop | Velocity | Equivalent length |
|---|
Schedule 40 inside diameters. ΔP = 7.57 × Q1.85 × L ÷ (d5 × P) × 10-4, with fittings as equivalent length (elbow 30, tee branch 60, valve 8 pipe diameters). Suggested size keeps velocity under 20 ft/s and drop under 2% of line pressure. Aluminum systems have smoother bores and run a little lower.
Planning a new header or a building expansion? Send the layout and we will size the loop and drops.
Send a layout| Inlet conditions | |
| Purge air the compressor must also make | |
| Expected pressure dew point |
Correction factors are typical published values for current refrigerated and heatless desiccant dryers and vary a little by model. Heatless dryers use about 15% of rated flow as purge, so size the compressor for it too.
Water in the lines after a hot summer week usually means an undersized dryer. We check it against your data.
Check my dryerTypical published air use per tool. Check the data sheet for the tools you own, and add any machine that uses air for clamping, blow off or cylinders. Rotary screw size assumes about 4 cfm per hp.
Adding a line or a new building? We size the compressor, dryer and storage together.
Request a system designStandard flow at 14.7 psia and 68°F, normal flow at 1.013 bar and 0°C. The two differ by about 7%, so check which one a data sheet uses before comparing machines.
Planning estimate. Uses typical package specific power for rotary screw compressors at 100 psig, adjusted about 1% for every 2 psi, and typical part load behaviour for each control type. A metered audit replaces these numbers with yours.
Want the measured number? We log your system for a week and report kW, demand profile and leaks.
Book an air audit| Air factor at this purity | |
| Compressor power for the generator | |
| Nitrogen used per year | |
| Delivered gas per year |
Planning estimate of energy cost only. Air factors are typical for modern PSA generators and vary by model and inlet temperature. Equipment, maintenance and your existing compressor capacity are covered in a proper sizing.
Paying for cylinders or bulk liquid? We size the generator, compressor and storage and show the payback.
Request a nitrogen sizingUses V = T × (C − S) × 14.7 × 7.48 / ΔP at sea level. The rule of thumb is 3 to 5 US gallons per cfm for load and unload compressors and 1 to 3 for variable speed. Take the larger of the two, and check that every receiver carries a CRN.
Pressure dropping when one machine starts? A short logging run shows the event, and we size the storage to it.
Request a sizing| Carbon avoided per year |
Assumes 75% of input power is recoverable, a 10.35 kWh per m³ gas heating value and an 80% efficient heater it replaces, with about 1.9 kg CO2e per m³ of gas. Actual recovery depends on the compressor, the ducting or exchanger, and where the heat can go.
Venting compressor heat outside all winter? We look at where it could go and what it is worth.
Ask about heat recoveryWater content from saturation vapour pressure at intake, at an aftercooler outlet 15 °F above intake, and at the dryer dew point. Drain loss uses the standard orifice table (1/4 in at 100 psig is about 104 scfm) scaled with pressure, times the open fraction, times your kW per 100 cfm. A zero-loss drain opens only when there is water to remove. Planning numbers, not a measurement.
Want the drains, separator and dryer sized together?
Dryers, filters and drains| Control | kWh per year | Cost per year |
|---|
Part-load power from published curves for lubricated screws (DOE Compressed Air Sourcebook and CAC Fundamentals): load and unload with blow-down, worse with less storage; modulation to about 40 % capacity; variable displacement to about 50 %; variable speed down to about 20 % speed with a small full-load penalty. Real savings depend on how your demand moves; a week of logged data settles it.
Several compressors? Sequencing and one pressure band usually save more than changing one machine.
Log a week of dataTreatment train, in order
Classes: water 1 is -70 °C dew point or drier, 2 is -40 °C, 4 is +3 °C; oil 1 is 0.01 mg/m³ or less, 2 is 0.1, 3 is 1. Every psi of filter pressure drop costs about 0.5 % of compressor power, so do not over-filter. Use your customer's or your auditor's specification where one exists; breathing air follows CSA Z180.1 and medical air CSA Z7396.1.
Need the class proved, not assumed? We arrange air quality testing and size the treatment to the result.
Ask about air testingWant your own numbers instead of typical ones?
We log power, pressure and flow on your system for a week and send back a report with the fixes ranked by payback.
- Questions about an online ordersupport@prpreps.ca
- Sales and quotessales@prpreps.ca
- Phone+1 647 717 6264
Sizing methods on this page are developed and checked by a licensed professional engineer in Ontario. Results are planning numbers; we confirm every size against your site before anything is ordered.