Taking proper care of your possessions is a major part of ensuring they work for as long as possible. If you’ve recently invested in an expensive tool, you definitely want to get the most you can out of it. The more advanced the tool, the more maintenance you need to do on it.
Proper pneumatic maintenance in Minnesota should occur daily, with more intense maintenance coming at the end of each week, and again after 90 days of use.
Daily maintenance
Before you clock out for the evening, you’ve got to make sure your air compressor is good to go for the next day. This means taking a few extra minutes to do some quick maintenance to ensure a properly running compressor.
- Relieve unit pressure: You probably already do this at the end of each day but make sure all of the air pressure in the unit is relieved before you do any maintenance. Forgetting step one can result in serious injury to yourself and anyone else around you.
- Check oil: Next, just like you do for your car, check the engine oil level. You’ll also need to check the oil level of the compressor. If either level is low, add enough lubricant to get it back to normal.
- Drain the tank: After your oil levels are good, drain the moisture from the tank. However, if the tank pressure is over 25 PSIG, skip this step.
- Check for oddities: Finally, take a second to make sure your machine isn’t making any strange noises. Any odd sounds could be the result of problems in the system and require further pneumatic maintenance in Minnesota.
Weekly maintenance
At the end of each week, after you’ve performed the above tasks, you have a few more things to do. While these minor chores will delay your weekend for a minute, they’re absolutely necessary.
- Clean: It’s safe to say that very few people actually enjoy cleaning. However, cleaning is a necessary part of tool maintenance. First, make sure you clean off all of the dirt, grime and dust from the cylinder head, motor, fan blade, air lines, intercooler and tank. Next, clean the air intake filters. You’d be surprised how dirty those can get over the course of a week!
- Adjust V-belts: After you’ve cleaned, you need to make sure the compressor will be in working order for the next shift. This means making sure the V-belts are at the correct tightness, as defined by the manufacturer.
90-day maintenance
After three months, or 500 hours of use, your 90-day maintenance needs to take place. This process will take a bit longer than the weekly and daily maintenance, but is just as important (if not more so).
- Change crankcase oil: Hopefully your engine and compressor oil levels are up to par. Now it’s time to change the crankcase oil. Obviously it’s necessary to use the correct type of oil, as defined by the manufacturer.
- Check for leakage: Using either a high-tech ultrasonic leak detector or just soapy water and a brush, check for air leakage throughout the system. Air leakage can come out of fittings, connections, and gaskets.
- Tighten: Make sure the nuts and bolts are all as tight as the day you bought it.
- Check and clean: Go around and check all of the compressor valves. You’ll probably need to clean them as well.
- Finally: Once all the above steps are complete do one final check of the machine. Pull the ring on all the pressure relief valves. The last thing you want is a failure after all of this maintenance.
If all of the above steps are taken, you should have an air compressor that lasts for as long as you need it.