What to Do After Your Compressed Air System has Been Hit by a Flood?
Natural disasters such as heavy rainfall and severe flooding can have an impact on your compressed air system. If you are in a flood affected area and your compressor has been damaged due to the severe weather, it is important to follow a procedure before turning the flood damaged compressor back on.
We have put together a checklist to follow if your compressor has become flood damaged. Keep reading below or if in doubt give us a call for assistance.
What to do if your compressed air system has become flood damaged:
- Electrical Safety - if the power supply or the compressor installation has been fully or partially submerged, have a licenced industrial electrician perform a thorough inspection to ensure it is safe to reapply power! Reapplying power before the equipment is safe to do so can result in serious damager to property and/or personnel!
- Mechanical Safety - take the time to inspect the equipment properly, looking for water damage to the following iteams as they may have become damaged and lead to a potentially harmful failure:
- Compressor elements
- Drive motors and fan motors
- Coolers
- Piping and connections
- Air Receiver mounting feet and foundation bolts
- Cleanliness - a clean compressor is a cool compressor, and it is an easy fix to check that the equipment is clean and free of debris or mud fouling. We recommend only appropriately competent personnel carry out cleaning of the compressor equipment as there are risks to both the equipmennt and personnel if not performed correctly. As the drying water can contain harmful bacteria or contaminants, we also caution to utilise adequate PPE such as safety glasses, gloves, breathing protection.
- AirNet - open drain points prior to restarting the compressor equipment, to allow for any water that may have entered the system to drain. Use hearing protection when closing drains once the compressor is restarted as the compressed air discharge will be extremely loud.
- Operation - Restart the equipment slowly and methodically, watching for any signs of abnormal operation. Slowly bring the system back up to full pressure and ensure all drain points are closed off once any water contamination has been blown clean.
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