Guide
Air compressor service checklist: what a proper visit covers
Updated
A service is only worth what is written on the report afterwards. This is the checklist to hold a visit against, and the paperwork to insist on before you pay.
The compressor itself
- Intake filter element condition and change, plus the state of the air being drawn in (dust, fumes, heat).
- Oil condition and change to the manufacturer's grade, oil filter, and on screw machines the oil separator element.
- Belts, coupling and element condition, drive alignment, and running temperatures and pressures against the machine's normal figures.
- Coolers and matrix cleanliness, cooling fan operation, ventilation into and out of the compressor house.
- Control settings: cut-in and cut-out pressures, load and unload behaviour, hours run and load hours where the controller records them.
Air treatment and distribution
- Dryer operation and dewpoint, refrigerant dryer condenser cleanliness, desiccant condition and the date the charge is next due.
- Line filter elements, differential pressure across each filter, and whether an element is being changed on hours or on condition.
- Condensate drains actually working. A failed electronic drain either floods the ring main or blows air continuously, and both are expensive.
- Condensate disposal: oily condensate is a trade effluent question, not something to tip down a yard gully.
- Ring main pressure drop, and any leak survey findings with a repair list attached.
Safety and statutory items
Routine servicing is not the statutory examination, but a good service report still notes the state of the receiver, drain points, gauges and safety valves, and flags anything the competent person should look at. Under PSSR the protective devices, pressure vessels and relevant pipework are examined in accordance with your written scheme of examination, by a competent person, on the scheme's own schedule.
The paperwork to keep
- A signed service report per machine, listing parts fitted, readings taken, faults found and work recommended.
- Hours at the time of service, so the next interval can be planned on hours rather than guesswork.
- The current report of examination under your written scheme, with the date the next examination falls due.
- A maintenance log kept up to date. HSE expects work equipment to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair, and where a machine has a maintenance log, that the log is kept up to date (HSE, PUWER).