What is an Air Compressor Oil Separator?
An Oil Separator does exactly what its name tells you… it’s a filter within an air compressor system that separates oil from the compressed air to protect systems components and your equipment at the end of the line.
Lubricated rotary air compressors mix oil with the intake air to lubricate the compressor.
Air-oil Separators, typically used on rotary compressors, are located just after the compressed air leaves the compressor, installed in the compressors discharge line. The Oil Separator ensures your compressors oil is recycled back into the compressor to keep it lubricated, whilst helping to ensure the compressed air exiting the compressor is free of oil.
Of course not all the oil will be removed, as some traces of oil and vapours may pass through the air filter material and remain in your air supply. Therefore, it is important you have other filters in place downstream to ensure these do not reach your devices.
We often get calls from customers saying they have oil ”down the line” and in their pipework. There can be numerous reasons for this but one of these causes can be that the air/oil separator has failed. If you look at the picture you can see the results of a failed separator. Although this is a rare occurrence, regular preventative maintenance can avoid this issue.