Before buying a new air compressor, it is important to have basic knowledge about the machine’s vitals, whether the cfm or the psi; getting to know is the first step to owning and ensuring your safety. In an air compressor, the free air delivery is measured in cubic feet per minute. It is the air compressor’s volume of air produced at a specific pressure.
Knowing the cfm isn’t what’s important, but knowing how to check the cfm on the air compressor with respect to the tools is important and matters the most if you are trying to understand your device. In another way, you can’t go every time experts to get it to check for yourself.
In this article, we are thoroughly going to discuss how to check cfm on an air compressor. This will be a complete guide consisting of 8-steps, and after that, we will be discussing its associated tools/applications cfm calculation. I am quite excited to start it with you guys, so let’s dive into the pool of checking cfm.
Contents
How to check CFM on an air compressor?
CFM is the compressor’s capacity to carry out a specific duty continuously throughout time. It describes the required flow based on the time needed to finish the operation. It would be no wrong to say that the performance of an air compressor is completely based on the cfm level.
Step-by-Step Guide to Check CFM on Air Compressor
The calculation seems like a tough thing, but you can easily do this in a few steps, so here is a guide first, and then we will move to the tool’s cfm.
Step 01:
In the first step, you need to check the volume of the tank termed in gallons. To make it easy and simple for the users, it is actually marked by the manufacturers by the build and structure of the air compressor.
Step 02:
Before getting into this step, note one thing we will need a measurement where 7.5 equals the gallons in 1 cfm. So, considering that, divide the tank volume with it. Now, the amount you will get is the tank volume.
Step 03:
After doing the calculation, release the air that is kept in the air compressor and move to the next step. After that, start refilling the air compressor, and make sure you note the actual time your compressor will take to refill it completely. Also, don’t take any break midway.
Step 04:
In this step, we will record the psi just like we recorded the cfm on the tank, note the psi mentioned on the tank by the manufacturers, and subtract it when the air compressor stops. This way, you get two records for psi, one when starting and the other when stopping.
Step 05:
Now, divide the difference between these two by the cfm we took above, which is around 14.7. Now, the calculation that it shows is the atmospheric pressure that is added to it.
Step 06:
Now, the process is pretty easy since you got all the calculations. Moving on, the volume we checked in step 2 is needed. Take the volume and multiply it with the pressure in the atm. By doing so, it gives you the time your compressor takes to fill in cubic.
Step 07:
Lastly, the number you get is equal to the minutes. We will take the above two readings we get after calculations, and then we will multiply it by 60, and guess what, you get the cfm of your air compressor. That’s the whole straightforward process that experts do to check the cfm of the air compressor, and now you can do it too!
The CFM of Air Compressor Tools
CFM of painting equipment:
The most common and used tool with an air compressor is the painting or the pneumatic tool. To make your work easier and to do it in minutes, air compressor painting tools are handier than you ever expect. If you are planning on getting an air compressor for pneumatic tools, then you must go for a compressor of a maximum of 12cfm.
Drilling tools:
Another example of pneumatic tools is the drilling tools that almost every household owns now because no one wants to spend lots of money on workers. For such tools, you should go for an air compressor with a 3 – 6 CFM level.
Heavy machines:
For air compressors that are compatible to work with heavy tools that require more psi and production of air for continuous working. Such tools require an air compressor with more than 10 – 15cfm ratings in general.
Industrial tools:
In the category of industrial tools, there are many cutters, welding tools, etc., that are powerful tools for heavy machinery, but the duty period is less. So, in accordance with that, one must go for an air compressor of 5-10 CFM level.
Final words:
To sum up, checking an air compressor cfm isn’t difficult, but you need great focus to do so. With that, every air compressor has a different cfm level, so you can’t consider one cfm level to the other one.
Above, I have talked about how you can completely check the cfm on the air compressor, and with respect to that, we have also discussed the tools associated with the air compressor and their respective cfm levels.
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