Orientation: What It Is And Why It's Important For Air Pump Installation

In industrial settings, you rely a lot on air pumps to move gases and liquids to other areas of the plant. You may also use air pumps to circulate toxic fumes out of the work space to keep employees healthy and safe. However you use air pumps in your plant, it is necessary to get the proper orientation for air pump installation. Here is what that means, and why it is so important to air pump installation.

Which Way the Wind Blows

The orientation of an air pump matters because of the way the wind blows. Maybe you need the artificial wind blowing to the left from the right, or from the right to the left. Maybe you need the air to blow upward, to take fumes away from the floor. Maybe you need air to blow downward, to dry wet substances, like paint or plaster. If the orientation of the pump is incorrect, the air blowing away from it is also wrong. 

​Installing the Pump

It seems a little weird, but there are actually air pumps constructed to be oriented left or right. The really weird part is that a left pump can never be installed in a way to blow right, and a right pump can never be installed to blow left. Hence, you should first know the direction that you want air to blow. Then you should know which direction the pump is oriented for. Some of the best air pumps can blow either left or right, but they can also blow down or up. Choose the correct pump direction, and it will help a lot with the installation in the correct orientation/direction.

What an Incorrect Orientation Will Do

If you incorrectly choose a pump and install it in the wrong orientation, you can probably guess already what will happen. First, the pump may not work as expected, since even the pump will "know" it is not installed correctly. It will not run, or it will run poorly. Second, even if it does run, it will be blowing air in the wrong direction. Toxic fumes will stay close to the floor and make employees sick. Ventilation for that whole area of the plant will fail. Third, gases and liquids will stop flowing in the direction you expect and need them to, and instead, reverse direction. Very little of those gases and/or fluids will get to their expected destination. Installing the pump with the correct orientation eliminates all of those headaches, plus it removes the extra expense of installing the air pump properly.

For more information, contact a company like Compressed Air Systems today.

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