When mobility is the requirement
Some jobs never get a permanent compressor room: pipeline work, bridge and road construction, quarry and drilling crews, and plant shutdowns where the air demand moves every few weeks. A diesel mobile unit is towed or skid-mounted, runs independently of the electrical supply, and can be working within minutes of arriving.
What to weigh against an electric machine
- Fuel and logistics - diesel has to be delivered, stored and accounted for, and consumption is a running cost the electric alternative does not have.
- Noise and emission - acceptable on a remote site, often not acceptable inside a building or near housing.
- Service interval - the engine adds a maintenance schedule on top of the compressor itself.
- Duty cycle - continuous duty and intermittent site duty are different specifications; do not size a site machine on a workshop duty cycle.
Sizing for site work
Site demand is usually driven by a few large intermittent consumers - breakers, drills, sandblasting - rather than a steady plant load. Size to the simultaneous peak with a receiver that absorbs the pulses, and confirm the working pressure each tool needs before choosing the model, because a machine sized only on flow will struggle when the tools want more pressure than the unit delivers at that flow.
Practical installation notes
Give the unit a level standing area with the exhaust pointing away from working faces, keep the intake clear, and provide a dry, lockable place for the control panel where the site allows it. On long projects, agree a service interval that matches the hours actually run.
Send us your working pressure, required flow and site conditions and we will propose a configuration. Contact OPPAIR.