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You cannot see a compressed air leak. Most of the time you cannot hear one either. But you pay for every second of it. Air leaks are the quiet drain on a factory energy bill, and most sites have far more than they think. A compressed air leak survey is the fastest way to find them, cost them, and stop the waste.
Air-Mech has run more than 100,000 service visits across the UK. We see the same thing on nearly every site. Air is escaping, the compressor works harder to keep up, and the bill climbs. Here is what a survey does about it, and why it pays for itself.
Your compressed air bill is bigger than it should be
Compressed air is one of the most expensive utilities in a plant. When it leaks, you are paying to make air that never reaches the tool or the line. The compressor runs longer. It wears faster. Your electricity meter keeps spinning.
The numbers are worse than most people guess. Air-Mech’s own leak figures show what a single hole can cost at 7 bar:
- A 1mm leak costs around £400 a year.
- A 3mm leak costs over £2,000 a year.
- A 6mm leak costs upwards of £8,000 a year.
Now picture a site with dozens of small leaks at every joint, fitting, and hose. It adds up fast. On a plant running a 75 kW compressor, wasted air can burn roughly £16,000 of electricity a year. That is money leaving through holes you cannot see.
Across the sites we survey, we typically recover 20 to 30 percent of the energy going into the system. That is a large chunk of a bill, gone to waste, waiting to be fixed.
What a compressed air leak survey does
A compressed air leak survey finds every leak in your system and puts a price on it. Air-Mech uses ultrasonic equipment for this. A leak makes a high sound that people cannot hear, but the detector can. Our engineer walks the whole system, pipework, fittings, hoses, and drops, and listens for it.
When we find a leak, we do four things:
- Tag it, so your team can find it again.
- Photograph it.
- Measure it in litres per second.
- Cost it in pounds per year.
You do not get a vague report. You get a clear list. Every leak is ranked by payback, so the ones that cost you most sit at the top. We call it the LeakSafe Survey, and you get the full report within 10 working days.
This is not a sales visit dressed up as a service. It is a measured, costed plan you can act on. Fix the top leaks first and you see the biggest saving for the least work.
What you get back
The point of a survey is the outcome, not the paperwork. Here is what a site gains.
A lower energy bill. Fix the leaks and the compressor stops working overtime. On most sites that is 20 to 30 percent of the compressed air energy recovered.
A ranked repair plan. You know exactly which leaks to fix first and what each one saves. No guesswork.
A fixed price, and no risk on the survey fee. The survey has a set price agreed up front. That fee is credited against any repair work you complete within 60 days. Fix the leaks and the survey effectively pays for itself.
A partner who knows the kit. Air-Mech is a BCAS member and SafeContractor approved. We service and repair compressors from CompAir, Hydrovane, ABAC, and Champion every day. Big operators like DPD and a national warehouse chain trust us to keep their air running. We hold a 4.9 rating on Google.
You are not just buying a report. You are buying a plan to cut a bill that has been quietly growing for years.
How the survey works, start to finish
It is simple to set up. One call. We discuss your site, agree the survey scope, and give you a fixed price. Then our engineer visits, walks the system, and tags every leak. Within 10 working days you have a full report with each leak measured, costed, and ranked.
From there, the choice is yours. Fix the leaks with your own team, or let us handle the repairs. If we do the repairs within 60 days, the survey fee comes off the bill.
No downtime games. No hard sell. Just a clear picture of where your money is going and how to keep it.
Book your compressed air leak survey
Every week you wait, the leaks keep costing you. A quick survey turns a hidden, growing bill into a short list of fixable jobs.
Talk to a compressed air specialist at Air-Mech and book your LeakSafe Survey. Send your site details through the contact page and we will agree the scope and give you a fixed price on the first call.