Maintenance and Reliability
Rotating Equipment
Air Compressors, Operation, Maintenance and Troubleshooting
Running a compressed air system where most of the cost is leakage, pressure and the demand nobody questioned.
- Duration
- 5 days
- Contact hours
- 30
- Level
- Intermediate
- Fee from
- On enquiry
Overview
Compressed air is the most expensive utility on most sites and the least examined. A system typically leaks a quarter to a third of what it makes, runs at a pressure set by the one application that needed it years ago, and uses air for tasks a fan would do. The machine itself is then blamed for a cost the system created. This week covers the compressor and the system together: how each type behaves, what the air treatment has to achieve, where the energy actually goes, and how to troubleshoot a fault rather than replace a component.
Who should attend
Utilities and plant operators, maintenance technicians and engineers responsible for compressed air, energy managers, and reliability staff.
What you will be able to do
- Match a compressor type to a duty, including part load behaviour.
- Specify air treatment from the actual quality the application needs.
- Find and quantify leakage, and cost it.
- Decide the system pressure from demand rather than from history.
- Troubleshoot capacity, temperature and condensate faults to a cause.
How it is taught
Short input, then work, across 5 days of roughly 6 teaching hours each. Exercises run on situations delegates bring rather than on a case study written for a different organisation. Cohorts are capped so that everybody is asked something.
Available as classroom, live online, in house.
Programme outline
Day 1
The machines
- Reciprocating, screw and centrifugal, and the duty each suits
- Capacity control, and part load efficiency
- Cooling, lubrication and the oil carryover question
- Multiple compressors, and sequencing them
Day 2
Air treatment
- Moisture, dew point and what the application actually needs
- Dryer types, and the energy each costs
- Filtration, oil removal and pressure drop
- Condensate handling and disposal
Day 3
Where the money goes
- Leakage, found, quantified and costed
- System pressure, and the cost of each unnecessary bar
- Artificial demand and inappropriate use
- Storage, and using it to absorb peaks
Day 4
Operation and maintenance
- Routine checks that detect something
- Filter, oil and element change on condition rather than calendar
- Valve, seal and bearing maintenance by type
- Monitoring that would show efficiency drifting
Day 5
Troubleshooting
- Low capacity, traced through the system first
- High discharge temperature and its causes
- Excess condensate, oil carryover and pressure instability
- Unloading and control faults
What you leave with
- A demand and leakage assessment for the delegate's own system, costed.
- A treatment specification matched to the applications it serves.
- A troubleshooting routine for the three faults their plant sees most.
Dates and fees
| Dates | Location | Format | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 to 27 November 2026 | Maseru, Lesotho | Classroom | R15,000 |
| 30 November 2026 to 4 December 2026 | Lagos, Nigeria | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 7 to 11 December 2026 | Gaborone, Botswana | Classroom | R15,000 |
| 14 to 18 December 2026 | Nairobi, Kenya | Classroom | US$1,500 |
Fees are per delegate and cover tuition, all programme materials and the certificate. Travel, accommodation and visas are arranged by the delegate. Registration closes two weeks before a programme starts.
Certificate
A GATI certificate recording what was attended, issued after the programme has run and attendance has been taken. Attending at least 80 per cent of the days earns a certificate of completion; attending less earns a certificate of attendance stating exactly what was attended. Every certificate carries a code that anybody can check against GATI's own record.
It records participation. and GATI does not claim one it does not hold.