The finishing department at Mannington Mills’ carpet backing facility in Calhoun, GA, has three coaters in a plant the size of four football fields. It relies heavily on compressed air to power its operations, including 20 diaphragm pumps, air cylinders, and jet nozzles that blow lint off the carpet as it’s being sheared. The company had a 300-HP main rotary screw air compressor and a 150-HP backup.
His main compressor was “constantly being worked on,” said Bubba Dover, maintenance manager at the plant. It was frequently out of service for a month at a time. When repairs were made, the problem returned within a few days. “And they charged me once again,” Bubba said. “The upkeep on the [primary] compressor was outrageous,” Bubba said. “In 10 years’ time, the maintenance and the repairs were more than when we bought it.”
Moisture and oil carryover ruined some products until his vendor recommended a system that required filter changes every few months. “Instead of acknowledging the compressor problem, they sold me filters,” he said. It was noisy and produced a lot of heat, a problem in an already hot facility with three large ovens running constantly. When the backup was running, things were even worse. Though the plant needed pressures of 125 PSIG, it could only reach 100 PSIG, so some key end uses had to run more slowly. Because the backup was water-cooled, a chiller and two fans ran constantly, consuming extra energy.
Bubba wanted a rugged compressor with a smaller footprint and less noise. But, most of all, he needed reliability in his plant. “I don’t want to have a service man on call.”
Burned by his previous experience, Bubba “didn’t want to buy a pig in a poke,” so Air & Hydraulic Equipment connected him to other Kaishan customers.
“The product itself won us over.” He bought a 150-HP KRSP rotary screw air compressor.
“The Kaishan 150 is doing what the 300-HP was doing. It’s a reliable piece of equipment.”
— Bubba Dover, Maintenance Manager, Mannington Mills
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