A Broken Down Compressor is Expensive

Compressors being serviced 

GenAir compressors have a distinctive colour scheme, no one else is using our white and grey livery and we think they look good but we also know that no one’s hiring our compressors because they think they’ll improve site aesthetics.

All of our customers have a job to do and need a compressor to do it. The compressor has to work, if it doesn’t it costs money. Whether the compressor is providing air to run tools on a production line, a drilling rig sinking a bore hole or run a blasting pot on a building refurbishment project, if the compressor stops, work stops. All the of the employees on site still need to be paid and deadlines still need to be met. Time and money is lost and stress increases when a compressor breaks down.

This critical fact, that reliability matters, is central to the way the GenAir hire fleet is put together and operated. The starting point is the selection of the compressors that are added to our fleet. Whether those are designed and built by us or bought from a manufacturer, we select and design based on reliability. In some cases we make our own modifications, so although a compressor looks outwardly identical to other compressors, it may be using a bespoke fuel system, for example.

A fleet of compressors designed, selected and modified for reliability only gets us so far, those compressors need to be looked after. Our service department keeps track of the hours on each machine and makes sure that the service schedule is kept up to date. Every compressor is checked and serviced before it goes out on hire and checked again when it comes back. Even with proper servicing no compressor lasts forever. By tracking the hours on our compressors we know when to retire them, before they become unreliable. The utilisation of compressors vary, there’s much more demand for some than others so hours per year varies from machine to machine but the vast majority of our fleet is under 3 years old.

By selecting compressors for reliability, implementing proper servicing and maintenance and not pushing machines past their useful service lives are we able to guarantee that our compressors will never break down? Unfortunately not. We’re constantly looking at ways to prevent breakdowns but ultimately compressors are mechanical pieces of equipment and there’s always that chance, the perfect machine doesn’t exist.

The last piece of the reliability puzzle is our team of engineers. Compressors, much like cars, are increasingly complex, built to meet emissions standards and fuel efficiency targets and maintaining and repairing them is skilled work. Our engineers, operating out of our depots in the South East, West Midlands and Scotland provide 24 hour cover. They have the tools, knowledge and experience to maintain and repair our hire fleet. In most cases we expect them to be able attend a breakdown within 4 hours.

GenAir has the largest compressed air hire fleet in the UK operated by experienced staff with the infrastructure to enable us to deliver the compressors our customers need where they need them to do the job they’re needed to do. We know that a broken down compressor costs money and we’re organised to prevent breakdowns as much as possible and when it can’t be avoided, to fix or replace the compressor quickly. We don’t believe anyone can or does do it better.