PNEUMATICS 24 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS October 2025 www.hpmag.co.uk One of the recurring challenges in pneumatic control is that faults rarely announce themselves clearly. You don’t always get a dramatic failure or a clear signal. More often, the system just feels slightly “off” – cylinders move slower than usual, an actuator overshoots, a pressure gauge starts to flutter, or the compressor seems to run more often than it should. These small signs are easy to ignore, especially in busy plants where a bit of inefficiency doesn’t seem worth chasing. But over time, these minor issues add up to wasted air, extra energy costs, and more frequent breakdowns. A big part of the reliability problem comes down to air quality. Compressed air is often taken for granted – it’s just air, after all – but in practice, it’s full of potential trouble. Moisture, oil, dirt and rust particles can travel through lines and gradually wear out seals or clog valves. When the filters or dryers aren’t checked regularly, contamination builds up and shortens the life of the system. The symptoms might start with sluggish movement or intermittent sticking, but left alone, the damage can spread. Replacing a few seals or filters on schedule is far cheaper than replacing an actuator because the internals have worn out prematurely. The same goes for pressure stability. A lot of pneumatic faults are blamed on components, but the root cause can often be traced back to inconsistent supply pressure. Regulators can drift out of calibration, pipes can narrow over time due to internal contamination, and leaks can creep in at fittings or joints. When the supply isn’t steady, control accuracy suffers. It’s not unusual to find production lines where operators have compensated for poor control by turning up the pressure across the board. That might mask the symptom for a while, but it wastes energy and increases wear on everything downstream. Mechanical wear The other source of frustration is mechanical wear. Pneumatic systems rely on good sealing and smooth movement, which depends heavily on condition of seals and lubrication. Over time, seals dry out, harden, or pick up grit, and the motion becomes uneven. That “stiction” – when a piston resists moving, then suddenly jumps – can cause jerky motion, vibration, and poor control. Sometimes a simple clean and re-lubrication solves the problem, but if the issue goes unnoticed, operators might start adjusting valve settings or pressures to “work around” it. Before long, the system is tuned completely out of balance, hiding multiple issues that only surface when something fails entirely. Regular maintenance is obviously part of the answer, but the reality is that maintenance teams are stretched, and pneumatic systems are often at the bottom of the priority list. They’re seen as reliable, so they get less attention than complex electronics or hydraulics. The trouble is that this mindset leads to a reactive cycle: wait for something to fail, fix it, move on. The downtime might only be a few hours, but across a year it adds up, especially if several systems are doing the same thing. One way to shift that pattern is to build in more feedback. Modern pneumatic components are becoming easier to monitor – not just the air supply, but the actuators themselves. Small, lowcost sensors can now measure stroke position, cycle counts, or valve actuation frequency. Linking that data to a basic dashboard or the site’s maintenance system means you can see when something is deviating from normal behaviour before it turns into a breakdown. It’s not full “Industry 4.0” automation, just a practical step towards predictive maintenance. Leak management The other area where small changes make a big difference is leak management. Air leaks are one of the most common and most expensive maintenance issues. Studies have shown that 20 to 30 per cent of the air produced by industrial How routine care keeps pneumatic control systems running smoothly Pneumatic systems have long been a familiar part of UK industry, running quietly in the background of manufacturing, packaging, and transport operations. They’re generally regarded as reliable and straightforward to look after, which is mostly true. Even so, no system is entirely without issues. Leaks, sluggish valves, and drifting actuators tend to crop up over time, so the real challenge is less about avoiding problems altogether and more about dealing with them sensibly to keep downtime to a minimum. H&P reports.
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