A single pinhole leak runs 24/7, and you pay for it in electricity every hour the compressor is pressurized. Enter the hole size, your pressure and your run hours to see the airflow wasted and roughly what it adds to your power bill each year. The airflow through a leak grows with the square of the hole diameter, so a 1/4 inch leak wastes about 16 times more air than a 1/16 inch one.

Estimate the cost of a leak

Leak hole diameter

Number of leaks like this most shops have several

System pressure PSI (gauge)

Hours pressurized

Electricity rate $ per kWh

Leaks are the largest single source of wasted energy on most compressed air systems. Because a leak flows whenever the line is under pressure, cutting supply pressure and fixing leaks pays back faster than almost any other change. Walk the lines with the system quiet, listen for hisses at fittings, quick couplers, hoses and drains, and tag what you find.

How the estimate works

Airflow through a sharp-edged hole scales with the square of its diameter and with absolute pressure. This tool anchors on the well-known figure of about 6.5 CFM of free air through a 1/16 inch hole at 100 PSI, then scales it for your hole size, pressure and number of leaks. To turn CFM into dollars it assumes roughly 0.207 kW of input power per CFM produced at 100 PSI (about 4 CFM per horsepower, allowing for motor losses), which is a typical figure for a lubricated industrial unit. Treat the result as a solid ballpark for prioritizing repairs, not a metered bill.