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Depot Compressed Air, Hydraulics and Hose for Road and Rail Transport
Bus garages, HGV workshops and train maintenance depots all depend on one utility: workshop compressed air. It drives the impact wrenches on wheel changes, the tyre inflation bay, air-operated lifts and the spray booth, often through the night. When it stops, vehicles stay off the road.
Control Gear Group, specialists in compressed air and industrial equipment, has supplied and serviced fluid power equipment since 1973. From Treforest, our engineers cover depots across South Wales and the South West on site, and we supply UK-wide.
What Does a Depot Need From Its Workshop Compressed Air?
Dry, clean air at a steady pressure, from a system that keeps running on the night shift and has its paperwork in order.
Quality matters because of what the air touches. Moisture or oil carried over from a poorly treated depot compressor can make valves stick and wear seals on the vehicle air systems your fitters are working on.
Reliability matters because inspection programmes don’t pause. The DVSA guide to maintaining roadworthiness says safety inspections for goods and passenger vehicles normally run every 4 to 13 weeks, with a brake performance assessment at every one. A workshop that loses its air loses those inspection slots.
Control Gear supplies, installs and services a depot’s compressors, air treatment, hydraulics, hose, tools and extraction, so one team understands the whole workshop.
50+
years of industrial equipment experience
Depot Compressors, Air Treatment and Hire
As an Atlas Copco Premier Distributor, we fit GA oil-injected rotary screw compressors in most bus depots, rail workshops and HGV maintenance bays. Atlas Copco is one of the world’s largest compressed air manufacturers. Where a paint shop needs air with no oil in it at all, we specify ZR or ZT oil-free units rated to Class 0 under ISO 8573-1, the international standard that grades compressed air purity. See compressed air for the transport industry for the machines in detail.
Sizing, Installation and Servicing
Most depots have grown bay by bay, so the compressor house rarely matches today’s load. We start with a right-sizing audit, then install and commission compressors, dryers, receivers and AIRnet pipework to each tool drop.
After that, our engineers service the plant with genuine Atlas Copco parts on a planned schedule. The Guardian Service Plan gives fixed annual servicing and warranty cover for seven or nine years. SMARTLINK remote monitoring shows a developing fault before it stops the workshop. Fleet workshops on distribution sites run the same plant, as our page on compressed air for logistics and distribution explains.
Dryers and Filtration for Vehicle Work
A refrigerant or desiccant dryer plus multi-stage filtration keeps water and oil out of the airlines. In a workshop where fitters connect shop air to vehicle systems, that treatment protects the components on the vehicle as well as your tools.
Leaks and Written Schemes
Long airline runs to multiple bays leak, and every leak is electricity you pay for and air your tools never see. Ultrasonic leak detection surveys are part of our compressed air service, and our engineers fix what they find.
The compliance picture is narrower than many depot managers assume. Schedule 1 to the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 excepts the braking, control and suspension systems of wheeled, tracked and rail-mounted vehicles, and vehicle tyres. Your fixed compressors, air receivers and pipework are still in scope, and they can’t be operated without a written scheme of examination drawn up or certified by a competent person. We prepare those schemes.
Breakdown and Hire Cover
Our engineers provide 24/7 breakdown cover across South Wales and the West. If a repair can’t be finished the same day, we install a hire compressor so the depot keeps working. Our air compressor rental fleet covers portable, industrial and oil-free Atlas Copco units on spot hire or contract hire of 3 to 36 months, with dryers, filters, receivers and a written scheme in the package.
Hydraulic Repairs, Accumulators and Filtration
Heavy vehicle lifts, jacks and workshop presses rely on hydraulic cylinders, pumps and power units. When one leaks or drifts, that bay is out of action. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 require that equipment to be kept in efficient working order and good repair.
Our hydraulic services workshop repairs pumps, cylinders, motors and valves from Bosch Rexroth, Parker Hannifin, Eaton, Oilgear and Moog, and our engineers install and repair on site. For accumulators, we:
- supply new bladder and piston accumulators
- offer same-day removal, recertification and refit
- write the schemes of examination that go with them
We also design and build hydraulic power units, and as a partner of HYDAC, the German hydraulics and filtration manufacturer, we supply its full range. Oil sampling and condition monitoring catch contamination before it reaches a pump. We’ve been an authorised Pall industrial filtration distributor for over 20 years and are official distributors for 3M Cuno. Between them and HYDAC, we supply hydraulic filter elements, water removal and purifiers, purifier hire, and process filtration for fuels and coolants, backed by condition monitoring.
Hydraulic and Industrial Hose Made to Specification
Our hose team is certified by the BFPA, the British Fluid Power Association, and manufactures hydraulic and industrial hose assemblies to your sample or specification, with pressure testing and certification. For lifts, jacks and workshop plant, we build hydraulic hose assemblies from Eaton, Gates, Parker Hannifin, Manuli and Bridgestone across SAE, DIN, ISO and EN ranges.
Matched, tested assemblies matter on a depot because a hose that fails under pressure sprays hot oil across a working bay. Replace the whole assembly rather than re-ending a used hose.
Rail is one of the sectors our industrial hose range serves, alongside:
- fuel and gas hose
- anti-static hose
- ATEX hose
- suction and delivery hose for fuel bays and wash plant
HSE guidance on tyre inflation notes that a typical commercial vehicle tyre sidewall must withstand over 34 tonnes of force from compressed air. It asks for a restraint above 15 psi, and an airline with a gauge, quick-release couplings at both ends and a clip-on chuck on hose long enough for the operator to stand clear. Our hose team makes up those airline assemblies.
Workshop Tools, Pneumatics and Hand-Arm Vibration
Impact wrenches and grinders work hardest in a depot, and they’re the tools most likely to give your fitters hand-arm vibration. The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 set a daily exposure action value of 2.5 m/s² A(8) and a limit value of 5 m/s² A(8).
We’re an authorised distributor for Atlas Copco Industrial Tools:
- impact wrenches and nutrunners
- grinders and sanders
- air motors and hoists
- bolt tensioning and torque equipment
We repair, service and calibrate them in our own workshop. Our IOSH-certified engineers run on-site tool surveys, measure vibration against those values, assess trigger times and set up a traffic-light system so each fitter knows which tool to pick up. Details are on our industrial tools and automation page.
Air-operated doors, wash plant and test rigs run on pneumatic valves and cylinders, and each tool drop needs air preparation. We’re an authorised IMI Norgren distributor and an official Festo partner, and we supply Parker Hannifin pneumatics. Our workshop repairs pneumatic cylinders and valves when a replacement isn’t the better answer.
Paint Shops, Blasting and Fume Extraction
Our spray and finishing division supplies dry filter, waterwash and downdraught spray booths, paint mixing rooms and Graco spray equipment. We sell, hire and service shotblasting booths and blast cabinets, including pressure blast cabinets for alloy wheel refurbishment.
Sprayers on air-fed masks need breathing air that meets BS EN 12021, the standard for breathing air quality, and we test it on site.
Welding in body and chassis repair, blasting dust and exhaust in an enclosed workshop all need capture at source. As an authorised distributor and Gold Channel Partner for Nederman, the Swedish extraction manufacturer, we supply extraction arms, filters, fans and hose reels through our dust and fume extraction division.
Once installed, local exhaust ventilation must be examined and tested at least every 14 months under regulation 9 of COSHH 2002. Our certified engineers carry out those LEV tests.
Where Each Division Fits in a Depot
Each area of the depot runs on different plant. Here is what Control Gear supplies and services in each one.
Compressor House
Compressor House
Atlas Copco compressors, dryers, filters, receivers, pipework and hire cover.
Workshop Bays
Workshop Bays
Air tools, torque tools, HAV surveys, and tool repair and calibration.
Lifts, Jacks and Presses
Lifts, Jacks and Presses
Hydraulic cylinder, pump and power unit repair, accumulators and hose.
Paint Shop, Bodyshop, Fume and Dust
Paint Shop, Bodyshop, Fume and Dust
Spray booths, blast cabinets, breathing air testing and oil-free air, plus Nederman extraction arms and filters with LEV testing.
Compliance
Compliance
Written schemes of examination, leak detection, LEV and breathing air tests.
Talk to Control Gear About Your Depot
We hold ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certification. Written schemes, LEV tests, breathing air tests and HAV surveys exist because pressure, oil, vibration and fume hurt people.
One limit is worth being clear about. The air brakes and suspension on the vehicles themselves sit outside PSSR and inside your roadworthiness maintenance system. We look after the plant that keeps the workshop running, not the vehicle’s own brake equipment.
Send us the compressor model and age, the number of bays and tyre stations, and the date on your current written scheme of examination. Our Treforest team will come back with a sized and serviced plan for your workshop compressed air, plus the hydraulics, hose, tools and extraction around it. Call 01443 843126 or use the contact form to book a depot survey.
Get in touch
Contact Control Gear today
Tell us about your site and we’ll come back with the right service, audit or system recommendation.
- Visit us Heol Groeswen, Treforest Industrial Estate, Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff, CF37 5YF
- Call us 01443 843126
- Email us enquiries@control-gear.com
Mon–Fri · 09:00–17:00
24/7 emergency call-out available