Sensidyne Gilian GilAir Plus​
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Sampling Pump
The Good: Reliable, minimal instances of pump faults, excellent battery, quick to charge, lighter and less cumbersome than other older sampling pumps, excellent interchangeable flow range
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The Bad: Occasional inconsistency in performance of pumps, expensive
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The Verdict: Light, modern, and packed full of features, the GilAir Plus is the Positive Exposure favorite for sampling pumps.
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Perhaps the most important piece of equipment in industrial hygiene: the sampling pump. With choices aplenty, most consultants are limited in their choice based on what their local rental company or big-time lab like Galson has to offer. Time and time again I find myself requesting some of my favorite pumps, but the GilAir Plus always sits at the top of the list.
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The GilAir plus shines in multiple aspects. Right out of the box, the user interface is extremely easy, with a large LCD display that is easy to navigate, and easy to calibrate. Users will find that the pump is lighter and more compact than its predecessors and older counterparts. In addition, the pump screams versatility with its ability to handle a wide range of flow (manufacturer claims 0.02 liters per minute (lpm) to 5.1 lpm). The pumps include a tool that is inserted in the side of the pump and can switch between low (displayed as Lo) and high (displayed as Hi) flow, 0.02 - 0.49 lpm and 0.45 lpm - 5.1 lpm respectively. Positive Exposure's heavy use of this pump confirms that the pump tends to have a hard time keeping up at the minimum and maximum rated flow rates, and fares much better in the 0.04 - 4.5 lpm range, although it is possible that worn out rental equipment played a role (battery life was significantly stifled at flow rates over 4 lpm).
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Speaking of battery life, in most scenarios, the GilAir Plus was exceptional. Charging is fast, going from practically dead to trickle charging in about an hour and a half. The longest sample I have taken was 16 hours long at 2 lpm and the battery bar still had some juice left. Online literature suggests that a fully charged GilAir pump can achieve up to 24 hours.​
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Other favorite features include the lock ability to keep workers from bumping the on/off button, a live display of sampled volume, which can also be accessed in the history incase the pump shuts off, allowing the IH to do some quick math and see when it turned off. Calibration is very easy, and the pump attempts to internally reset itself incase of a fault, so it won't turn off right away incase the inlet gets blocked or the tubing gets clamped for a quick second.
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The only gripes are minor. There have been inconsistencies in battery life while in the field, with 5 pumps running at the same flow rate and one runs out of battery before the ends of the 8-hour sampling time, while the rest continue to run without any "low battery" warnings. In one instance, a pump had its bronze valve on the side broken off, rendering the pump no longer air-tight and thus, unable to be calibrated. However, I acknowledge that these were only instances in rental orders, and therefore may have been subject to heavy wear-and-tear or abuse from previous users. Thus, these are likely anomalies and have a minimal impact on the score.
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