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advise on compressor

little_doodie

Aluminum
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Location
Easton, ma
I have a Devilbiss compressor that is 8-15+years old
its 220V single phase.
i was using it yesterday and suddently the air pressure started dropping so i went to check it and the circuit breaker was blown.
(never happed b4)
It had only been running about 5-10 min and was not overheating.
When I reset the breaker it just hummed.
The check valve was fine and the pump turned easily.
It has a capacitor on top that i checked if it shorted and it seemed to read ok.
the motor is made by Doerr.
any thoughts on troubleshooting it?
 
Compressor

If your sure capacitor is good, motor may have open winding. If it turns freely, check between leads and each lead to ground (not likely or breaker would have tripped again). Each coil will show continuity if they are good. You may have a coil that momentarily went to ground and then burned thru.

Good luck - John C
 
Don't overlook the compressor end. A non-functioning unloader could blow the breaker at start-up. Have you tried running the motor under no load and still had it just hum?

Regards,
Dave
 
Some single phase motors have a centrifugal switch mounted inside the motor. The idea is that at stop the switch is closed and connects the capacitor to a start winding. Once the motor gets up to speed, the switch opens. If the switch is not closing there will be no start cap connected, so the motor does not know in which direction to start turning.
Frank
 
Found it!!!
At some point in this compressors life it must have had a capacitor changed.
when they installed the new one the contacts protruded past the end of the cap and the vibration over time must have made the cap slide toward the metal cover and touch it the other day.
WALA acting like a shorted cap.
I am glad it was a simple fix because I would have been torn between getting a new compressor or fixing this one.

Thanks alot for the input!
 








 
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