Kaeser Compressor, is this the normal life?

moonlight machine · Jul 29, 2018

I'm working part time at a race shop that I worked at for 15 years ending about 10 years ago. They have a 15 HP Kaeser compressor that was new in 1989 it has 72,000 hours on it. It never had a lick of trouble, only maintenance from the Kaeser dealer. The motor burned out last Thursday. It is not apart yet so no telling what happened.

jdsmith · Jul 29, 2018

Can you post photos of the motor and the motor nameplate? Depending on the motor specs, alignment, how much dirt gets sucked into the windings, and what regular maintenance was done that may be reasonable motor life. If the motor is carefully selected for the application and maintained appropriately it is possible to get motors to run many decades longer than that. Given the cheap motors that many compressor vendors provide that isn't bad. If the winding faulted replace the motor, set the old alignment carefully, do a hot alignment, and keep running the compressor.

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gadget73 · Jul 30, 2018

I'm assuming 3 phase at that power level? Fastest way I know to roast a 3 phase motor is to lose a phase. Would be worth checking the motor starter for burned contacts and if it doesn't have thermal overloads to protect the motor you may want to add that.

if its just a bearing, replace it and carry on.

guest · Jul 30, 2018

72K hours?

Damn, I want a Kaeser.

I'm on my third air end on my Atlas Copco at 1300 hrs...

bryan_machine · Jul 30, 2018

My 12 year old Kaeser (with NOwhere near that many hours) will refuse to start if all 3 phases aren't present - which is how I learned to check voltage on all 3 legs when the power comes back on after an interruption....

So depending on its age, it may have some protection against losing a leg - but then again surges and the like can be nasty regardless.

steve45 · Jul 30, 2018

Only 72,000 hours? You just can't buy quality stuff anymore...

kustomizingkid · Jul 30, 2018

I can't tell if this is a humble brag or legit question...

moonlight machine · Jul 30, 2018

kustomizingkid said:
I can't tell if this is a humble brag or legit question...

It's legit, they are replacing it with a new Kaeser, looks like I get the old one!

eKretz · Jul 31, 2018

Lucky dog.

doug8cat · Aug 1, 2018

Not surprised, I have never heard a bad word about Kaeser compressors. A few years ago we were looking to replace our primary compressor and I had long chat with the local Kaeser rep, kind pricey but look what you get.

PackardV8 · Jun 11, 2019

We're doing a minor rebuild on a 25hp Kaeser AS30 rotary screw compressor. It ran for thirty years, 63,877 hours, with little-to-no maintenance. You can't buy a better compressor.

jack vnse

moonlight machine · Jun 11, 2019

PackardV8 said:
We're doing a minor rebuild on a 25hp Kaeser AS30 rotary screw compressor. It ran for thirty years, 63,877 hours, with little-to-no maintenance. You can't buy a better compressor.

jack vnse

I ended up getting the 72,000 hour compressor, no time to look at it yet.

Garwood · Jun 11, 2019

I have been carrying a conversation within a few feet of a Kaeser compressor not even realizing it was there nor that it was running!

kazlx · Jun 12, 2019

I just purchased a 1999 SX6 with 77K hours on it. Looks good to go. I just dropped it off at the service place the other day. They are going to replace a few mounts and just go through it and service, but the guy said it should be fine.

HuFlungDung · Jun 13, 2019

Ball bearings have a median life rating of 10 million revolutions, so I gather from some charts in the SKF catalogue. I suppose oversize can go longer. But the motor made it to 7.5 billion, so that's pretty good if it was never opened up for a bearing replacement. If the endbells get worn enough for the rotor to drag on the stator, that's the end. Of course, the insulation can fail on its own, too.

MattiJ · Jun 13, 2019

HuFlungDung said:
Ball bearings have a median life rating of 10 million revolutions, so I gather from some charts in the SKF catalogue. I suppose oversize can go longer. But the motor made it to 7.5 billion, so that's pretty good if it was never opened up for a bearing replacement.

1 million revolutions, 10% failure rate is the baseline.
Oversizing has very profound effect as failure rate goes up on third power of load. Running the bearings at 25% of rated load gives 64 times the rated lifetime.
10% of rated load gets you to 1 billion revolutions.
AFAIK at low stresses the limiting factor is often the grease life.

fmari --MariTool- · Jun 13, 2019

Funny timing. Just called Kaeser and left a message. I am interested in a SM10 or SM15. 70,000 hours is impressive!!

greggv · Jun 13, 2019

I'm a big Kaeser compressor fan and user. We've got two 50 hp vari drive units and love them! I would suggest Mr. Maritool check into that option. I remember getting a large rebate from the utility company due to the energy savings.

jhearons · Jun 13, 2019

Be careful with the smaller compressors. We had a SM10 that lost the air end. The air end, according to the dealer, can’t be rebuilt. They wanted about 7k to replace the air end and some bearings, it’s only about 10k for a new compressor. We bought a new AS20 instead...

moonlight machine · Jun 14, 2019

jhearons said:
Be careful with the smaller compressors. We had a SM10 that lost the air end. The air end, according to the dealer, can’t be rebuilt. They wanted about 7k to replace the air end and some bearings, it’s only about 10k for a new compressor. We bought a new AS20 instead...

At how many hours? Maintenance?

Kaeser Compressor, is this the normal life?

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