As part of our 'Field Service Notes' we are launching a series of articles, written by Glenn Moore, under the overall title of 'Why Compressors Fail'.
This series of Field Service Notes has been designed to assist Technicians and Refrigeration Engineers in understanding the causes of compressor failures, their diagnosis, rectification and prevention.
There are 5 main reasons for compressor failure;
1. Refrigerant Flood Back
2. Flooded Starts
3. Liquid Slugging
4. Overheating
5. Lack of Lubrication
The first 5 of these Field Service Notes will cover the above topics and there will be further Notes covering other causes of failure such as Moisture, Acids, Electrics, Dirt (Copper debris, Welding debris, Ferrous particles etc.) The answers to what caused a compressor to fail are, in 99.9% of cases, found inside the compressor. During the compressor strip down the evidence as to the cause will be revealed! Simply replacing a failed compressor with a new compressor without fi nding out why the fi rst compressor failed will most likely simply lead to another failed compressor. We hope that the information in this series of Field Service Notes will be of assistance to engineers in preventing unnecessary compressor failures in the future.
Part 2 in the series, which concentrates on 'Flooded Starts' and can be accessed by clicking on the link below and opening/downloading the .pdf file FSN007.
Part 3 in the series, which concentrates on 'Liquid Slugging' will be available in shortly.