OT: Air Compressor Fixed!

[Hec In Omaha]

Howdy all,

For those of you that havent following my dilema, here is brief summary.

I have a 13 gallon Air compressor that would trip my breaker every time it tried to restart after it shut itself off at the 125 psi cut out. The only way I could get the compressor to run was to bleed all the air out of the tank. Then it would run. I suspected I had a bad check valve or unloader valve. They both tested fine. Guys here on the board suggested that I had a bad Start Capacitor. BINGO! I removed the Start Capacitor and took it to my local Grainger branch and it was tested as bad. I ordered a new one $9 and installed it yesterday. Walah! The compressor runs perfectly now. One interesting observation is that the new Start Capacitor is much smaller than the old one. I had to wrap it up in foam so it wouldn't flop around in the capacitor housing. The old one was made in the USA and the new one is made in China. I hope it lasts a long time.

Thanks to all for the help with this problem I had. I hope I can return the favor someday.

Hec

 

[souNdguy]

i figured that is what it was..

glad you got it fixed..

 

[Caryc]

I'm glad you got it fixed but some pictures would have been nice for people that don't actually know what a start capacitor is or where it's located.

 

[36 Coupe]

you have to match the capacity rating and voltage rating when replacing start capacitors.Physical size doesnt matter.Card board is used to take up space if needed.Low capacity will make a motor start very slow and blow the fuse or breaker.High capacity can cause the same problem on hard starting loads.Bad capacitors are a good reason for shutting a compressor off when you are not in the shop.Leak down could cause the compressor to start late at night.If the fuse or breaker dosent open the motor will burn.My last 5hp motor cost 350 bucks, a bad 10 buck capacitor could burn the motor.I had an old water pump motor fill the cellar with smoke on a 15 amp fuse.Start cap quit.

 

[showcrop]

A burned out start winding switch is also likely to be the culprit in a no start situation. We used to replace forty for every one capacitor.

 

[Hec In Omaha]

I posted a picture of the air compressor in Community Album if anyone should want to see where the capacitor was located.

Here is a link

https://photos.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/gallery/gallery_pic.cgi?sz=lrg&pic=http;//photos.yesterdaystractors.com/gallery/community/c3733.jpg&w=community&cc=0

 

[Caryc]

(quoted from post at 11:28:46 06/13/12) I posted a picture of the air compressor in Community Album if anyone should want to see where the capacitor was located.

Here is a link

https://photos.yesterdaystractors.com/cgi-bin/gallery/gallery_pic.cgi?sz=lrg&pic=http;//photos.yesterdaystractors.com/gallery/community/c3733.jpg&w=community&cc=0

Thanks for the pic.

That compressor looks just like my Cambell Hausfeld. I've had it for about 15 years now. I replaced two "on-off" switches in it that had a plastic part that kept breaking on me. The third time I ordered a new switch from them, they informed me that they had replaced that switch with a better made one. That switch has been going for about ten years now.

The compressor was well past the guarantee period but if they knew those two previous switches were bad, I think they should have given me that third switch for nothing but they didn't and I didn't argue with them about it. I just wanted the compressor to work.

 

[Hec In Omaha]

I also recently replaced the pressure switch assembly with the new style upgraded one. So far so good.