List of Problems and Solutions for Piston Compressors

Piston compressors have an irreplaceable role in many areas but they are not easy to maintain. Therefore, it is very important for many companies to ensure smooth operation of this type of compressor.

You can check our list below to quickly understand the common problems and solutions of piston compressors.

No.	Problem	Reason	Solution
1	Unable to Start with Contactor Opened	Electrical reasons	Make sure the power supply wiring is correct.
			Check whether the power switch is turned off.
			Check if the power fuse has blown.
			See if the power supply voltage reaches 90% or more of the rated voltage.
			Check whether the components of all pressure relays are damaged, and whether the given values of the pressure relays are appropriate.
			* Check whether there is any leakage of the temperature controller and working medium of the temperature sensing package. * Inspect if the components of the controller are damaged, and whether the temperature indicating position is adjusted properly.
	Unable to Start with Contactor Closed	Motor failure	* Check whether the phase sequence of the motor wiring is correct. * Test the resistance between the CS point and the CR point of the motor with a multimeter (Rx1n) to see if there is a short circuit or open circuit in the motor winding.
	Unable to Start with Contactor Closed	Mechanical failure	Check whether the moving parts of the compressor are under shaft-braking or blockage in the cylinder due to insufficient lubrication or clearance. If these faults occur, remove impurities in the lubricating oil, and replace lubricating oil with new, ensuring that the oil path is unblocked. Generally, the problems can be found easily when the compressor cranks before starts.
2	Frequent Starts and Stops	Exhaust pressure is high.	Add cooling water.
		Suction pressure is low.	Increase the open degree of expansion valve.
		Adjustment value of high-voltage relay is low.	Raise the limit of high-voltage relay.
		Adjustment value of low-voltage relay is high.	Lower the limit of low-voltage relay.
3	Liquid Strike	* Check whether the solenoid valve is working normally. * After the shutdown, a large amount of refrigerant entered the evaporator, and the liquid refrigerant is sucked when the compressor is restarted.	Repair or replace the solenoid valve.
		Thermal expansion valve is opened too largely.	Check whether there is any leakage of refrigerant in the temperature sensing package of the thermal expansion valve, and whether the adjustment of the thermal expansion valve is sensitive. Close the thermal expansion valve appropriately.
		There is too much refrigerant in the system.	Release excess refrigerant.
4	Abnormal Noise in Work	The top of the piston collided with the exhaust valve--the clearance was too small--and the phenomenon of cylinder-knocking occurred.	Add thicker gasket on the contact surface of the two to increase the clearance, eliminating the phenomenon of cylinder-knocking.
		The valve plate of the suction and exhaust valve is damaged or broken due to serious wear, poor material, improper operation, etc.	Replace valve plate.
		The piston ring is worn or stuck.	Replace the worn piston ring, and strengthen lubrication.
		The fastening screw of the valve plate or the nut on the piston connecting rod is loose.	Tighten it.
		The clearance between the connecting rod bearing shell and the crank, between the crank and the main bearing is too large.	Adjust clearance gap and replace the bearing shell if necessary.
		There is insufficient amount of bearing lubricant or impurities .	Check the oil circuit, remove impurities or replace the lubricant.
		The screw of connecting rod is loose.	Tighten it.
		The flywheel and shaft fail to work together .	Adjust or repair them.
5	High Exhaust Pressure	The cooling water quantity of cylinder and condenser is insufficient and the cooling water temperature is high.	Increase the cooling water and try to reduce its temperature. Another possibility is that the heat transfer tube of the condenser is seriously scaling so the heat transfer effect is reduced. Clean it.
		There is too much refrigerant charged in the system.	Release the excess refrigerant.
		There exist non-coagulation gases.	Exhaust the gases.
6	Low Exhaust Pressure	There is Insufficient or leaking refrigerant.	Repair leakage and add enough refrigerant.
6	Low Exhaust Pressure	The condensing process is too fast.	Cool the water through bypassing part. Or start the cooling tower intermittently.
7	High Temperature of Exhaust Gas	The suction temperature goes up with the increase of external cooling load.	Adjust the external load or increase the cooling water flow.
7	High Temperature of Exhaust Gas	Insufficient cooling of cylinder is caused by temperature and flow of cooling water.
8	Low Temperature of Exhaust Gas	Evaporator frosts or cooling load is less than unit cooling capacity.	Flush the frost layer on the surface of the evaporator. Adjust the external cooling load, reduce the opening degree of suction valve. Ensure the suction heat of compressor, and increase the exhaust temperature.
8	Low Temperature of Exhaust Gas	The temperature of the refrigerant is low, even the liquid refrigerant is absorbed.
9	Low Oil Pressure	Insufficient oil.	Supplement the oil.
		The oil inlet is blocked.	Dredge the oil circuit.
		Improper adjustment of oil pressure (large bypass)	Adjust the oil pressure regulating valve.
		Impure oil with much refrigerant)	Purify or replace the refrigerant oil.
10	High Oil Pressure	Excess oil.	Release the excessive refrigerant oil.
		The oil outlet of the oil pump is blocked.	Dredge the whole circulating oil circuit.
		The bypass volume of refrigeration oil is small.	Adjust the oil pressure regulating valve to increase the bypass volume of refrigerant oil.
			Check the sensitivity of the oil pressure gauge.

Compressor has always been an indispensable general machinery in industrial production. Once it breaks down, it will affect the production progress more or less.
Therefore, in order to improve production efficiency, it is very helpful to understand how to detect and solve common problems of piston compressors.

In many cases, if the maintenance personnel has basic knowledge and experience of the compressor refrigeration system, they can easily find out the causes of the problems, and can solve the problems by themselves by simply checking and adjusting the equipment.

Recent related posts

10/21/2021

List of Problems and Solutions for Piston Compressors

10/20/2021

Air Compressor Troubleshooting and Solutions

With the development of motor technology, compressor is considered as "general machinery", especially in coal chemical industry, machinery industry and other industries.

10/18/2021

When You Should Use an Absolute Encoder - Pros and Cons of Different Absolute Encoders

As is known to us, rotary encoders consist of incremental encoders and absolute encoders. And absolute encoders are much more expensive than incremental encoders.

10/17/2021

Maintenance of Absolute Encoders

What are the precautions for maintenance of rotary encoders? Rotary encoders are used as speed and displacement feedback sensors, which are mainly applied in servo motors, asynchronous motors

10/16/2021

How to Use a Rotary Encoder

A rotary encoder converts the angular position or motion of a shaft or axle to analog or digital output signals, so it is also called a shaft encoder. Absolute encoder and incremental encoder are the two main types.

10/14/2021

Piston Compressor Basics - Structure, Working Principle, Advantages and Disadvantages

As both manufacturers and end customers know, in a refrigeration or air conditioning system, the compressor is the equipment core by continuously sucking back and exporting refrigerant

10/14/2021

Factors to Consider When Selecting Rotary Encoders

In a series of modern machinery industries like construction, building materials, mining, engineering vehicles, metallurgy, water conservancy, port machinery and other fields related to large heavy equipment, the reliability and safety of equipment comes first in process control.

10/12/2021

Common Types of Refrigeration Compressors: A Comprehensive Guide

When mentioning refrigeration, everyone in this modern world may be familiar with it. People's daily use of air conditioners, refrigerators, whether small household or large commercial ones, are refrigeration appliances.

10/11/2021

What are the Major Causes of Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) Damage?

The larger the setting value, the higher the gain and the greater the stiffness. Under the same frequency command pulse condition, the position lag will be smaller.

03/18/2021

The working principle and the common wiring method of the servo drive

The servo drives, the motor under the command signal from a control system, so whether the drive can work normally or not directly affects the overall performance of the equipment. In the servo control system, the servo drive is equivalent to the brain, and the servo motor is equivalent to the hands and feet.