Reciprocating Compressor Failure Modes

1. The following conditions account for approximately 80% of compressor failures and these are mostly mechanical related. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Liquid refrigerant as opposed to vapour returning to the compressor during the running cycle. Crank case oil diluted with liquid refrigerant during to off cycle vapour migration. Liquid refrigerant or excess amounts of oil entering the cylinders during the running cycle. Higher than design compressed gas temperatures. Quantity of oil returning from the system is less than that leaving the compressor. Excessive suction and/or discharge pressures over working the compressor motor.

2. The following conditions account for approximately 10% of compressor failures and these are mostly electrically related Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. Improper or unbalanced voltage and poor motor cooling. Loss of one phase on a three phase system. Loss of supply to one winding set on a two winding motor(Part wound). Loose electrical joins causing a voltage drop. Damaged starting capacitors and relays. Spikes or surges of current flow. Over torquing power terminals.

Mechanical Failures
Flood Back Top Liquid return during the running cycle. More commonly known as refrigerant flood back. The expansion valve plays a part in all the conditions here whether directly or indirectly this is obviously because the refrigerant can only really come this route. Moisture Moisture is the most consequential of system enemies so I should discuss moisture first and separate to other abnormal expansion valve conditions. The most widespread problem resulting from moisture contamination is freeze locking of the expansion valve. Of course, this is not so much the case with applications such as air conditioning where the evaporating temperatures are above 0oC. Moisture freezing at the expansion valve has two common effects, valve locked wide open or valve locked or blocked fully closed, these scenarios are each equally likely to occur. Moisture freezing in the working parts or port will lock the valve in any position from fully closed to fully open. Moisture may enter the system in several ways, such as during oil or drier changes, connecting service lines, or even poor evacuation and dehydration prior to initial commissioning. Just as the oil will absorb refrigerant from the system during off cycles so too it will absorb water vapour from the atmosphere if during oil charging the container is opened prematurely. This also applies to dryers whose operation is based on the absorption principle. A driers ability to absorb decreases with temperature meaning that water can be released when dryers are warmed by the liquid line. Often parts of the system opened for service are chilled below atmospheric dew point as a consequence of pump down resulting in water condensate settling in those parts during service such as drier chambers. It is also possible for water that is chemically trapped in the winding varnish to be liberated during periods of high temperatures such as compressor short cycling, extended pulldown periods or abnormally low mass flow conditions. Top

Moisture proportions Refrigerants can take a proportion of water into solution, but this is a definite amount, and for each refrigerant the amount is a function of refrigerant temperature where the level of solubility decreases rapidly with falling temperature. In practice, the refrigerant always contains a small proportion of water which does not appear in the system as free droplets but remains safely in solution. It is therefore easy to understand the principle behind the two of the most common conditions for valve freeze up. One is when loss of refrigerant by leakage causes a drop in refrigerant temperature occurring in the expansion valve orifice due to lower pressures, this drop in temperature results in some of the dissolved moisture precipitating as water droplets. The second is the lower system temperatures experienced during winter operating conditions. An example of this is when a system is installed during summer, operation during that first summer is fine but during any subsequent winter the liquid line temperature may drop below the critical point where the excess water is now out of solution and circulates as free droplets. This can be very confusing when a system worked fine during summer and has never required any service work since, however, you must trust your moisture indicator. Considering how small the expansion valve orifice is we can easily picture small droplets of water freezing to one side of the needle and locking it in a fully open position. This results in severe over feeding of the evaporator and liquid flood back to the compressor. This will continue until either something stops the system or more water freezes at the orifice resulting in a blockage sufficient to activate that all important L.P. switch. The Expansion valve can be subject to many conditions which result in liquid flood back occuring both at start up or during system operation. It's helpful to differentiate between flood back at start up and flood back during the running cycle although the two share much ground. I may not necessarily discuss the two separately though. Flood back at start up is generally restricted to systems not using a pump down cycle or even those that have an interrupted pump down. But theoretically, even a system with a pump down facility can experience start up flood back problems, for instance, when the cut in pressure is set too high delaying the on cycle and thus allowing time for suction side liquid refrigerant accumulation, even through migration, particularly when the compressor and suction line are in very cold locations. In fact, I should say that when setting the pump down control switch, your cut in point should be set lower than the equivalent coldest saturation temperature you expect the compressor or suction line to be exposed to. Top TEV bulb location and other false readings Warm T.E.V. bulb location is a very frequent cause of flood back by my experience, and is commonly accompanied by a cold suction line location. I say cold suction line location because if the suction piping were warm it is my opinion that the liquid would remain in the cooler evaporator and on start up over cool the T.E.V. bulb keeping the valve closed and limiting the flood back occurrence because the compressor would then repeatedly trip on low pressure bringing the amount of liquid refrigerant in the evaporator down to a safe quantity. I imagine, if the evaporator contained an excessive amount of oil which would be diluted with liquid refrigerant we would also experience L.P. tripping on start up as opposed to a flood back. What will close the valve during the off cycle is merely the "superheat spring" pressure acting upward against the bellows/diaphragm. With proper installation, during the off cycle the bulb should be at equal temperature with the coldest part of the system, typically the evaporator, there should therefore be no gas pressure difference across the bellows. A warm location scenario can develop by many a circumstance i.e. the bulb may not be clamped tight enough meaning poor thermal contact; the warmer liquid line may be in contact with the bulb; the bulb might be located in the warm return air stream; the bulb or even whole expansion valve may be mounted outside the refrigerated area. Also if you're using one expansion valve to supply two evaporators which are in separate chambers then the bulb should not be located in the warmer but rather in the cooler chamber, so route the suction line back through the colder chamber for bulb mounting. I needn't mention that if the system does have a pump down then it's possible the solenoid valve is not holding, this could be due to

foreign material lodging in the solenoid valve seat, anyway, our imaginations can run away here. Modern expansion valves have pretty much overcome the problem of orifice seat wear which used to be caused by liquid line vapour entering the valve with the liquid. Normally the liquid head entering the valve provides a constant force to the valve needle. However, this force is made to vary if we have alternating vapour and liquid entering the valve which then creates relative motion between needle and orifice, cavitation also results, causing orifice wear. This wear would effectively increase the valves capacity resulting in the normal hunting and flooding scenario. We should also keep in mind that any foreign material which might get passed the valve strainer could lodge in the valve parts preventing proper closure, keeping in mind this discussion is about flood back. Top Superheat lost due to oil logged evaporator I once had a call out to repair a freezer room early Sunday morning back in about 1991. System refrigerant charge was R502. The system had lost gas through an enormous crack on the oil separator cylinder. At that time the only way I could repair the unit was to completely remove the oil separator. After topping up with R502 I began experiencing low superheat and the consequential valve hunt. Well, of course, much oil left the compressor due to L.P. short cycle before I arrived but I did turn on the defrost heaters for maximum T.E.V. opening before starting the unit to harvest any oil that had passed the seperator. This was successful judging by the compressor oil sight glass soon after start up. I guessed the later seen low superheat was because without the oil separator, oil was now able to accumulate in the evaporator more than normal and so interfering with TEV bulb sensing. So I decided to add a portion of R12 to improve oil return which is expected because of R12s' increased miscibility with oil. This actually worked very well, returning more oil and increased superheat to the point all hunting stopped. But, then I thought it a good idea to add some more R12 for those midnight low load conditions but this was a mistake, the superheat was then lost completely, and I was forced to adjust the refrigerant proportions again. My interpretation was that the lower average saturated suction pressure resulting from adding excessive R12 acts to open the valve due to loss of closing pressure beneath the bellows. Also, during evaporation, the lower temperature R502 keeps the R12 in a liquid state until it reaches the end of the coil by which stage all the R502 has vaporised. At the end of the coil the R12 will then vaporise but at a higher temp than the R502 giving the T.E.V.the impression that superheat is excessive causing the valve to open and in fact over feed the evaporator. We dont use R12 anymore but the correct proportion for TEV stability is 5% of total system charge by weight. These days hydrocarbons can be added to give the same effect of improved oil return, the hydrocarbon should be very dry and clean, more so than that used for combustion purposes so it should be charged in through a good filter drier. 3 to 4% gives good results. Top Valve & Refrigerant compatibility Remember if you use a T.E.V. with the wrong refrigerant i.e. one of say a lower saturated evaporation pressure for a given evaporating temperature then the valve will flood due to a loss of the closing pressure beneath the bellows. Also then, the valve will close and starve when used with a refrigerant of higher equivalent saturated pressures. The above is likewise a description of or related to temperature glide problems experienced with new blends or zeotropes where the individual refrigerants in a blend behave separately. Temperature glide is something to consider when using these new ozone friendly blends. Your superheat setting of say 6K for air conditioning applications must be above the evaporating temperature of the refrigerant with the highest boiling point for that blend, this point is called the "dew point" and is the value given on most comparators. Remembering that the highest possible superheat depends on the temperature difference between the evaporating refrigerant and the return temperature of the medium being cooled. i.e. if you design a water chiller to cool the water to a return temperature of say 4oC and your superheat is set at 6K obviously your T.E.V. will close until the saturated evaporation temperature is -2oC. Not only do you drop capacity here but you also risk freezing the water. This freeze condition, by the way, will then cause a flood back. Although the above is only a thought experiment the correct superheat setting for this unusual design would be about 3.5K this should keep the evaporating temperature at or above 0oC. Actually, you can see from this that if your return water temperature was in fact a feasible 7oC. the same freeze

up threat will exist if the superheat was set at about 9K. Another example is say a flower cooler where you require high humidity's and therefore low operating TD's. If you forget to change the factory superheat setting from 6K to your design superheat of say 4K then at the thermostat cycling temperature the evaporating refrigerant temperature would be below design by 2K, here you lose both system capacity and chamber humidity. Top Always check the superheat with instruments, never assume! Always use instruments to measure your superheat. Consider this, if a freezer is operating properly at -40oC with a 3K superheat setting at the evaporator then the return gas near the compressor could be at a temperature of -20oC. This will obviously and correctly cause condensate on suction line components to freeze. However, in this circumstance, if one were to wind down the TEV to rid the suction side components of ice such as the compressor suction service valve the results can be disasterous. This action may overheat the compressor parts including the motor if its refrigerant cooled also contribute to reduced isentropic efficiency. The systems capacity would without a doubt be compromised while further increases in compressor temperatures my result from a resulting reduced oil return. Valve hunt causing liquid carry over. A good example here is excessive condenser fan cycling causing flood back or slop over due to liquid line pressure fluctuations. Liquid line pressure may also be made to fluctuate from above to below saturation. For instance, assuming constant liquid enthalpy, when a fan cycles off condenser pressure and so liquid pressure is increased meaning theliquid would tend toward a subcooled condition feeding the TEV with high pressure good quality liquid. Then when a fan cycles back on the condenser pressure and so liquid line pressure is reduced where liquid condition may turn from being subcooled to that of phase change or a liquid flashing condition meaning the TEV is now being under supplied due to reduced liquid pressure and liquid quality. This is especially apparent on systems with poor subcooling. You should provide sufficient subcooling so that during fan cycling induced condenser pressure fluctuation the liquid before the TEV always remains in the liquid phase.

Reducing subcool to prevent flood back, improve mass flow and oil return. Sometimes on DX water chillers there is a close call between freezing the evaporator or not. A typical water chiller superheat setting is 4K but sometimes the return water might be asked to return at about 4 deg C and leave at 3 deg C in which case the saturated evaporating temperature would be perhaps forced down to -1oC since the only heat source for superheating is that 4 deg C return water and it is not easy to get a true temperature equilibrium between superheated vapour and return water. With this system scenario, especially at low loads, such as indicated above, when the valve is probably hunting since normally a TEV is only stable between about 50% and 120% of it's rated capacity, it would be beneficial to have reduced subcool. This would have the effect of increasing the load, which is coming into the evaporator with the liquid as opposed to comming in with the cooled water, this would then raise saturated evaporating conditions up away from freezing the evaporator which otherwise can result in flood back. Also, the increased mass flow at these low loads due to reduced subcool would assist oil return. Top Here I'll mention some odd ball experiences. Locating the defrost termination at a sight representing maximum freeze up. This might mean determining where the majority of moist air would flow. For instance, with multidoor cabinets if the defrost termination sensor is situated behind the least popular door you will never get rid of your frost without cooking some of the product. The lob sided frosted evaporator may cause a degree of

operational flood back. Dirty curved fan blades are made to have a flat profile reducing air flow and hence evaporator load causing flood back. MOP (maximum operating pressure expansion valves) should always be adjusted when the system is running at stable design conditions. Once this valves phial has been heated beyond the temperature equivalent of its maximum pressure there would be no chance of opening the valve further if reduced superheat is required. However, I have come across people who do not realise this. They set the superheat during times of system pull down and then later fail to understand why the compressor is being completely flooded.

Dangers of defrosting badly iced evaporators. Ever noticed how hermetic compressors often seize soon after giving them a defrost? You turn a compressor off to defrost a badly iced evaporator coil and perhaps compressor body. Then you later turn everything back on and suddenly the compressor seizes. Normally what's happened is nothing stopped the compressor from running while the evaporator was icing up, the subsequent sustained flood back wore the compressor bearings but the rotor was held up right and central during this bearing wear process. After the defrost and at restarting the compressor it then seizes because now the worn bearings allow the rotor and crankhaft assembly to tilt over out of center and cause component binding. But also, the colder an evaporator the greater the proportion of total system refrigerant charge that will be found in there, your initiated defrost results in the driving out of far more than normal quantities of liquid refrigerant from the evaporator. This larger quantity sits in the suction line waiting to destroy the compressor when you have finished your defrost. Top A flood back would cause any of these wear patterns or any combination. Firstly, air cooled compressors, where the gas goes directly into the cylinder head suction manifold, Liquid washes oil off cylinders and pistons during the suction stroke causing cool and dry wear during the discharge stroke resulting in: 1. Worn pistons. 2. Worn cylinders and rings. 3. Metal debris falling into the oil. Then with refrigerant cooled compressors where the gas first travels over the motor before rising to the suction manifold. Liquid cannot rise to the suction manifold and instead enters the crankcase to dilute the oil. This refrigerant rich oil is then pumped through the crankshaft evaporating and washing as it goes along reslting in: 1. Conrod/crankshaft wear which worsens furthest from the oil pump therefore: 2. Centre and rear bearings worn or seized. 3. Conrods possibly broken. 4. Motor end bearing wear is greatest causing the rotor to drop and drag on the stator shorting the windings. For both air cooled and refrigerant cooled compressors any wearing will be without signs of heating due to the cooling effect given by the vaporising refrigerant. There will therefore be no discoloration or carbonisation of the metal parts or oil. The white bearing metal would normally be smeared with a lumpy appearance on opposing surfaces.

Top

Flooded Start Top Crank case oil diluted with liquid refrigerant which has migrated from other parts of the system especially from saturated areas. The migration is usually by vapour during the off cycle. Below I have tried to define and describe migration. In the refrigeration industry the word migration represents two specific phenomenon whereby unsafe quantities of liquid refrigerant go into solution with the compressor crankcase oil. Both can only occur during the off cycle, although even during the running cycle an amount of refrigerant is in solution with the oil, this quantity is proportional to pressure and miscibility and indirectly proportional to temperature. While refrigerant dilution in the crankcase during the off cycle is undesirable, oils are chosen for their miscibility with refrigerants to enhance oil return to the compressor from the system during the running cycle and unfortunately this property actually aids off cycle migration. 1. When the refrigerant is contained in a saturated state the quantity in liquid phase will always be found at the coldest part of the system. In other words, if the liquid refrigerant were situated at a point in the system where the temperature is 20oC while there is a point in the system that has cooled to 19oC the vapour above the 19oC zone would condense causing a drop in pressure above the warmer 20oC liquid zone, the liquid would then vaporise. Also the saturated pressure of this system will correspond to the temperature equivalent of that 19oC coldest point. 2. The second form of refrigerant migration is related to absorption or induced by absorption. Here the crankcase oil is the absorbent. The origin of liquid refrigerant is normally the evaporator although refrigerant vapour is able to make its way through to the crankcase via other routes. Even if the oil in the crankcase were at the same temperature as any liquid elsewhere in the system we would still have absorption induced migration. Vapour molecules impacting on and penetrating the oils surface skin (surface tension) give up their kinetic energy to the high viscosity oil raising the oils temperature enough for the energy to conduct away say to the compressor boady as heat. We could say that the oil actually smothers that energy of motion preventing refrigerant molecules from escaping (Venus flytrap). The volume space above the oil then experiences a pressure drop inducing further vaporisation of liquids from other parts of the system. The dangers of starting a compressor with excessively refrigerant diluted oil are many and we call this scenario a flooded start. When a compressor runs, its crankcase pressure can be much lower than during the off-cycle. I said earlier that the amount of refrigerant in solution with the oil is proportional to pressure so when the pressure drops the excess refrigerant will vaporise. The crankcase pressure can drop in seconds at start up causing an almost explosion of vaporising refrigerant. The oil will then foam, some of the foam may enter the cylinders causing damaging hydraulic knock. On smaller compressors large portions of the compressors oil will leave the compressor normally returning later with the circulating refrigerant. Larger compressors use small contact surface area high load bearings and so rely heavily on oil pressure to provide that liquid bearing. This hydrodynamic support is lost when the pump only has foam with which to try create a high pressure oil lubricating liquid bearing. In severe cases the liquid refrigerant would gravitate and displace the oil from the oil pump intake, this is especially true with many of the new refrigerant blend and synthetic oil applications, this refrigerant would be pumped to the bearings causing washing then seizure, remembering these refrigerants are excellent solvents. The most common damage comes when on start up liquid refrigerant is thrown around the crankcase washing oil off the bearings causing a cold wear and seizure. Another way refrigerant gets to the crankcase is through the oil return mechanism of an oil separator, always during the off cycle. This happens when the refrigerant that has migrated or rather been absorbed by the oil in the separator is injected to the crankcase every time the level is sufficient to raise the ball valve. Liquid refrigerant is heavier than oil and will therefore gravitate to the bottom of the separator closest to the drain port. It is important to close this line routing oil to the crankcase especially during long off cycles, This can be done with a solenoid valve in the oil return line. Other options would be say putting heater tape round the bottom of the separator or installing a non return valve in the discharge line after the separator. Compressors shouldn't be overcharged with oil for many reasons including the fact that this would

increase the absorption induced migration effect of the crankcase oil since it would require more refrigerant to acheive a stable solution. Leaky discharge valves are a big one to watch too and compressor efficiency tests should be carried out periodically to check for this condition. A flooded start would cause the following damage or any combination. It must be stressed that there will be no recognised wear pattern and this in itself is the signature of a flooded start. 1 2 3 4 Worn pistons and rings. Worn or scored connecting rods or bearings. Connecting rods broken from seizure. Erratic wear pattern on the crankshaft.

Any wearing will be without signs of heating due to the cooling action given by the vaporising refrigerant. There will therefore be no discoloration or carbonisation of the metal parts or oil. Lumps of white metal bearing would be smeared on opposing surfaces. Two common courses of action are taken to avoid migration and they are 1. heating the oil during the off-cycle or 2. Setting a pressure switch to run the compressor intermittently with the liquid line closed to maintain a safe low crankcase pressure, this is called a pump down and the principle here is that the lower the crankcase pressure the less refrigerant found in solution. Often a combination is applied where the compressor at the off-cycle will continue running until the crankcase pressure has dropped to a predetermined pressure, after which, the compressor is locked out only to recycle on load demand while then a crankcase heater acts to keep refrigerant from settling in the oil. Locking the compressor out protects it against short cycle damage should there be an unexpected cause of this such as leaky liquid line solenoid valves. Whichever methods are used it is extremely important that a compressor is not started under flooded conditions. However, neither of these methods work to protect the compressor if there has been a power interrupt. Top Slugging Top Liquid refrigerant or excess amounts of oil entering the cylinders during the running cycle is commonly called liquid slug. This is most often the result of flood back on air cooled compressors or flooded starts with refrigerant cooled compressors. Some other experiences of mine. Unsuspecting technicians or customers resetting safeties after lengthy off periods from any safety tripping, man this is a big mistake when a system relies purely on pump down without a crankcase heater. More than often liquid slugging is a result of the above scenario. Often a slugging start of this sort which is a very severe flooded start will lift the valve plate and even cylinder head off the compressor body breaking the gasket seal resulting in the total loss of system refrigerant charge and that's if you are lucky, worse still is the possible compressor scrambling. Look out for migration on pack systems to the discharge side of the compressor head on the cycled compressors. Look out for over sizing of suction oil traps which can result in large quantities of uncontrolled oil returning to the compressor, however, this only really threats air cooled compressors. A liquid slug would cause the following damage or any combination.

The liquid slug can be either liquid refrigerant or oil. With air cooled compressors slugging will take place during extreme flood backs. With refrigerant cooled compressors slugging is the result of a severe flooded start. 1 Broken discharge or suction valve reeds, connecting rods or crankshaft. 2 Loosened, thread stripped, or broken discharge valve backer bolts. 3 Blown valve plate and head gaskets with the loss of charge. Maintaining correct superheat is important here. Also look out for low loads, cool compressor ambients and migration control. Top

High Discharge Temperature Top Discharge gas temperatures which are higher than designed for. This is high discharge gas superheat which is the result of high suction gas superheat and/or high compression ratios. The high compression ratios can be a result of abnormally high discharge pressures, abnormally low suction pressures or a combination. T2 = T1 x (P2/P1)n-1/n = (V1/V2)n-1 Where: T1 = Superheated Suction Temperature T2 = Superheated Discharge Temperature n = Isentropic Index = Cp/Cv The following was one of my most interesting realisations back in my early days as a technician. In fact every technician should know this very well from the hints given in most text books but I rarely come across people who are aware of this. However, this phenomena was more useful to me back in South Africa at the high Transvaal altitudes of 5000 Ft. If you dont calibrate your service gauges for higher altitudes you invariably end up with excess superheat and much loss of system capacity. The Bourdon tube in a typical suction gauge only shows pressure difference between inside and outside its walls. And so, if set to zero pressure at sea level it will maintain a zero reading at any other altitude it is transported to. But the difference in the boiling point of say R22 between sea level and 5000Ft is about3.8K. This means your gauge gives you a converted pressure to temperature reading 3.8K higher than the actual saturation temperature, now when you adjust your superheat to 6K the result is an actual 9.8K. Considering you would lose perhaps 5% capacity for every 1K loss in saturated evaporating temperature, your systems performance would be considerably lower than design. To solve this problem I used to pull a vacuum on my gauges every now and then to zero them at 29.92 inches. They would then show the true altitude pressure when standing free and also then the correct pressure of any system. This would also help when setting pressure switches to control cooler room temperatures e.g. setting the compressor on pressure to after frost drop. But anyway, since this discussion is about discharge temperatures I must add that this lower resulting saturated suction and the higher superheat ultimately contributes to higher discharge temperatures. Higher suction superheats with high compression ratios often also overheat the oil resulting in lost oil pressure during times of high bearing load meaning bearing failure is likely. I am in favor of large air cooled compressors which means that with lower suction superheats entering the cylinders refrigerants such as R22 can be used at lower temperatures. An example of this is the

Frigopol compressor. Here we are talking about isentropic efficiency otherwise known as adiabatic efficiency. The tendency to over charge a system when misinterpreting sight glass bubbles can further add to high discharge temperatures, especially common with trade beginners. Small commercial systems sometimes maintain designed head pressure using phase cut fan speed regulation modules. I prefer those employing pressure transducers over those using thermisters to measure liquid temperature. This is because liquid line temperatures will drop with overcharge resulting in fan speed reduction while the compressor is in fact experiencing high discharge pressures. Excessive subcooling to reduce liquid line evolution will also result in somewhat lower evaporator temperatures and thinner suction gas returning to cool the compressor due to the reducion in required mass flow to satisfy duty. Also increased subcooling and the resulting reduced mass flow may inhibit oil return remembering that oil in the crankcase helps cool the compressor moving parts. Just a note, you will not get any significant subcooling using are receiver. The apparent subcooling here can come from measuring the pressure incorrectly at the discharge service valve instead of at the liquid leaving valve. 1 to 2K is normally the maximum subcool available using a receiver. Copper plating is another serious consequence of high system temperatures. I hear so many people say copper plating is due to high moisture content but then why do we have copper plating on low temp systems where any harmful levels of moisture would be expected to freeze at the TEV? Later here I will study copper plating and also include thoughts about the effect the water in safe solution may have on acid formation. This since acids and related high temps are responsible for plating. Plating always occurs at points of low tolerance such as oil pumps and over tight bearings. Condenser fan direction, dont forget to re reverse that fan after winter. I sometimes will reverse a condenser fan in winter to further aid stable head pressure control. Losing head pressure when using hot gas injection can cause extreme high discharge superheats and will also cook the evaporator load when pre-evaporator hot gas injection is used. The evaporator becomes a heater instead of a cooler. Normally some sort of hot gas regulator is used to maintain suction pressure by hot gas injection. Typically this valve will open in response to reducing suction pressure. When low ambients induce low head pressures the hot gas injection valve will want to open, this drainage of hot gas from the discharge line further lowers head pressure due to reduced condenser load. All this leads to reduced suction pressures meaning increased demand on the hot gas injection valve ultimately causing a huge increase in evaporator temperatures and so compressor superheated discharge temperatures. High discharge temperatures would cause the following damage or any combination. Cylinder and head temperatures become so hot that the oil loses the required viscosity for proper lubrication. Resulting ring wear causes discharge gases to blow past the rings and pressurise the crankcase preventing oil return from the system. Metal debris dropping to the crankcase will eventually cause stator spot burn when arriving between the rotor and stator. 1 2 3 4 Discoloured valve plate which cant be rubbed clean. Burned discharge valve reeds. Burned and worn pistons, rings and cylinders. Stator spot burn from metal debris.

Look out for a high compression ratio i.e. low suction and high discharge conditions. Check the low and high pressure control settings. On low temp systems check for proper liquid injection or head cooling air flow. Also insulate the suction lines especially those that pass through warm zones. To reduce discharge superheat it may be necessary to reduce suction superheat. Check for or install discharge thermisters or Klixons. An example of a not so obvious fault here is a refrigerant cooled compressor which has been

overcharged with oil. Refrigerant cooled compressors have higher suction and discharge superheats after cooling the motor especially with low temperature applications. The higher amperage resulting from the extra power required to churn the high level oil adds to total motor heat. A shortage of oil will also cause higher amps due to increased friction.

Top Loss of Oil Top Quantity of oil returning from the system is less than that leaving the compressor. Since the very parts that compress the refrigerant vapour have to be lubricated an amount of oil always leaves the compressor with the refrigerant. We find conditions where oil leaving the compressor can increase also where oil returning is decreased. Be careful not to over charge the compressor with oil, this often results in not only higher than normal motor amps but serious mechanical damage where compressors may even dangerously disintergrate. One not so obvious cause of compressor damage would be increased migration due to the chance of increased oil sitting in the evaporator and suction line where it is hard to control migration to that oil. This oil and refrigerant mixture can damage the compressor on start up, especially air cooled compressors. Also earlier in the section on flood backs I mentioned decreasing liquid subcool to increase oil return due the increase in mass flow through the cold evaporator and then the suction line. The quantity of subcool available on a system using a subcooling condenser is dependant on TD which for a given system is dependent on season and increases in colder seasons also due to increased compressor capacity. Defrosts are important for two reasons which are for oil return and for coil frost removal. So when your oil level is low throw in a defrost to harvest the oil. Remember that to avoid ice build up on the freezer room ceiling your defrost termination and fan delay settings must be correct. Shorter but more frequent defrosts will then aid in maintaining proper crankcase oil levels and maintaining ice free freezer room fan cowlings and freeser room ceilings. I have learnt to refer to a defrost as an oil harvest cycle. New synthetic oils have a huge affinity for moisture and the mixture produces a tacky substance almost like a blood clot, this does not in any way aid oil return. Moisture must be kept out of these system types more so than before. Often it'll be found that the synthetic oil will react with the water before any drier can absorb it meaning the only cure is complete system oil renewal. Oil will settle in any Evaporator with a faulty and starving valve. Also, unless system piping design has provided for proper oil return from multiple evaporators oil may be allowed to accumalate in any inactive evaporator on a multiplex system. Compressor short cycling for whatever reason even if due to oversize by design will result in increased oil circulation round the system unless high efficiency oil sperators are used. Every time the compressor starts some oil is pumped out the compressor but often there is not enough activity further within the system to allow for oil return. Here usually after resetting the overload you see your liquid line sight glass darken due to a resulting excess of oil flow from the receiver, this can be an indication that the compressor tripped due to short cycling. If it was a low load short cycling problem then you'll find only the permanently loaded cylinders have overheated and worn. In other words, a compressor which has failed and on tear down reveals excessively worn and overheated permanently loaded cylinders has most likely suffered from a cause of short cycling. The eceiver must be mounted level, if the system is on a mobile unit then the receiver should be a vertical one to avoid out of level liquid line starving which obviously results in a loss of sufficient

refrigerant mass flow required for proper oil return. Something to check for when attending a call out for a tripped compressor. You find the compressor has tripped on oil differential safety but also find the crankcase is full of oil. What often happens after there has been piston ring wear is ring blow by pressurises the crankcase which then closes the oil return non return valve situated at the bottom of the main bearing wall. Oil returning from the system then accumalates in the motor compartment untill the compressor trips. After the compressor trips the crankcase pressure and motor compartment pressure equalise allowing oil to return to the crankcase. You arrive to be perplexed by the full and obviously non refrigerant saturated crankcase. "P" traps are necessary for any rising suction line on a single evaporator system but anytime the compressor and/or the evaporator(s) can unload then this suction rise must be accomplished with double risers.

A loss of crankcase oil would cause the following damage or any combination. The most common causes of poor oil return is too low a mass flow in the suction line to sweep the oil back or improper design of suction line risers. 1 2 3 4 All rods and bearings worn or scored. Crankshaft uniformly scored and heat discoloured. Rods broken from seizure. Look for little or no oil in the crankcase and much discolouring.

Any wearing will be of scoring in character which is very different to the wearing caused by liquid washout. There will be much evidence of overheating i.e. staining of metal parts and carbonisation of the oil. Look for a resulting dirty oil strainer Check for the following:If applicable check the oil protection. 1. 2. 3. 4. System refrigerant charge or lack of. Correct abnormally low load conditions or short cycling. Check for oversized suction pipes or lack of oil traps. Check for inadequate defrosts otherwise known as oil harvests.

Top

Still to type something.... Top Here I'll probably discuss stuff like compressor swept volume and compression ratio versus motor size, pressure limiting devices etc.

Top

Electrical Failures
General or Uniform Stator Burn. Top

Improper or unbalanced voltage, poor motor cooling or poor compressor high load limiting. The result of the above conditions is invariably a general or uniform burn of the entire motor winding, i.e. all three windings of a three phase squirrel cage motor will have been overheated or completely burned. Application technicians and service technicians should always check to see that the compressors they are commissioning have sufficient motor size to handle the maximum load that may be delivered by the system. The motor protection relays should be set to trip the motor if 80% of full load current is drawn for longer than 1 hour. Where it is found that the motor may not cope with the highest expected sustained suction or discharge pressures regulation type protection must be introduced such as MOP expansion valves or crank case pressure regulators. Motor overheating can be caused by running a comp in a vacuum where there is no cool mass flow over the motor required to remove I2R heat production. The same effect can be brought about by unloading a compressor too far causing loss of motor cooling due to reduced mass flow and oil return, keeping in mind oil aids in compressor cooling. A motor with motor heat damage from say poor cooling as a result of reduced refrigerant flow will normally blow soon after normal flow is resumed. This is due to the resumption of thermal stresses and gas density impact on the now cooked and crumbling winding varnish. This then results in the motor shorting. Also the resumption of normal winding wire torque once the system is recharged crumbles the varnish and rubs the wires. An inline overload relay, whether it be thermal or magnetic cant protect against all causes of motor heating. Thermisters imbedded in the motor windings are more likely to protect the motor from say high motor ambients, short cycling, poor refrigerant or air flow or sustained marginal high loads. Check for the following most common causes: Low running voltage due to over loading of the main circuit or loose connections anywhere from the main transformer to the compressor. V loss or IR drop: ( V loss=IR ) where R would be line resistance plus the added resistance of any poor connections. 1. Unbalanced voltage due to unbalanced phase usage. 2. Over loading of the motor i.e. motor not sized for the suction density or pressure, usually the complete condensing unit would then be undersized resulting in higher discharge pressures too. check for maximum operating pressure controls. 3. Rapid cycling of the compressor meaning there is insufficient time for heat generated by the inrush current to dissipate. Top

Single Phase Burn Top Loss of one phase on a three phase system. This condition is known as single phasing. Loss of voltage on one phase results in the loss of motor torque by the loss of that winding. The rotor then slips i.e. slows down effectively loosing back emf to the remaining windings which then draw more current tending to burn those windings unless protected. If the torque demand on the motor is high then it will stall and should have tripped the breaker easily. Check for the following causes:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Contact damage or sticky contactor sliding mechanism. Voltage imbalance. Improper electrical connections along that phase right back to the transformer. Blown fuse. Proper motor protection.

Top One Half of a Part Wound Motor is Burnt Top Loss of supply to one winding set on a two winding motor (Part wound). Squirrel cage motors will draw approximately 6 times their running current on start up due to the initial absence of inductive reactance . If the building supply cables are undersized then a voltage drop throughout that building will occur every time the compressor starts due to this IR line voltage drop. There are numerous ways to reduce this effect. Star Delta starting will limit the peak starting current to approximately 2 times running current but the starting torque is limited to 1/3 of the norm. However, part wound motors will have a starting torque proportional to the relative size that the first half winding. Unless the compressor is much unloaded, the loss of power to one half of the total winding or one of the tandem windings will result in the over working and thus overheating of the remaining half winding. Check for the following causes: 1. Faulty control circuit. 2. No interlocks. 3. Blown contactor. Top Loose Connections Top Loose electrical joins cause a drop in the supply voltage reaching the motor windings meaning extra current need be drawn to compensate in the attempt to maintain motor speed. This added I2R heat production in the motor windings will cause motor overheating. Top

Start Winding Burn Top Damaged starting capacitors and relays on single phase motors. These components usually blow as a result of power problems or compressor short cycling. By my experience loss of refrigerant charge and the subsequent LP switch induced compressor short cycling is the biggest cause of failure to these components. When these components do blow the compressor will often burn the run winding. However, the run winding will also burn if the compressor is overloaded causing the starting relay to repeatedly call the start winding into circuit whilst the compressor is already running. Surprisingly common is the miss wiring of compressor motors often

resulting in instantaneous nuisance motor damage by burning the start winding.

Top Spot Burn Top Caused by spikes or surges of current flow or more likely system or compressor debris damage. Rapid changes in a buildings electrical load can be resistive or inductive. Especially with rapid changes in high inductive loads the result is normally a spike in the voltage allowing arcing to occur through winding points of weaker insulation. Damage to the compressor is usually in the form of a spot burn. A spot burn is a localised burn which can be within a winding, between windings or from winding to ground. Remember also that a localised spot burn can be caused by metal debris finding its way between the rotor and stator.

Top Shorted Compressor Terminals Top Over torquing power terminals on the compressor can damage the fuseglass otherwise known as fusite insulation resulting in shorts occurring to the compressor motor body.