Air compressor fail - anyone understand these machines?

[::: :::]

Porter Cable C2002 Type 9
6 gal 150 psi pancake compressor

(Google has not been helpful yet, so dental input is requested)

Consumer grade machine but it has had a soft life thus far...not beat at all. Might be 2yrs old at this point

It was not resetting pressure when using a framing nailer. Tank pressure was not going up to typical level. Pressure valve did not provoke reset. Turned off & drained tank of air. Compressor would turn on again but topped out at 60 psi

I did not hear any leaks.

I opened it up and found the fan blades in pieces. I suspect that is a symptom and not the cause.

Any of you more savvy machine guys have a guess?

I can order the fan easily enough. Just wondering if I need to chase this further. Why would the fan rattle off/explode? & why would that affect the tank pressure?

[Norseman]

The fan could actually be the cause... if the pump is overheating and tripping a thermal breaker. Might as well replace the fan and see if it runs longer.

[::: :::]

Fan ordered

I’ll replace & see if that lets it spin up to pressure

[::: :::]

Bump
Any thoughts on why the fan might have disintegrated?

[snowaddict91]

Bump
Any thoughts on why the fan might have disintegrated?

Perhaps a small piece of debris chipped a blade and made the fan go off balance, which over time made the rest of the blades on that side vibrate apart?

Hell, there could have been a crack in the plastic on that side of the fan blade from the time it was new and it just let go, taking a few more blades out with it. That almost seems more likely as I type this out.

[Norseman]

Guesses to add to the above....

Bad batch of plastic or it came into contact with something to embrittle it

Injection molding or design error causing imbalanced mass and wobbly rotation

Imbalance in some other part of the system inducing excess vibration

Kid pokings or other surprise abuse

If you still have the busted fan, look at the fracture(s). If it was an incremental failure, there may be "beach marks" from an advancing crack. Brittle fracture from a single event would not show these, however. The pieces might be too small to reveal it.

[mcphee]

judging by the uniformity of the breaks and that they were all on one(ish) half of the fan, I would guess it's a bad pour in the mold and/or pressing. Also, storage in an area that sees large temp fluctuations and limited use can cause plastic to become brittle.

[::: :::]

I still have the fan + bits; I’ll inspect closer.
I do not see wear inside the cowling/housing.
I also do not see nor have found a restraint for the fan to stay on. It seems to be friction fit on a knurled metal spindle. Maybe just excessive vibrations worked it off til it failed?
The thing is so loud I never heard anything mechanically odd (also had ear plugs)

[billyk]

What is supposed to keep the fan on the shaft? It is hard to tell from the diagram. Is there a circlip or a nut? Maybe whatever it is came loose, and the fan contacted the case causing the blades to explode. And that continued until the fan completely detached from the shaft.

Just a wild guess.

[::: :::]

What is supposed to keep the fan on the shaft? It is hard to tell from the diagram. Is there a circlip or a nut? Maybe whatever it is came loose, and the fan contacted the case causing the blades to explode. And that continued until the fan completely detached from the shaft.

Just a wild guess.

That’s one scenario that makes me question whether the fan is just a secondary symptom

I did not find a clip or nut loose in the housing, but it;s possible it fell out a vent slot

I’ll see if one is included in the parts bag when the fan arrives

The end of the spindle is not threaded

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

May be of no use at all or may be the ticket....

Assume you're using an extension cord. How long and what gauge? I have an AirMate compressor that is very fussy if I don't feed it good electrons. I was using a cheap ass 100' 16 or 18 gauge extension cord and it behaved a lot like the symptoms you describe. I put a heavy duty 12 gauge exterior rated extension cord on it and all the issues were immediately resolved.

[XXX-er]

The fan could actually be the cause... if the pump is overheating and tripping a thermal breaker. Might as well replace the fan and see if it runs longer.

I would bet this ^^

Fan either broke cuz something hit it at speed or it was faulty from new in any case you need a new fan

[::: :::]

May be of no use at all or may be the ticket....

Assume you're using an extension cord. How long and what gauge? I have an AirMate compressor that is very fussy if I don't feed it good electrons. I was using a cheap ass 100' 16 or 18 gauge extension cord and it behaved a lot like the symptoms you describe. I put a heavy duty 12 gauge exterior rated extension cord on it and all the issues were immediately resolved.

25', not sure on gauge: 14 or 16 gauge, def not 12 or 18

i'll direct plug it next time to compare

i swapped the plug during the behaviour with my chop saw to see if i'd lost power [chop saw prolly doesn't draw the same tho]

[Melee]

If you're not building pressure you could have a sticky intake or exhaust valve.

Replace that cooling fan first, its probably just press fit on...

[Todd Zander]

does the compressor kick off at 60 psi or does it continue to run without building pressure past 60?
if the latter than part 106 is broken, former is just a pressure switch, fairly universal and sometimes adjustable(it came loose, those spin and vibrate a little bit)

[::: :::]

It struggles to get to 60 then cuts out, then doesn’t start again without purging the tank

It actually got to 100 when it first fired up; then subsequent attempts got progressively less and less

[Rideski]

Midget wrestlers are known to take up residences in these compressors and they were probably doing keg stands on the blades. You can try to tell them, but the message just doesn’t seem to get though.

[NW_SKIER]

It was more likely the underpants gnomes.

[Norseman]

phase one!

[lucknau]

::::::::..

I live in Portland. Let me know if you need to borrow a compressor. You’re welcome to use mine.

Or...

Maybe restoring balance and cooling will fix it. It may have caused other issues. If possible with the new fan installed, before using it, see if it turns smoothly, that it and the pulley side aren’t super wobbly, and that there won’t be interference with the fan by the case after you put it back together.

The pressure switch (the one you use to set the shut-off pressure) might have failed. If the thing runs to a point where it stops hard and hisses out a little excess pressure, then it’s working, and if it does that at the wrong pressure, or does it but never resets, then it’s bad. If it never does the stop/hiss thing at all, then I might start thinking it was an issue with the motor.

I think some of those pressure switches have a set-able hysteresis (i.e. you tell it what pressure to turn off at and what pressure to turn on at). Anyway, it’s a high use part and a common point of failure, so you might look into that. Probably cheap to replace.

If it’s struggling in an observable way to get up to pressure, and the max pressure it can reach has decreased over time, the motor might have winding damage due to over-temperature. The damaged fan could have contributed to that in different ways: poor cooling, bearing wear.

After the windings have overheated and winding insulation broken down, the motor will still run at its normal speed with no load, but as the air pressure builds, the mechanical load increases and more current is required to maintain rotor speed. At some point arcing will occur between the windings, which will hamper torque. This will drag the speed down to the point of stopping the motor, which further damages the windings until the thermal cutout opens. You might be able to see carbon tracking on the motor windings, rotor or stator, or you might not.

I can’t tell from looking, and don’t see one in the parts diagram, but the motor might have a clutch. If it does, it’s possible the clutch just isn’t disengaging when the motor spins up.

Could be straight up mechanical, too, if you ever ran it without the filter, or even with the filter present, if anything got through, even a good dose of smoke or grease, if there’s enough of it could fuck up the valves or the piston. With it off and open you should be able to turn it by hand and feel or hear an issue (grinding, or gummed up).

Good luck!

Edit: I agree that the source voltage could be an issue as was mentioned above. Heavy gauge cord, short as feasible, plug in close to your panel, also if any of your plug prongs look burnt or corroded, give them a shine with some fine grit sandpaper. Every little bit helps.

[::: :::]

Dang, thx for that! ^^

It looks and feels close to new inside. It’s stored safely and gets low use. It’s only a few years old. I will walk through those comments as I put it back together . Sounds like I should order the pressure switch if only to have around for when it goes (if not currently eff’ed).
(& thx for the offer of a loaner. I’ll hold on that for now. Very kind tho!)

[lucknau]

Sounds like I should order the pressure switch if only to have around for when it goes.

Maybe? If it was me, I’d do that and immediately lose it. Mileage can vary pretty wildly on parts like that. My own compressor is 18 years old and the pressure switch hasn’t failed yet. The rubber feet rotted and rattled off, and the air filter canister snapped off and had to be JB welded back on, but that’s about it.

[::: :::]

Given the google hit rate on “pressure switch” and the number of pictures matching my compressor in those types of searches, I’m a little cynical now about my purchase...sigh
(It has actually served me well until two days ago)

[Micol]

clearly a case of PLANNED obsolescence

if it doesn't break, you're not going to buy a new one

and let's face it, most consumers are not going to dig out the parts sheet and try to fix it, they are going to try to return for warranty (free) exchange and if that fails, buy a new one

o, they could take to their local small appliance/engine repair shop, o yeah, those don't really exist much anymore

just toss into the landfill and buy again, but possibly switch brands (same issues) .....


such is the way of the world, and the world is dumm