CONDENSATE ON EXTERIOR OF COMPRESSOR/ UNDER SIDE SERVICE COVER

CONDENSATE ON EXTERIOR OF COMPRESSOR/ UNDER SIDE SERVICE COVER



When doing service work on the Turbocor compressor, it is Always good to note the level of condensation near the rear bell housing and in the area of the cooling solenoids and rear bearing power pass through plug.

The amount of condensation experienced will depend to a large extent on the environment surrounding the compressor.  In tropical areas where I am accustomed to working, there is always a significant amount of condensation.

I always remove the side service cover of the compressor and examine the area to the left as facing the compressor where the cooling solenoids are located  (near the top left) and the rear bearing power pass through plug (near the bottom left).

On older compressor, there is a plug mounted directly on the pins of the Bering pass through plug.  On newer versions, the pass through connections at the pass through plug are hermetically sealed and the connection is at the end of a short cable that is attached to the pass through plug.

You should take note if there is any obvious corrosion present in the area of the pass through plug.  The compressor manufacturer recommends application of a non-conductive, lanolin based grease as a means of preventing corrosion in this area.

Spend some time with the compressor running, watching the inverter temperature and the motor cavity temprature. The cooling solenoid is activated by relays in the serial card.  There is a max inverter temperature setting and a minimum setting. These are fixed in the compressor controls.  As the inverter temperature increases, when it gets to the maximum temperature, the cooling solenoid will energize.  With the cooling solenoid energized, the inverter temperature will fall to the minimum, at which the cooling solenoid will be de-energized. This cycle will continually repeat.

On the backplane board, near the top, just right of middle are the connection plugs for the cooling solenoids and there is a LED for each solenoid.  You can note that the LED lights up whenever the cooling solenoid is activated.

One problem I have seen is that the relay contacts in the Serial Card ¨weld¨ and the cooling solenoid is permanently energized.  This will result in the inverter temperature staying low and will result in more extensive condensation in the areas mentioned above.

While this situation is not immediately detrimental to the compressor operation, the problem should be corrected within a reasonable amount of time to prevent the excessive condensation resulting in corrosion.