Tiger Air Compressor won’t work

[Deleted account 260111001]

About seven years ago, I purchased a Machine Mart air compressor.

Haven’t used it for a few months and when plugged in it now makes an electrical buzzing noise and won’t compress.

I took the cover off and the main shaft rotates OK and if I spin it and hold my thumb over the air inlet, it sucks air in.

There is a small black test button which doesn’t seem to do anything.
Going to put a test meter on the wiring, but any one else had a similar issue with an electric compressor?

 

[sparky56]

if you spin the the fan on the end of the shaft while the motor is buzzing will the motor then run?.
If so then it could be the capacitor.

A single phase motor will run in either direction they use a capacitor and a starter winding to provide an initial kick
in the desired direction.

Capacitors are cheap enough, about £5 in this case.

 

[yoyo]

I worked for Machine Mart for years, they sell lots of average products to say the least but the compressors if looked after go on for years.

The black button is a thermal overload, if it hasn't tripped and you can turn the motor over by hand it hasn't seized and as someone has already said its likely to be the capacitor. Have you had a look at it? When the capacitor fails they normally swell up or split.

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[Andy63]

Be careful with capacitors they can hold a lot of charge i have no idea how much your compressor capacitor holds but just dont dick around with it make sure its discharged.

 

[Pauly S]

bet you a fiver is the flux capacitor gone tits up

 

[Big-G]

Yep, same model 3 months ago so went and bought a new one from Screwfix oil less £80


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[Deleted account 260111001]

if you spin the the fan on the end of the shaft while the motor is buzzing will the motor then run?.
If so then it could be the capacitor.

Sadly not, I used a screwdriver to turn the fan in both directions and it didn’t make any difference. Could it be that the capacitor gives the motor that bump to start up and overcome the resistance of the compressor which seems to be directly connected?

Just googled the part number for the compressor and it does indeed look like that is the fault, an £8 for Amazon might do the trick, and some YouTube videos on how to check them

 

[yoyo]

Is there any buzzing coming from the unit when you try to turn it on?

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[Deleted account 260111001]

Won’t be able to test until the weekend now, but the motor seemed to be buzzing

 

[yoyo]

That sounds like it's stuck, when you were turning the fan was the motor turning over or could the fan have been spinning on the shaft?

What's the oil level like? If there is plenty of oil I've seen units where the pump has stuck, a good tap with a mallet on the pump end above the sight glass while it's buzzing often releases it. The other option is to drop the oil and take the end cover off to make sure the pump is turning.

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[Deleted account 260111001]

That sounds like it's stuck, when you were turning the fan was the motor turning over or could the fan have been spinning on the shaft?

What's the oil level like? If there is plenty of oil I've seen units where the pump has stuck, a good tap with a mallet on the pump end above the sight glass while it's buzzing often releases it. The other option is to drop the oil and take the end cover off to make sure the pump is turning.

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I took the cover off and the main shaft rotates OK and if I spin it and hold my thumb over the air inlet, it sucks air in.

The oil level is good, the sales guy said that this mode, was on a constant loss oil feed, so I checked before each use.

 

[Deleted account 260111001]

So a new capacitor fitted, and same result.

I don’t have an analogue ohms meter, so can’t check the function of the capacitor...

Bugger !