My Alkin got in trouble......

[Hoosier]

Something is wrong with my compressor, W31 AD, over the weekend. I replaced the engine oil last week and started to run the compressor Sunday afternoon. I run about 10 min to fill the new LF appliance recently bought and stopped the compressor to adjust the set up pressure on the priority valve of LF appliance. Therefore, I drained all air from the appliance and run the compressor again, but the pressure didn’t go up more than 500 psi this time, so I checked the compressor and found out that the air was blowing out at the short blue drain tube.

Please check out this site.

Any expertise?

I got in trouble as well...


Thanks in advance!

 

[rcontrera]

Sounds like you have some junk jamming open the auto drain seat. Open it up and clean it out and it should re-set. If that isn't it, I can't really tell from listening.

Good luck with it!

 

[JBRES1]

From the video all I could see was that the compressor had a sound that is not like my w31 compressor. The compressor sounded like there was a knocking sound. To me that sound seamed as if it were from a valve not closing because there was not enough pressure being built up.

The air , is it coming from the solenoid drain ? If so, the solenoid may not be sealing properly. The solenoid is a normally closed solenoid, and it only opens when the power is switched on to drain the vent.

How old is the compressor ? if less than a year old contact the factory.

Good luck, Jim

 

[Hoosier]

Sounds like you have some junk jamming open the auto drain seat. Open it up and clean it out and it should re-set. If that isn't it, I can't really tell from listening.

Good luck with it!

How can I open the auto drain seat?
Are you talking about the round aluminum drain valve or solenoid?

Ray, don't forget. I am a totally newbie on the compressor.

To me that sound seamed as if it were from a valve not closing because there was not enough pressure being built up.

Smart axx. You are saying the same thing that I was told by Alkin. Hence, I won't run the compressor anymore until I found out the exact problem.

The air , is it coming from the solenoid drain ? If so, the solenoid may not be sealing properly. The solenoid is a normally closed solenoid, and it only opens when the power is switched on to drain the vent.

How old is the compressor ? if less than a year old contact the factory.

Good luck, Jim

Good point overall. Yes, I have already contacted Alkin. Bruce is helping me extensively.

 

[skippy31]

If it is the solenoid valve it will certainly make the compressor sound funny. As an example Bauer compressors have a floating third stage piston, and they sounds like they want to explode when they startup until the second stage pressure builds up enough to make the third stage piston stay down again the piston rod. This is all normals of course and normally there are only a few seconds of this noise. Point is compressors do sound different depending on the pressure in the various stages and the final pressure. Alkins will have their own quirks...

I have a rotary valve on my auto drain and I removed it and disassembled it because it was leaking recently. Turned out an o-ring needed replacing and then it was fine after that. Normally the valve will come apart and the seat or o-ring is replaceable. I'm not sure how yours comes apart, but if your mechanically inclined it will only be a matter of removing a few tubes and then a few screws. Obviously take note on how it all goes back together.

It may also be worth going through the whole setup to determine where all the pipes go and what does what. I did this with mine when I first got it. I eventually figured out what pipes go where what they do and how everything works. Now it makes it much easier when something acts up since I now know what part of my compressor it is...

Mat.

 

[pp-1-3-5-7-9]

The round one alumimum stuff which had connect with the short blue drain tube is a dump valve operating by pressure air source from the brass made pressure regulator, since the dump valve is drive by an lower pressure air come through the control valve.

you can follow up the following steps to check it out.

1.) check to see if the blue line end which the other side is connected to the top side of control valve has air blowing when compressor is runing ? normally it should not with air blowing out but just happen when compressor stop or an auto drain is triggered. if the there have with air blowing in all the time when runing the compressor, then th eproblem can be either the valve seal is failed or the the valve is not working (can be drive power or the valve coil is broken).

2.) If the the above mentioned check point with no prblem. the it may either the pressure regulator get failed or you had been make a wrong adjustment on it (normally you don't need to touch it to make an adjustment ) resulted with an improper pressure output and caused the dump valve can't be working. if all the above are in normal condition then the last one thing is the dump valve plunger get stuck or the valve seal is failed, if just the olunger get stuck then you may disassemble it and lube it then re-assemble it and try it again to see it work again, otherwise you have to replace the dump valve assembly to recover the problem.

Just as you reference.

Something is wrong with my compressor, W31 AD, over the weekend. I replaced the engine oil last week and started to run the compressor Sunday afternoon. I run about 10 min to fill the new LF appliance recently bought and stopped the compressor to adjust the set up pressure on the priority valve of LF appliance. Therefore, I drained all air from the appliance and run the compressor again, but the pressure didn’t go up more than 500 psi this time, so I checked the compressor and found out that the air was blowing out at the short blue drain tube.

Please check out this site.

Any expertise?

I got in trouble as well...


Thanks in advance!

 

[Hoosier]

The round one alumimum stuff which had connect with the short blue drain tube is a dump valve operating by pressure air source from the brass made pressure regulator, since the dump valve is drive by an lower pressure air come through the control valve.

you can follow up the following steps to check it out.

1.) check to see if the blue line end which the other side is connected to the top side of control valve has air blowing when compressor is runing ? normally it should not with air blowing out but just happen when compressor stop or an auto drain is triggered. if the there have with air blowing in all the time when runing the compressor, then th eproblem can be either the valve seal is failed or the the valve is not working (can be drive power or the valve coil is broken).

2.) If the the above mentioned check point with no prblem. the it may either the pressure regulator get failed or you had been make a wrong adjustment on it (normally you don't need to touch it to make an adjustment ) resulted with an improper pressure output and caused the dump valve can't be working. if all the above are in normal condition then the last one thing is the dump valve plunger get stuck or the valve seal is failed, if just the olunger get stuck then you may disassemble it and lube it then re-assemble it and try it again to see it work again, otherwise you have to replace the dump valve assembly to recover the problem.

Just as you reference.

Thanks for your input....

There is air blowing in all the time from the short blue tube as soon as I start the compressor. There is no air blowing from the long blue tube on the picture.

Which part is the control valve on this picture?

In the meantime, I was asked to check the voltage on the solenoid first.

 

[sunnyboy]

Something is wrong with my compressor, W31 AD, over the weekend. I replaced the engine oil last week and started to run the compressor Sunday afternoon. I run about 10 min to fill the new LF appliance recently bought and stopped the compressor to adjust the set up pressure on the priority valve of LF appliance. Therefore, I drained all air from the appliance and run the compressor again, but the pressure didn’t go up more than 500 psi this time, so I checked the compressor and found out that the air was blowing out at the short blue drain tube.

Please check out this site.

Any expertise?

I got in trouble as well...

Thanks in advance!

That sound is the sound of an Alkin W31 running with the first stage drain open (the one with the short blue tube blowing air in your pictures) and the other drains closed.

Mine is a manual drain unit, and I had this condition when doing the initial run-in on the compressor. In my case, I was to open all drains and run it for 10 minutes building up no pressure. After 10 min, I restarted it and closed the first stage drain then opened it and got that sound.

I talked to the CDN distributor of the Alkin compressor after that, and was told that the sound is the sound of the third stage floating pressure piston being contacted by the third stage drive piston. Basically, stage 1 and 2 are pistons connected to the crankshaft and do not float. The 3rd stage piston is much smaller, and so they have a larger piston connected to the crankshaft which then moves the floating piston up and down to give the high pressure output from the 3rd stage.

If there is insufficient pressure built up in the 1st and 2nd stages, then the 3rd stage piston will not return properly after each stroke and you will get the smacking sound that you hear.

Since your compressor has auto-drains, it would seem that the first stage auto-drain is stuck open for some reason. It could be blocked as some have said, or the solenoid could be stuck or some electrical fault could be keeping it open. As I don't have auto-drains, I can't tell - but since the compressor should have drains open when turned off, I'd suspect the solenoid is set up such that when the power is off, the drain is open. WHen you apply power, the solenoid should move under electrical power and close the drain. Either this is not happening, or (as said earlier) the drain is blocked somehow.

Given the nature of "things that can go wrong", I'd first suspect the solenoid is not firing properly to close the drain when you turn the compressor on.

Sorry, but I can't tell you how to fix it as my unit is manual drain.

Cheers,

-S

 

[pp-1-3-5-7-9]

If the long blue tube is no air blowing that means the control valve is working, therefore I would suspect the problem is caused by the dump/drain valve itself, since I don't have a same drain valve on hand and can't be sure if it's plunger or diaphram type, but anyway beleive you have to open it to check the root cause out.

The problem may

1. The drain valve plunger get stuck.

2. The diaphram is broken, if it's belongs to diaphram type valve.

3. if both 1. and 2. is ok, then the last possibility is the seal of the drain valve is broken.

This is the all what I have through it out.

Thanks for your input....

There is air blowing in all the time from the short blue tube as soon as I start the compressor. There is no air blowing from the long blue tube on the picture.

Which part is the control valve on this picture?

In the meantime, I was asked to check the voltage on the solenoid first.

 

[rcontrera]

How can I open the auto drain seat?
Are you talking about the round aluminum drain valve or solenoid?

Ray, don't forget. I am a totally newbie on the compressor.

I have already contacted Alkin. Bruce is helping me extensively.

Hopefully, Bruce has you fixed up by now, but, from what I can see, that blue tube is the autodrain condensate blow off tube. There is also one on the filter media tower. If that tube isn't blowing, then it isn't your solenoid.

You can try a quick "cheat" and use an lp hose air gun and blow back through that little blue hose while the compressor is de-pressurized. That just might jiggle the junk loose. If it still blows by and won't let your compressor come up to pressure, then you re stuck taking apart that little aluminum drum looking thing that the hose comes out of.

It looks fairly simple ... just remove the control air fittings and then screw off the cap. Be careful when unscrewing the cap as there may be something spring loaded inside and you don't want anything jumping out and hiding in the corner! Look around and see that everything makes sense in there and that there aren't any broken o-rings.

Good luck with it!