COMPRESSOR
RELIABILITY
By
Norm Christopherson
The heart of both an electric refrigerator and an air conditioner is the compressor; it’s most costly component. No other electro-mechanical device comes close to the reliability of the Semihermetic or fully-hermetic compressor. Consider the following comparison.
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On the average it operates in a refrigerator at full speed almost half the time. That is about 4000 hours out of 8760 hours in a year. |
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In 15 years that would be 60,000 hours. |
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If your automobile operated 60,000 hours at only 50 miles per hour that would be 3 million miles! |
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That is 120 trips around the world at the equator, or 6 round trips to the moon. |
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It does this without a valve job, new points, new plugs or even an oil change. |
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Unless the compressor has a problem, neither lubricating oil nor refrigerant are added over the 15, 20 or even 30 years that many compressors operate. |
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Search your mind. Can you think of any other electro-mechanical device with a comparable record of reliability and operating life? |
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The next time someone states that they don’t make things to last as long as they use to, consider the compressor. |
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The majority of compressor failures are not due to the compressor but rather to a system problem causing the compressor to fail. It is important to determine the cause of a compressor failure when replacing a defective compressor or the replacement compressor is bound to fail as well. Don’t be too quick to blame a failed compressor on the compressor. |
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Learn the causes of compressor failures and make it a habit of checking the system for the potential causes of compressor failures. |
Norm is a technical writer, seminar speaker and test proctor for EPA, 410A and ESCO & NATE certifications.
He can be contacted at nchristo@juno.com