Stop Your Air Compressor from Overheating

Due to the nature of air compressors, overheating is an issue you may encounter on a regular basis. 

Do you know why your air compressor is overheating? Or, more importantly, do you know how to stop this from occurring? 

The symptoms, causes and preventative measures of overheating are the topic of this article. 

How to Tell If Your Air Compressor is overheating? 

Overheating is a common problem found in air compressors that can cause other challenges to surface. 

A common indicator of an overheated air compressor is a crackling noise, which is usually caused by inadequate lubrication which leads to overheating. Another telltale sign is when your compressor requires longer periods of rest between loads, stalls during start-up or won’t start at all. 

Why is Your Air Compressor Overheating?

Finding the root cause of overheating can be challenging because they differ across different industries and applications. 

However, there are four common causes of overheating that present itself in most facilities:

Ambient room temperature Improper ventilation Irregular maintenance Aging or overused compressor 

How do You Stop an Air Compressor from Overheating? 

It is always better to prevent than to cure. While there are different ways to cool down your overheated compressor we want to focus on preventing the need for this. 

Maintenance 

We cannot stress enough just how important it is to perform regular maintenance on your air compressor and compressed air system as a whole. A regularly and well maintained system will greatly reduce the risk of overheating. 

Lubrication Levels

It is well-known that a lubricant acts as a coolant in air compressors. If you don’t check and amend the levels of lubricants then your air compressor will be at risk of overheating. 

Adequate Ventilation 

Firstly, make sure your air compressor is located in an area that is properly ventilated. Perform frequent checks that your air compressor’s vents are clean, optimized and the right size to meet the air compressor’s demand. 

Need A Little Help?

As is the case with most things compressed air related, preventative maintenance is key to ensuring system efficiency. 

If you need any assistanc, CDA Systems would be happy to perform an evaluation of existing plant air systems to assess the need for preventative maintenance. 925.667.3400 / sales@cdasystems.com