How Tampa Compressor Fixed a Kaeser SK 20 That Wouldn’t Start in Clearwater
A dental and surgical equipment manufacturer in Clearwater lost the motor on their Kaeser SK 20 after a squirrel got into the electrical system. The electrical failure burned out the motor, and another service company rebuilt it and wired it back up.
Except after that repair, the compressor was never right again. It kept failing at startup. In a plant where production runs on compressed air, a compressor you can’t count on to start is almost as bad as one that’s down completely.
That’s when they called Tampa Compressor. Our technician traced the problem to the wiring itself: the motor and its contactor had been reconnected incorrectly during the rebuild. Correcting the wiring fixed the compressor, and the fix required no new parts.
What our technician found
Our tech started with the wiring diagram and the unit’s service history. From there, he traced the electrical system against the manufacturer’s schematic, checking every phase one at a time.
He found the problem: the motor and the Delta contactor had been wired incorrectly after the rebuild, and the electrical phasing on the contactor was wrong. In plain terms, the phases were connected in the wrong sequence. The motor was never getting power the way the manufacturer intended, and that’s why the unit kept failing at startup. No part on the machine was bad. The repair itself was the problem.
The fix
- Rewired the motor and contactors to the manufacturer’s schematic
- Traced all electrical phases and corrected the phasing on the Delta contactor
- Performed a bump check to confirm rotation
- Cleaned the unit inside and out and checked every fitting and electrical connection
- Took voltage and amperage readings and ran the unit through several full cycles, with all readings normal
We installed zero parts on this job. What fixed the compressor was tracing the wiring and correcting it, not replacing hardware. The customer handled the routine maintenance items themselves: they swapped the air filter and topped off the oil with materials they had on hand. Before leaving, our tech reset the maintenance timers, shortened the service intervals because the unit had fallen behind on maintenance, and updated the controller settings.
The bigger picture
Motor and electrical failures are one of the most common serious problems we see, with over 1,400 documented jobs in our service records. The single most-replaced part on those calls is the contactor. Wiring and phasing mistakes often happen during that kind of electrical work, and a compressor with a wiring error will keep failing until someone finds it.
Two lessons from this ticket:
- Who rebuilds and rewires your compressor matters. A motor rebuild is only as good as the wiring that reconnects it.
- Emergency calls often uncover overdue maintenance. This unit was already overdue for preventative maintenance when our tech arrived. Our Preventative Maintenance Membership customers experience 96% less unplanned downtime, because scheduled visits catch small problems before they become breakdowns.
Compressor won’t start?
If a compressor in the Tampa area won’t start, trips at startup, or came back from someone else’s repair acting strange, our repair and troubleshooting team will trace the actual cause. And if your plant is down right now, the Rapid Response Team answers 24/7 for emergency service.
Tampa Compressor provides industrial air compressor sales and 24/7 service in Tampa, Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and across the bay area, part of a family of compressor companies spanning nine states. If your plant is anywhere around the bay, we can get a technician to you.
Call (813) 771-8777 and tell us what your compressor is doing.