Compressor - Delay In Starting

[Witterings]

I've recently bought a compressor and it seems erratic whether it wants to start or not ... sometimes you'll go to switch it on and it works instantly, other times it doesn't work at all and you pull the switch for it to start compressing air and nothing happens.

This normally seems to be if it hasn't been plugged into a wall socket for a while, if you then leave it plugged in for 5 minutes it then works normally but I'm sure it's not designed to be like that.

Whilst I realise there's no battery in it to try and give some sort of simile ... if you run your phone absolutely flat and then plug it in it won't switch on immediately as the battery needs a certain amount of charge in order to do so ... if you leave it charging for 5 minutes you can then switch the phone on.

I appreciate the compressor doesn't have a battery these are the exact same characteristics and is incredibly frustrating does anybody happen to know if there's a reason for this / is it normal for all compressors or is there something wrong with this one?

[ruggedscotty]

does it have a tank ? does the tank store pressure ? if it does then the compressor will only work when it needs to maintain the pressure.

Give a photo of the thing and any details as to model etc and will check this out for ya

[GreenV8S]

You mention needing to plug it into a wall socket. Is this compressor battery powered? Is it a portable inflator / pump, or something designed to supply compressed air to pneumatic tools via an accumulator?

[DVandrews]

I had a similar problem, there was a startup capacitor (450v) which was failing, a £6 replacement did the job. It’s a possibility..

Dave

[Witterings]

ruggedscotty said:

does it have a tank ? does the tank store pressure ? if it does then the compressor will only work when it needs to maintain the pressure.

Give a photo of the thing and any details as to model etc and will check this out for ya

Yeah sorry .. I should have given more detail ... it's one of these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wolf-Air-24-Litre-Super...

I've only had it a couple of months and don't think it did it the day I got it, I've done a video of it with a link below which whilst it was only about 20 / 30 seconds this time, sometimes has been a couple of minutes.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oryhvjd0id7oaod/AAAL_40...

[dhutch]

When it turns off on the pressure, does it hiss? Should release the pressure so the pump can restart.

Daniel

[Witterings]

It's that it's not starting in the 1st place when you haven't used if for a while / left it unplugged ... in other words after you last used it you let the excess air out of the drain valve, close the drain valve and unplug it.

It's when you then go to use it a few days later, plug it in and it won't work immediately so it's not to do with when you've been using it for a while and the pressure drops and it decides when it's going to cut in to start filling the tank again .... once you've been through the initial saga of it won't start at all after that it functions 100% as you'd expect it to and cuts in when the pressure drops to about 7/8 bar from use.

[JM]

First thing I'd check is the capacitor and the wiring around it and the motor terminals.

As said earlier a new capacitor will just cost a few £'s. (<£10)

You just need to make sure you get the correctly rated one.
Possibly something like this.