Omega Supercharger Help

[JWilson]

Fired it up today to refil my tank. All was great. Some time later I noticed the audible rpm of the compressor slowing dome and sort of loping like a carbureted Harley Davidson. I shut it off and waited a bit. Looked everything over and don’t see anything from external visual. Tried again and same thing. Any advice or similar experiences?

Joe

 

[Motorhead]

HP check valve needs a replacement. Remove the big brass fitting on top of the cylinder, under it the check valve / spring.

In your service kit you should have replacements.

 

[JWilson]

Are you referring to the parts 12 and 13?

 

[socaloldman]

+1 for motorhead... HP valve needs the doctor... Same symptoms show up on the Twin cylinder Tuxing and copies. Sometimes the valve seat is scored and a new valve will not fix that. 

 

[Motorhead]

thats it....

 

[JWilson]

Swapped. No change. I think I need to be more clear in my explanation. When I say stalls, I mean it almost stops the compressor from running. It almost seems like a mechanical or gear problem. No grinding sound, but it makes a sort of a chirping sound that seems to follow the rpm. I can’t tell where the chopping is coming from.

 

[Motorhead]

Swapped. No change. I think I need to be more clear in my explanation. When I say stalls, I mean it almost stops the compressor from running. It almost seems like a mechanical or gear problem. No grinding sound, but it makes a sort of a chirping sound that seems to follow the rpm. I can’t tell where the chopping is coming from.

Very odd ... being these compressors have circuit breakers and if a mechanic load is present this should TRIP said breaker. As you had described is a very common issue when the HP check valve no longer seals.



So next test ... is let compressor run NOT MAKING PRESSURE, will it run or does it fault as previous ?

Or once it is laboring, if you bleed off some pressure does the compressor speed back up and continue along ?

 

[JWilson]

I really appreciate you sticking with this. I’ll run the test and let you soon.

 

[JWilson]

I removed the valve and spring again. This time I cleaned it up real well and polished the seat with a felt pad on a Drexel real gently. Worked great. Reassembled and it still chirped but ran up to a higher pressure before beginning to lope. I bled some pressure and it still loped.

I waited a bit and tried again. This time the chirping stopped at higher pressure but it still began to lope and stall. If I let it go it does actually trip the motor protection. I only let it do that once.

 

[Motorhead]

Still sounds like a check valve problem between stages .... So with the 3rd final outlet ck valve serviced and while helping tho not correcting the issue, next check valve requires complete disassembly. It sets atop the primary pump rod ... design of it varies pending age of the unit ? The original Alpha / Air Charger appear via the IPL to differ from the Super charger.



Last i have read, RAPTOR is no longer an independent importer & service center looking like it was bought out by AOA. Doing web searches for service parts and info on my personal Alpha 90 .... nothing found except reference to Air Guns of Arizona for parts or service.



All i got .... at 3 years old now, my Alpha 90 has @ 150 hours on it, been resealed / serviced twice and had a bad rod knock now .... thinking it's life is on borrowed time.