Omega Supercharger popping burst discs

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bdzjlz

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Jul 11, 2016
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Terre Haute, Indiana
All has been going fine with my Omega Supercharger until this morning. Topped my first tank off to 4500, then move to the second tank. It burst a disc at about 250 Bar. I put a new one in and it popped it right away.

Reached out to Todd Brown at Raptor via text and let me know his thoughts when convenient - not necessary to get back to me today or tomorrow as the holiday, and yet he was back to me within 5 minutes. We have tried everything he suggested, including pulling off the shrouding and being certain the steel lines and fittings going into the top of the cylinder head were clear. We have tried using two burst discs - and it popped them as I opened up the tank valve at about 150 bar. Changed the check valve components - still pops them.

Todd is out of ideas at the moment and is going to reach out to the manufacturer. I have ordered a complete new burst disc assembly, a dozen burst discs, and a complete check valve assembly (even though my kit has a couple).

Again, I don't even have to run the compressor. Just creeping open the tank valve, once the line pressure gets to about 150 bar - it pops the burst discs.

If you have had a similar experience, I would appreciate knowing what it took to fix the issue.



DZ
 
I have popped quite a few burst disk as well in my omega. I’m experimenting to see if an over torque of the bolt vent that holds it in place is the issue. After popping the last one I installed a new one and before tightening the bolt i started the pump and then tightened the bolt down to where I didn’t hear any more air leaking out. We’ll see if that helps. I was roughly doing about 5 top offs before it popped a disk. Todd is great to work with and he is sending me some replacement disks. He has also helped me out with a bad crank bearing and a pressure gauge that sprung a leak. I sure hope he sticks with Raptor Pnumatics/Omega for as long as I’m in this hobby which will be for another 48 years if I make it to 100😀 
 
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Thanks to all for your interest, experience comments, and suggestions.



slcrcflyer - I have two identical Omega carbon fiber tanks - both gauges read identical - plus after all of what I described had occurred, I filled one of my pcps with the tank that has been connected to the compressor during all of this, and the line pressure was exactly as it should be. As such, I have every confidence that the tanks and tank valves are not at issue.

Attached are photos of the entry hole to the compressor, the burst disc hardware, and popped discs that have been removed. Note that I tried doubling them up - and it popped both of them - did this twice.

1567388854_9951892095d6c74b6914af6.87004554_IMG_0842.jpg


1567388840_19271868685d6c74a83e9355.53826937_IMG_0841.jpg

 
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Hmm that is strange... it would seem the compression of the second stage is going above 4500 PSI. When my disk pops the tank doesn't loose pressure because the check valve to the tank should be closed and only open on the compression stage. does your tank start to bleed off pressure when it pops. Has it always done this? You may be able to confirm this theory if you can connect a gauge to the burst disk connection... just a thought...
 
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Very interesting!!!!! I just started having the same problem with my Omega a couple of weeks ago. I got a new brass burst disc assembly because I was tightening it down too much. I get 1 fill to 4350 and then the next time the disc blows at about 3800 psi. I packed it up and sent it to Todd to work on. I think he got it on Friday. Hopefully he will come up with a fix for all of us. He is the best support person I have ever run into for any product. I have 240 hours on mine.
 
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Also take a close look at to where the burst disk seats to make sure it is free of any debris, the surface needs to be smooth, but from what I can see from the pic it looks like that burst disk was starting to balloon out indicating high pressure above the rating of the metal.
Click to expand...

Agree with this idea-either defective disc material or possibly a sharp edge/bur at the disc mounting surface. Doesn't seem possible for it to be actual over pressure situation from the second stage as mentioned above because the OP stated he doesn't even have to have the compressor running to blow the disc-just opening the tank valve will do it. Surely odd. 
 
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Thanks for your continued interest, suggestions, and comments. Don't take too much from the appearance of the burst discs. I attempted to use them to seal the system just to be able to open the tank valve (have confirmed that the pressure is less than 4,000 PSI in the tank. Every time I crack the valve and get above 150 to 200 bar, the discs distort further, including at the edges. It also appears that I am getting leakage around the female brass adapter, in addition to the ported relief bolt.

I am now going to wait on Todd Brown's parts shipment and go back to all new from the check valve on up and see what happens.



Skohl, thanks for keeping me in the loop relative to what you and Todd find out once he gets into yours.



BTW - mine only has 52 hours on it and I have babied it all of the way - paying really close attention to coolant, etc. At about 26 hours, the water pump quit and I had to buy/replace it - which wasn't a big deal and Todd is a huge help. But it is kind of disappointing to pay +/- $2,000 and have these issues with such few hours of use.



Thanks again.
 
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FWIW ... I have an original ALPHA 90 ( Open frame design ) that is going on 3 years old now. Put in an hour meter shortly after new and now clocking @ 190 hours.

One thing I have NEVER DONE is open the tanks valve until the line pressure is very close to the the tank pressure. Have never blown a disk.
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Agree that doing as you describe is the correct way to fill. Start compressor, allow pressure to build to near tank pressure, then open tank valve. But this is not what I believe the OP was stating. Seems he was stating that even with compressor OFF, just opening the tank valve would blow the burst disc. To my knowledge, that should not happen unless tank pressure is well above burst disc rating.
 
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Thanks for your continued interest, suggestions, and comments. Don't take too much from the appearance of the burst discs. I attempted to use them to seal the system just to be able to open the tank valve (have confirmed that the pressure is less than 4,000 PSI in the tank. Every time I crack the valve and get above 150 to 200 bar, the discs distort further, including at the edges.  It also appears that I am getting leakage around the female brass adapter, in addition to the ported relief bolt.

I am now going to wait on Todd Brown's parts shipment and go back to all new from the check valve on up and see what happens.



Skohl, thanks for keeping me in the loop relative to what you and Todd find out once he gets into yours.



BTW - mine only has 52 hours on it and I have babied it all of the way - paying really close attention to coolant, etc. At about 26 hours, the water pump quit and I had to buy/replace it - which wasn't a big deal and Todd is a huge help. But it is kind of disappointing to pay +/- $2,000 and have these issues with such few hours of use.



Thanks again.
Click to expand...

I think i know what the problem is!

The disks need to be tight as a drum in order to function as they are intended to. A loose fit will let the disk slip and take on a concave shape while the edges are drawn inwards.

A tight disk will break clean at the outlet hole and the shear strength of the material is the key to repetability.


 
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