A new customer contacted us with a major issue in their system. Their 11kW Ingersoll Rand screw compressor had unexpectedly shut down, and upon closer inspection, we identified that the compressor was significantly oversized for the application. The oversized unit had caused excessive moisture build-up inside the machine, which eventually led to rust forming on the screws.
Due to the compressor’s size, it rarely ran long enough to reach the optimal temperature needed to evaporate moisture. When a compressor is oversized, it tends to idle or run on lighter loads more frequently. This results in the compressor not heating up sufficiently to vaporise any accumulated moisture, allowing it to linger and settle inside the unit. In this case, over time, the screws rusted, which is both costly and disruptive. This customer faced unplanned downtime, and without immediate intervention, the damage could have required a full screw element replacement.
