CAGI on the repair-or-replace decision for an aging centrifugal compressor
The Compressed Air and Gas Institute sets out how operators should weigh overhauling a centrifugal compressor against replacing it once maintenance costs and downtime start climbing - the exact decision facing a lot of the Joy, Cooper, Cameron and Ingersoll Rand installed base.
Illustrative photoCAGI recommends oil analysis and bearing/impeller vibration monitoring to reveal a machine's condition before costs force a decision, plus a field capacity test against as-built performance.
Its case for overhaul: virtually every major component - impellers, diffusers, scrolls, seals, the main oil pump - can be factory-reconditioned, often restoring or improving on original performance without the capital cost of a new unit.
Its case for replacement: a new unit allows a step change in capacity and performance that an overhaul, by definition, cannot deliver.
Read the original report at Compressed Air Best Practices (Compressed Air & Gas Institute). Summarised here for readers of this catalogue; msg-parts did not originate this story. See About & disclaimer.