Warning: Ingersoll Rand Type-30 Compressor Problems!

Damn, i almost bought a new ingersoll from tractor supply, glad i seen this, thanks.

 

I saw this post and it was like Deja Vu !!!! I'm going through this issue right now with my IR 2340L5....same crap Emerson motor...
3 years old...light duty home use...professionally wired by an electrician on a dedicated circuit etc etc... we ran 8 guage about 20 feet from breaker to the compressor. Figured it would be best to "over engineer it"

All of a sudden it would trip the Cb when turned on. never ever did that before....not once....Took it to an electric motor shop....motor is junk. When they looked at the motor it appeared to be in nearly mint condition...nothing looked bad at all....when they hooked it up , it shot a flame out the back !!! A small section of the coils had all this fine copper "spatter" (like fine welding spatter) around it. Otherwise it looked perfect. Basically the motor is unrepairiable and useless. Asked about the "low voltage" issue alot of guys on other posts throw out there as a cause (often to blame the consumer, not the product)..... they said "hell no". The motor has NONE of the characteristics of a motor that was fried from voltage drop. Not one sign of it...

The shop also felt it was a very wierd set-up to begin with...wierd combination of housing, base, shaft size etc. With tax and shipping, the replacement motor is gonna cost around $550 !!!!....on a compressor I paid $1200 for !!!! WTF

I called IR and the first rep said "well its out of warranty". So I went up the chain of command...left a message for Dave Gunderson. No call back yet...left the message this Fri AM.

Then I did a random Google search and found this post...its was like I was replaying my entire situation!!!

My lesson right now.....buy a cheap ass Harbor Freight or Home Depot special for half the price...it has a 1 year warranty too.....chances are it will last >3 years and even if you have to replace the entire unit or the motor TWICE... you will still be ahead in $$.

I guess you dont get what you pay for anymore.... the extra $$ to buy a "quality heavy duty unit" isnt worth it. I dont expect stuff to last forever...but 3 years with light duty home use ?

I'll be calling IR on Monday again...wish me luck. I hope they step up like they did for you.

 

I bought a cheap 5 HP, HF compressor 10 years ago, have abused it badly, and it still runs like a watch. Go figure...

 

Why do people expect companies to "stand behind" their product longer than the warranty? If this were the case why don't they (company) just extend the warranty period. People shouldnt expect to receive "special" warranty treatment. They can't do it for everyone outside the the warranty, so why does one situation deserve special treatment while others abide by the warranty? You know the warranty BEFORE you buy the product. If the warranty period doesn't satisfy you, go to another company/product. Of course, you have to PAY for that warranty up front with a higher price. Most retailers offer extended warranties also. They ask you at check out when you pay. In addition to their home use line of compressors, IR makes high quality products at a high price. They are available. I have a IR commercial unit in my shop that has been abused for 20 years and all i have had to do is put a start cap on it. The units at Home Depot, Northern Tool, etc. for the most part aren't their high end line. You get what you pay for. Many times the length of warranty is how the company keeps the price down. Look before you buy.

 

They did replace the faulty motor on my compressor. Mine was quite a bit newer than DRJDVM's compressor, but it sounds like he had the exact same issue.

I don't have anything bad to say about Ingersoll Rand's service. As some of you have already insinuated, IR didn't have to replace my motor...but it was the right thing to do, and they did it. Dave Gunderson at IR made it right, and he seems to be a stand up guy. I think he just had to get the OK from the guys further up the chain before he could replace my motor.

In today's corporate world it's hard to get anyone to stand behind anything that's mass-produced. But I'm happy to say that Ingersoll Rand does seem to value their customers, and they stand behind what they build...warranty or not.

 

You said your IR compressor is twenty years old and you got good service out of it. Thats the point being made here! I always bought Ingersol Rand products years ago because they were known to go for 30 or more years so recently I bought their high end compressor and paid top dollar for it only to have motor problems after only 1 1/2 years, just out of warranty. Is that how were supposed to look at an expensive compressor that it should only last as long as the warranty ? Warranties were only intended to be for those isolated situations where there could be a few defective parts. Now the additude seems to be just make them all just last as long as the warranty. With this many complaints it is not just an isolated defect so I think it is expected that the company help the customer if they want to maintain their good name which might already take some serious effort to repair. As I stated before, the folks at Ingersol Rand took care of my problem before , but now just a couple months later, my motor is beginning to make high pitched squeeling noises when I first start it up on a cold morning. I don't think there is an answer for these motors. I'm very disappointed in mine.

 

Sounds as though the start switch stuck closed. When the motor is resting the start sw is closed. As the motor starts and aproaches running speed a govenor opens the sw taking the start capisitor out of the circuit. If it fails to open, electromotive force is generated and and some thing is gona blow, usually the capisitor, but theres enough current generated that a nice size fire results. When that happens in a refrigeration system it usually blows the electrial plug out of the compressor and that really causes a mess, with refrigerant and oil blowing out all over the place, along with fosgiene gas contamination. Iceman

 

This is the way I look at it....

IR can do what they legally HAVE to do.....meaning that since its out of warranty, they dont HAVE to do anything...or they can do the RIGHT thing... that is back up their products.

So for the guys that feel since its out of warranty, I should suck it up and pay... So basically everything you ever buy should be based solely on the warranty? After that , the product can be a complete POS ? So all a company has to do is make a product that can self destruct a day after the warranty expires, and that should be considered a good company? I just dont get that kind of attitude

The Harbor Freight and Home Depot ones at half the price come with a 1 year warranty. So give me one single reason I should ever buy a "better" and more expensive unit like an IR ? If the warranty is the same and a day after that expires, its every man for himself and roll the dice, you're totally TSOL, then why buy the "better" tool?

You spend the extra $$ as an investment to get a tool that will last longer and perform better.

How many of you guys use Snap On or Matco for your hand tools?....Why? Does that ratchet work any better that the Harbor Freight one? No....but if it has an issue or breaks, you know that the company will take care of it.....and you pay for that "piece of mind". You pay a more "premium price" for a "premium" product and expect it to perform better than the cheap stuff and last longer. When it doesnt, the company should be there to stand behind their product....warranty or not.

Theres a big difference in doing whats right and what you are forced to do. To me, thats what makes one company stand out from the others.

I'm a manager in a moderate sized business and I deal with customer support stuff every day...EVERY DAY. I know what it means to support your product or service. You cant make everyone happy, but doing the RIGHT thing is never wrong, if you want to be a well respected business.

If IR doesnt want to back up their products past 1 year, then thats their choice.

 

VERY well said DRJDVM. I agree totally. Your way of thinking is one of the things that separtes American products from Chinese crap. For the Chinese and for corporate CEO's it's about the buck, not their core business be it a service or a product.

 

IR buys their part's from whoever can supply them the cheapest. they don't care about quality anymore. it's all about the money in their pockets and the share holders pockets. you pay for the name which stood for quality back in the day,but now it's all about the coin in their pocket.

 

The worst thing you can do to I.R. is never, ever, ever buy another I.R. product ever!!

And tell everyone you know in the market for an air compressor about your experience with their POS.

 

I'm really hoping to avoid the situation where I have to tell people about my bad experience with IR. I'm pretty laid back....people make mistakes...stuff happens....its how the person or company responds when bad stuff happens that makes the difference to me.

Its just like character in people....its how they respond in the face of adversity and bad times. Thats when you see a person's true character....not when its all sunshine and roses.

I'm really hoping I can come back on here and tell everyone that IR stepped up to the plate and rectified the situation even when they didnt have to do it.

 

a company will go busted trying to do the "right thing". People...for the most part...want you to go above and beyond on every single problem. The warranty for a motor is one year...I expect the motor to be trouble free for one year. A company can extend the warranty when there is a known specific problem. But it is there option and they shouldn't be expected to make exceptions to the warranty on a regular and routine basis. It makes a warranty useless. Why not just have an unconditional lifetime warranty on everything. Because you couldn't afford to by a wristwatch...thats why. Everytime a company pays for an out of warranty problem, it cost future customers. Thats a fact.

 

Everytime a company markets its products as "high end" and charges a premium price but actually makes a product that performs as well and as long as the cheap "big box" store product, they will lose 10x the number of customers than doing the "right thing" on occassion.

If you want to act like your product is superior to the cheap China made junk, and charge like it is, then your product had better back that up. If it doesnt, why would I want to pay more $$ for a product that I can get cheaper and have it last just as long?

Everyone will have their opinion, and thats fine...to each his own

 

Glad I came across this thread. Glad to see the concensus opinion is that a company should fix their product into forever land. I've got me this ol' Shiverlay Corvette that I bought new and the gauge cluster refuses to work correctly. Since Mr Obama has made all of us the owners of GM, I'll be expecting a check in the mail from each of you.

 

I guess I dont see 3 years of light home duty use as "forever land" for a "quality tool" at the price they charge. I dont expect tools to last forever, but more than 3 years with this type of tool, use and cost.

Anyway...

I spoke with Dave Gunderson today....very nice guy. Told him politely how my thought process worked when I was shopping for a compressor...i.e I'm willing to spend more $$ to get a good compressor, but I expect it to last longer than 3 years of light use"....he was very understanding and immediately offered to get me a new motor. No need to go up the chain to his boss or anything like that. He took care of it no problems. We talked back and forth about dealing in customer service issues and the "right and wrong" way for a customer to go about dealing with product issues (i.e not being an a-hole about the issue, yelling and screaming at the customer support people, ripping companies apart on the internet etc etc) and how good companies do customer service (i.e sometimes that entails doing the right thing, not just what they HAVE to do)

He also stated the 1% warranty issue over the last 3 years ..about 45,000 motors sold in this catagory, so about 450 electric motor warranties. You can be the judge on that accuracy.

So its all resolved now. IR stepped up and took care of the issue even when they didnt HAVE to do it. No hard feeling on this end, and I would buy from again. They earned back my respect. When asked about compressors, I will tell my whole story about my experience with IR and let the listener be the judge.

 

Good to hear that I.R. finally came through for you; very likely your mature approach had
a lot to do with it too. Sad to see the extent quality has declined in products these days,
for the sake of quantity and profit. Refreshing, though, to see a happy ending to this final
chapter. I will now put I.R. back on my short list for consideration when I upgrade my
compressor.

 

Well the motor hasnt arrived yet, but there is still alot of conversations about the electrical set-up.

Originally I ran an 8 wire, 30 AMP circuit breaker. Never had any issue with tripping the breaker until the motor fried...never once. The electric motor repair place says that should be perfectly fine. On the phone IR suggested at least 10 guage and a 50 AMP breaker. IR manual says 8 wire....no suggestion on the breaker, only refer to NEC book.

My electrician says 10 guage wire and 50 AMP fuse is asking for trouble...wire is too small for 50 AMP and will act as the fuse if the circuit gets overloaded and will fry before the breaker trips. And whats the point of going from a 30 AMP to 50 AMP breaker if the breaker has never been an issue? That wont have any influence on the motor or low voltage issue people keep referring too.... If it was tripping alot, maybe, but its not.

I'm really trying to make absolutely sure that there are no issues on my end that contributed to the original motor going bad. There seems to be no evidence that the problem was on my end, but I want to be 100% sure so I dont end up here again.

 

yeah i just bought a 2475 7.5 hp a couple months ago, ran 25ft of 6 gauge to it, now SOMETIMES it makes a pretty decent click when it first starts up. Anyone out there got any ideas? i haven't investigated at all, so i'm not blaming anyone/anything yet, just curious if any of you with a similar compressor has heard this, or if something is def. probably wrong. (call IR on monday)

 

You sure your not just hearing the contacts close when the pressure drops enough to come on?

 

Same exact experience for me. Sparks and fire then smoke. Motor toast. Mine is older than a few years but still sucks. I guess I will try to figure out which Dayton motor replaces the fried Emerson. If anyone knows let me know.

 

So you have the same Ingersoll Rand Type-30 Compressor, Model 2340-E that the OP bought in 2007? After 16 years, probably nobody remembers the details. Maybe you can get the information off of your motor's data plate and have an electrical shop cross-reference it for you-or maybe rebuild it? Your antique motor might be better than anything built today.

 

Interesting this thread popped up. I have the same compressor but with an original Baldor motor IIRC. It stopped working last week. No fire though thankfully. Still haven’t had a chance to see what the issue is, but there is power to the motor. Only issue I’ve had previously was a failed pressure switch. Thing has been flawless otherwise.

 

I have a ir-30 bought in 1999 , 20hp baldor motor never a problem