CO2 compressor piston ring damage

[mjmyers2]

Anyone ever seen damage like this on a CO2 recip compressor?

Low hours, we are only about half the water vapor we designed for, normal pressures/temps.

I've got a theory of tight tolerances and piston ring thermal growth, leading to friction, leading to excessive heating and more growth until thermal breakdown... but I've only seen damage like this due to cavitation downstream of a pump... not on a gas recip piston though. We just aren't wet.

 

[georgeverghese]

It may be that your water vapor loads are low, but the first thing to check is whether the suction piping to the compressor is completely free of low point pockets where water vapor can condense on the cool pipe walls, pool, and subsequently surge into the compressor to cause piston ring damage / high vibration.