Teflon Contamination

Do the teflon rings show abrasion signs? Could you discuss this with the compressor manufacturer and send the white residue for testing?
If the teflon rings can be disassembled, they could be carefully weighted, reassembled, and weighted again after further service, to determine if they are wearing off.

If and when the compressor fails, then I will do some investigation. But, as long as it is up and running, I intend to leave it alone. I did put a 12 micron filter inline, however, after I found the residue.

Is there any possibility the white residue is salt?

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

CoryPad--the cabinet is brand new and has never had salt in it. Use so far has been strictly humidity testing.

Can you describe the procedure a little bit? The piston and guide ring material used for non lube compressors is graphited teflon and is, generally, black in color, as far as my experience is concerned.

Did any get overzealous with a Teflon pipe dope?

Were any after-market oil additives used (such as SLICK 50, or MILITEC)? I've read reports where at least one of these can result in similar looking contamination.

Teflon tape was used on the pipe joints, no pipe dope. And, if Teflon tape were the contaminant, I would have expected to see flaky looking material. This stuff is extremely fine particulate material (had to pass through the air filter installed by the cabinet manufacturer). And no, there were no Teflon oil additives installed, as this is an OILLESS compressor. But, perhaps the manufacturer put some kind of dry lubricant in for break-in? Anyway, once I drained the water in the bubble tower, most of the residue got flushed out, except for a thin film which adheres to the bottom and doesn't mix in with the aerated water. In addition to air, DI water is also fed into the bubble chamber. This water is filtered city water which then passes through some deionizer cartridges. The plumbing from the cartridges to the chamber is plastic compression tubing. It is possible that some sort of residue could have come from the beads in the deionizer cartridges.

I thought oilless compressors use a diaphragm pump?