trouble with Nyle kiln compressor, anyone deal with this yet?

[Kelvin]

Howdy all,
Well my kiln, Nyle 200, has been going slower and slower with the drying.  Could only pull 1 %MC a day, and i thought it was the charge getting low.  Now it seems i can't get the compressor to come on.  I called Nyle and they recommend a professional air conditioner guy, and i only see $$$ flying out the window.  My buddy came over with his old bottles of R-12 as this is an old unit, and we checked that the pressure was up to 70lbs, which he said was good for air conditioners, or more so.  I know these units aren't done the same way, but anyone change out a compressor?  I'll talk with Nyle more, but i was hoping there might be some insider info here.  I can't believe how simple this thing looks.  Why is it $5k???  THe condensor and other parts look just like my window unit.  Hmmmm....  guess the magic is in the details.  Looks pretty rusty too.  Thought these were made to handle the caustic enviroment.  Oh, well, its probably pretty old.  Any help?

Whats interesting as well is that the thing dries fine without the compressor. It takes my stack down 1% with just the fans and electric heat, which is all i'm suppose to do with my white oak, but is this really costly?  Why not just use heat?  Very tricky!

Thanks
kelvin

[scsmith42]

Kelvin, two common maintenance items that I've had to perform with my L200 setup are 1) cleaning out the drain tube that runs from the unit to the outside of my kiln (bugs like to crawl up inside it and build nests, thereby limiting flow), and tightening up the screws on the terminal block inside the DH unit (where the wire from the kiln controller attaches).  I've had to tighten up the screws twice; when they get loose the unit acts goofy.

Scott

[Kelvin]

Thanks scott,
I'll check the wiring first for sure.  The compressor won't kick on at all, so i'm thinking we'll try bypass and put power to it to see if it comes on.  There are a couple of switches in between that stop it from running.  I'm gong to call nyle to see what to look for as well. 
Kelvin

[Jason_WI]

Compressors do go bad. We had to replace the can on our bulk tank cooler 2 times in the 20+ years we had it . They usually short out and pop the breaker though. Check between both hot wires and ground with an ohm meter with the POWER OFF and DISCONNECTED. The hot wires to the can should not be shorted to ground. I think a new can is something like $700 depending on size and more $$$ to install. If there is a contactor that turns on the compressor make sure that the contact are not burnt black. If they are replace the contactor. If you do have to replace the can try to switch over to one of the new refridgerents if possible. Nyle should have upgrade information available.

Jason

[Kelvin]

Thanks for ideas,
There actually is an overpressure switch on the high pressure lines that is manual reset.  This was popped and now the compressor runs, but still no cooling.  Its got plenty of freon, but i'll have to check with nyle again to see about what to do next.  Thought guys might want to know about this over pressure switch.  Not very hand to get at, they might have put a sticker on the unit that said "if you compressor fails to start open here and check over pressure switch" or something.
Thanks
kelvin