Sullair machines have worn several controllers over the years, and identifying yours is step one. Current stationary machines, the LS-series and related packages from the late 2010s on, carry the 10-inch Sullair Touch Screen (STS). The WS controller, a text-display unit on mid-range shop and light-industrial packages from the 2010s, and the older Supervisor on large-frame industrial machines ran the generations before it. On variable-speed Supervisor-era packages the Supervisor also relays numbered faults from the drive itself (Drive Fault 14, Drive Fault 9, VSD Code 51). Smaller ShopTek ST-series machines for garages and light manufacturing use their own compact ShopTek panel.
How to read the display. Sullair's fault language is mostly plain text and consistent across controllers: HIGH DISCH TEMP, MOTOR OVERLOAD, PR XDCR FAULT, High Separator dP. The Supervisor is the exception, reporting by channel: temperatures are T1 to T5, pressures P1 to P4, differential pressure dP1, so a fault reads "T2 Discharge High" rather than a name. On every controller a warning keeps the machine running and a fault shuts it down until reset (from the STOP key on the WS, after the unit has cooled). The thresholds barely move between generations: discharge temperature warns around 225 °F and faults at 235 °F delayed or 255 °F immediate, the separator differential warns around 10 psid, and the manuals document a 105 °F ambient limit. On the STS, photograph the fault screen and the Recommended Service page before clearing anything; the service-hour counters usually point straight at the consumable that caused the trip. On the ShopTek, learn which messages are reminders (A-O SEPARATOR is a service interval, not a failure) and which are trips.
The summer pattern. That 105 °F ambient limit is the punchline of most Sullair service calls: high-temperature trips in July are usually the room and the cooler, not the machine. Cooler cleaning, ventilation and fluid level are operator checks. Sump pressure faults, drive cabinets and anything pressurised are where the right move is to stop and call. One more: if the WS auto-restart timer is configured the machine can start by itself after a Power Interruption, so make sure nobody is working near it.
The tables below list every documented fault by controller. Each links to its own page with the meaning, the machines that show it, the likely causes, what your own crew can safely check, and when to call. Each page cites the Sullair manual it was verified against.
Five Sullair codes to know first
- High Temperature 1 / 2 / 3 (Sullair Touch Screen (STS)): High compressor temperature trip.
- High Separator dP (Sullair Touch Screen (STS)): High pressure drop across air/fluid separator.
- Main Motor Overload (Sullair Touch Screen (STS)): Main drive motor overload trip.
- HIGH DISCH TEMP (Sullair ShopTek Controller): High discharge temperature warning/trip.
- Drive Fault 14 (Over-temperature) (Sullair Supervisor Controller (VSD drive faults)): VSD heatsink over-temperature.