Q400
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Aircraft
We departed ZZZ with all operations normal. As we continued our climb we had a master warning CABIN PRESS at FL230 and leveled off at FL232. We verified the cabin altitude which read 10;000 and decided to don our masks. We notified ATC immediately that we needed a descent to 10;000 so we started down. We pulled out the immediate action card checklist and the checklist stated is the aircraft above FL180 or is rapid descent required; we had a discussion that our cabin was partially pressurized and slowly changing and our flight attendants and passengers had already started a service so a rapid descent would have had a high risk for injury; so we continued a descent at 2000 fpm. We divided up tasks and one person flew and talked with ATC while the other ran checklists and spoke with maintenance; dispatch; and the flight attendants (we verified if any doors were squealing and if anything was abnormal they said everything was fine). We continued our descent and ran the pressurization fail checklist; which did not allow us to pressurize the aircraft. As we passed through 15;000 ft we decided to take our masks off to continue our checklist and verified that the cabin altitude only reached a max altitude of 12;500. We finished with the unpressurized flight checklist and continued our flight at 10;000 ft with normal operations.Every passenger received a comment card which they were not notified of the situation because the flight flew as if it were a normal flight. There should have been some communication with the ground agent before they came up and asked if all the masks had dropped and if everyone was ok.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
Q400 flight crew reported during climb they received a 'CABIN PRESS' warning.