Mechanical Seal Application - A User's Viewpoint

TutorialPg. 171-185.The purpose of this paper is to present some user guidelines for the selection, operation, and maintenance of mechanical end face seals in chemical, petrochemical, and petroleum operations. Though the exact seal requirements for a similar service may differ between the authors, we are all looking for a means of improving our mechanical seal reliability. For the majority of services, there are several seal vendors and installation schemes that will work equally well for that service, while for certain services, only one seal vendor may excel with a limited installation scheme variation. The reasons that a particular plant uses a certain seal for their general plant service relates more to the local service representative, parts availability, materials offered, seal arrangement or seal type. Conversely, your plant should not be stuck in the dilemma that the plant preferred seal has to fit all applications because of spare parts of “maintenance know-how to work with this seal.” Every seal design has strong and weak design points. Learn what they are and know how to best apply and maintain your plant seals