Pump Seals
Pump Seals.Net
A Division of Steadman & Associates,
Inc.
Seal Materials
Pump Seal Repairs
| Can the seal be rebuilt? One of the mysteries associated with pump seal repair is "When is my mechanical seal suitable for repair?" Often times the seal looks good to the naked eye, but when it gets to a repair center the comment comes back "This seal is non-repairable." How do you know if your pump seal is repairable or not? Obvious catastrophic damage to the seal such as a broken sleeve or an extremely eroded gland would indicate that you may have significant problems that would prevent a repair. If you have more pieces of the seal come out of the pump than went in would indicate a non-repairable situation. The best thing to do is have a trained pump seal specialist evaluate the seal. Even a seal that looks hopeless externally can sometimes be brought back to new condition for relatively little money. All pump seals function basically the same way. Two mating faces contact each other forming a seal at the mating surface. Usually one surface is made of a soft material such as carbon and the other surface is made from a hard material such as silicon carbide. A series of O-rings or other sealing materials form seals on the shaft and gland area. Everything is held in the stuffing box by a gland of some sort. Depending on the design of the pump seal, everything may be mounted on a sleeve and cartridge mounted to incorporate the gland into the seal itself. |
What is involved in a proper rebuild The most important thing to do first is choose a company that has a good reputation for quality repairs and ethical business practices. There are many companies today that claim to bring seals "up to the original equipment manufacturer's standards," but they use inferior materials that result in shorter product life and in some cases, cause serious damage to the pumping equipment. Research carefully the facility doing the repairs to ensure that it has the latest manufacturing and testing equipment. On-site engineering capabilities and tools, such as finite element analysis, lead to better overall repair companies. If the company you choose is sending the seal components to outside sources to be refurbished, audit the sources to ensure you are getting a quality repair. Often, the best source for repairs is a company that does everything in-house including manufacturing, assembly, and testing. This ensure that you have product integrity throughout the process. The first step in repairing any pump seal is documenting the seal properly--where it came from, the service it is in, and any other comments that may have come from the user company. The next step is to disassemble and clean the seal completely for inspection. After the seal has been inspected a list of components necessary for rebuild can be created. |
Reprint from May 1997 Plant services
Repairs can be sent to:
Our Address is:
American Seal & Packing
10661 Ellis Ave.
Fountain Valley, CA. 92708
We look forward to being of service to you.
Call us at: 714-593-9780 Fax: 714-593-9701
If you have any questions please contact us at: E-mail about your pump seals applications