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Mechanical Seal Troubleshooting Guide
Mechanical Seal Troubleshooting Guide
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In the Troubleshooting Procedure section, we attempt to help you find the primary
cause of why the mechanical seal has failed. We discuss how to use the evidence
of the failed seal to establish what was, or still is, happening inside the pump or seal
area.
The analysis of the seal failure will enable us to put forward our recommendations for
successfully sealing the pump.
TROUBLESHOOTING PROCEDURES
FIRST:
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THEN, Compare:
Proper Wear Track. The pattern on the wide face will be equal to the
width of the narrow seal face. When this occurs, the cause of leakage is
unlikely to be seal related. The wear pattern should be concentric with the
inner diameters.
Narrow Wear Track. When the wear track is narrower than the thinnest
width face, this means the seal has been over pressurized and has bowed
away from the pressure. This bowing causes the seal to seal only on a
portion of the face width. This is from improper design and the seal must be
changed to a higher pressure, more rugged design.
No Wear Track. This usually means that both of the seal faces are
rotating with each other. Check that the drive mechanism or anti rotation
devices are working correctly.
Wide Wear Track. The wear pattern is wider than the narrow face. This
pattern indicates that opening of the faces has allowed excessive film
between the faces. This can be caused by a cocked stationary face, pump
misalignment, pipe strain, or pump cavitation. The pump misalignment or
vibration can cause the rotary seal to move back and hang up on the shaft.
The most practical solution to this is realignment of the pump. A wide wear
pattern is also symptomatic of excessive shaft motion.
Uneven Wear Track. This is an uneven wear pattern that rotates off of
the entire wide face at two points. The most probable cause of this is poor
pump shaft-drive motor alignment.
Cracked Hard Face. There are two main causes for cracking. Ceramic
seals can crack due to thermal shock (changing temperatures rapidly across
the ceramic seal face. If as stream of water hits a face, such as ceramic, that
is running hot, it will cause it to fracture.). The second cause of cracking is
mechanical shock, which can occur if the face is distorted by dropping or
hitting of the seal.
Flaking and Peeling. This occurs primarily when a hard face is plated
with a material. A good example is the Chrome Oxide plated Stainless
rotating seals used by Fristam. Other OEMs also plate stainless steel faces
with a hard planning of satellite, ceramic, tungsten carbide, or a variety of
other materials. Flaking is usually a sign of either a defective coating, or
chemical attack at the bond between the base metal and the plating material.
The attack may be aggravated by heat generated at the seal face. Switching
to a solid face material will solve this problem. FLOWTREND only uses
solid face materials.
Other:
Seal Drive Problems: Most seal designs use some way to transmit
torque from the shaft to the rotary seal face. Quite often it is done with pins,
set screw, o-rings, or some other form. To check for this clue, you must first
determine for your particular seal where the drive junction is located. Seals
are usually loose in torsion, that is, outside the pump, you can twist them
slightly before they engage. You are looking for signs of wear at the pin,
screw, etc.
Slip Stick: If the two faces stick together the drive ring will lodad up
with high stress. This is then transferred back to the face causing it to
accelerate and then stick again. Instead of a smooth rotary motion, the face
is being beaten around in its circular path. Slip stick is caused by a lack of
face lubrication. This can be caused by a variety of problems. You must
look at the other clues to determine the most likely. Lack of face lubrication
can be caused by:
- Installing the seal at the wrong working length.
- Too much pressure acting on the face, i.e. using an unbalanced seal
where a balanced seal should be used.
- The fluid being sealed has poor lubricating properties.
- The face combination is bad. Using faces for their chemical
resistance without regard for their ability run as a seal face.
- Pump cavitation.