HEINZ P.
BLOCH, RELIABILITY/EQUIPMENT EDITOR
Reliability
Update your pump and mechanical seal
specifications
A professionally presented course in
pump fundamentals caught our eye re-
cently. The presenter’s explanations of
basic pump design and construction, oper-
ation and design fundamentals were flaw-
less, and he used superior animations and
illustrations. The latter would have been
helpful in the now 38-yr-old Improving Ma-
chinery Reliability,1 and several more recent
books on pump reliability improvements.
However, we realized that even a rela-
tively recent course in basic construction
and design of centrifugal pumps can miss
out on teaching the details of improve-
ments or upgrades that are routinely re-
quested by best-in-class user companies.
Common sense tells us that unless pump
repair or upgrade shops have acquired that
knowledge, they cannot convey it to the
reliability-focused user. This is why users
need to consider putting upgrade mea-
sures into their repair specifications and
give the repair or rebuild shop notice that
the purchaser’s clauses X, Y and Z are im-
provements for which the repair contrac-
tor or shop will be compensated, and that
the pump’s owner/operator will insist on
a competent pump shop carrying out the
specified upgrades.
Here, then, are some seal-related “hid-
den facts” that are known but seem to
remain under-reported. Facilities that
pursue reliability upgrades count these ex-
amples among the many lessons learned in
the 1980s. They contributed to certain top
user companies becoming known as best-
in-class performers.
Cyclone separators. These funnel-
shaped devices are rather ineffective in
removing solid contaminants from me-
chanical seal flush fluids. It is generally
known that cyclone separators will only
remove particles with specific gravities
greater than 2.7. They may do little to
clean up small particles that cause abra-
sion or degrade O-rings. Closed-loop
Heinz.Bloch@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
FIG. 1. Cartridge-style dual mechanical seal
with bellows that may need to flex with every
shaft revolution. Source: AESSEAL Inc.
flush plans are much preferred by best-in-
class companies.
Bearing housing protector seals. An
article in the November 2020 issue of this
publication explained why at least one
large, multi-national petrochemical and
refining corporation would not install
bearing protector seal styles with radially
outward-flung O-rings. That corpora-
tion’s reliability professionals knew that
such O-rings could seriously degrade if
they contacted an opposing sharp-edged
O-ring groove.
While the bearing protector seals at
issue were an improvement over lip seals
40 yr ago, they no longer represent state-
of-the-art products. Today, best-in-class
companies will only use designs with
axially or diagonally moving O-rings. The
O-rings are located opposite large areas
of contact. The latter designs were found
highly reliable years ago, and References 2
and 32,3 contain much useful information
on these and other upgrades.
Stationary vs. rotating face mechani-
cal seals. Relatively few pump shafts de-
flect as much as the API-allowable 0.002
in. (0.05 mm), but shaft deflection does oc-
cur. If the mechanical seal depicted in FIG.
1 is used, its spring-loaded rotating face will
move back and forth once per shaft revolu-
tion. For a 3,600-rpm pump, that would be
close to 2 B shaft revolutions per year.
FIG. 2. Cartridge-style dual mechanical seal
with bellows that may need to flex only once
per pump start. Note the advantageous
bi-directional tapered pumping impeller in this
modern seal. Source: AESSEAL Inc.
In contrast, the flexing parts of the two
mechanical seals in FIG. 2, albeit spring-
loaded, are attached to the stationary hous-
ing bore or seal cavity. Upon starting the
pump and with the pump shaft deflecting
slightly, the spring-loaded stationary seal
faces will accommodate the new situation.
Half of their springs will be compressed
by a small amount, and the other half will
extend (stretch) by the same amount. No
back-and-forth movement will occur.2
Water management seal systems.
For businesses striving to achieve restor-
ative and sustainable practices that har-
monize with regulatory compliance, seal
upgrading is a baseline requirement. Many
reach the combined goals of not only sav-
ing water—a precious resource—but
also capturing significant savings through
maintenance cost avoidance. The cost-to-
benefit ratio of seal upgrading must be as-
sessed before moving in the dual-goal di-
rection. Accordingly, competent business
leaders make these assessments while also
factoring in well-thought-out projections
of changing demands and anticipated mar-
ketplace requirements. For some potential
Hydrocarbon Processing | OCTOBER 2021 13
 Reliability

users of highly successful water manage-
ment systems, project implementation will
prove challenging; however, competent
seal manufacturers have data describing
projects that resulted in high benefits in
both competitive and sustainable returns.
Many of these experienced seal providers
will assist users in a variety of ways. Assis-
tance can include well-supported bench-
marking and highly detailed cost justifica-
tions. Experience shows that competent
providers have facilitated maintaining the
needed focus by submitting data on the
merits of water management seals in large-
scale beverage producing, paper manufac-
turing and mineral mining companies.
Again, pump users and purchasers
will not obtain these betterments unless
they spell out the needed improvements
in a definitive inquiry and follow up with
a legally binding purchase specification.
Reliability-focused buyers may find it nec-
essary to put repair shops on notice that
waivers will not be issued, and that the job
simply may not be awarded to them. The
potential bidder will get the message if the
entity issuing the inquiry specification
stands firm. Needless to say: Pump users
will not obtain different results if vendors
continue to do in the future what they
always did in the past. A user-purchaser
who still accepts cyclone separators and,
if avoidable, mechanical seals with spring-
loaded rotary faces will have difficulty
joining the ranks of best-in-class perform-
ers.4 Regrettably, an indifferent owner-
purchaser may keep the below-par sup-
plier in the “business-as-usual business.”
Recommendations. To summarize, be-
coming informed and specifying updated
components whenever these exist will al-
low us to avoid suppliers that earn their
living by catering to the uninformed and
unconcerned. In contrast, pump users
will reap sizeable dividends if they seek
out and develop a mutually beneficial
business relationship with above-average
technical people. Above-average techni-
cal people do not merely voice opinions.
They are well-informed readers who rely
on well-informed tutors to bring them
facts about best-available products. To
bring you facts, the tutor must be a will-
ing reader who steers clear of advocating
practices that best-in-class companies
have avoided for decades.
LITERATURE CITED
1 Bloch, H. P., Improving Machinery Reliability, Gulf
Publishing Company, Houston, Texas, 1982.
2 Perez, R. X. and H. P. Bloch, Pump Wisdom:
Essential Centrifugal Pump Knowledge for Operators
and Specialists, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New
Jersey, 2021.
3 Bloch, H. P., Optimized Equipment Lubrication:
Conventional Lubrication, Oil Mist Technology,
and Full Standby Protection, DeGruyter, Berlin,
Germany, 2021.
4 Bloch, H. P., Petrochemical Machinery Insights,
Elsevier Publishing, Oxford, UK and Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 2017.
HEINZ P. BLOCH resides in
Montgomery, Texas. His professional
career commenced in 1962 and
included long-term assignments
as Exxon Chemical’s Regional
Machinery Specialist for the U.S.
He has authored or co-written over
780 publications, among them 24 comprehensive
books on practical machinery management, failure
analysis, failure avoidance, compressors, steam
turbines, pumps, oil mist lubrication and optimized
lubrication for industry. Mr. Bloch holds BS and MS
degrees (cum laude) in mechanical engineering.
He is an ASME Life Fellow and was awarded lifetime
registration as a Professional Engineer in New Jersey.

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