If your pump has to deal with pressure drops or spikes, the wearing process will increase. The movement of the shaft will cause vibrations, which consequences we have discussed at the previous point for pump seal leaking. If the bearings are worn out, it causes the shaft to swing. If your pump has to deal with heavy-duty conditions (like dredge pumps), make sure your seal can handle above-average axial and radial play!Īs the shaft rotates, the bearings also have to deal with wear due to friction. Improper alignment, operating conditions or working past the pumps best efficiency point (BEP) can give too much vibration and reduce the seal’s lifetime. This leads to incorrect alignment and more leakage of fluids. Too much shocks and vibrations can cause large axial and radial play of the shaft. Most dry running failures happen by restarting the pump after maintenance. Even a few seconds of dry running can cause heat cracks or blisters, which leads to a leaking pump shaft seal. The seal will burn or melt and become damaged, which causes fluid leakage due to the pressure. If there are no fluids available to lubricate, the seal runs dry which causes extra friction and heat. You can monitor the seal’s condition manually (with a bucket and stopwatch) or with a digital flow meter.Ī pump seal normally needs fluids to lubricate the materials around shaft. By monitoring the drain flow of the Liquidyne, you can minimise the risk of sudden pump failure and optimise mean time between maintenance (MTBM). You want your seal to last as long as possible and to replace it as late as possible. The biggest challenge is to know when the seal has worn down and it’s time to plan maintenance. The seal wears slower and has a longer lifetime when the material has less friction on the shaft. The materials from all shaft seals ( gland packing, mechanical or Liquidyne®) always start to wear down because of the friction. It doesn’t matter which kind of seal your pump uses, there is usually contact (friction) between the shaft and seal. Wear down of the seal materialĪ pump shaft is always sealed with materials around the shaft. The 5 most common reasons for a leaking pump shaft seal 1. That’s why you want a reliable pump seal, which ensures optimal operation hours and keeps going. Pump seal failure leads to loss of fluids and a dangerous working environment due to leakage. The amount of leaking fluids is among other things determined by the pressure, wear, size, friction and rotating speed of the pump. Seal failure is defined as excessive leakage of fluids. The pump shaft seal allows the rotating shaft to enter the ‘wet’ area of the pump without leaking fluids.Įvery pump shaft seal has a minimal (acceptable) consumption of fluids. Due to the discharge pressure, the fluid attempts to exit through the rotating shaft. As the impeller rotates, the vanes fill with fluid and are forced out of the pump housing through the discharge nozzle. Fluids enter your pump through the suction nozzle at the centre of a rotating impeller. To refresh your mind, what exactly is a pump shaft seal? A pump shaft seal works on the rotating pump shaft where it passes through the non-rotating housing parts. In this blog we discuss the five most common reasons that cause a pump seal to leak. Pump shaft seal failure and leakage is one of the most common reasons for pump downtime.
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