Mechanical Installation Issues

From Imrtwiki

Some examples were given where pump mechanical seals did not achieve reasonable life (at least 2 to 3 years). Site installation issues were given as the cause of some previous short seal life with some Delta Electricity Feed Pumps with high fluid temperature. As the seals had to be set up on-site some very minor installation variations by tradesmen (with the best of intensions) was enough to cause very short life. Shaft end float relative to the seal was found to be most critical as a small variation could easily overload or underload the seal. Also mechanical seals can be easily knocked and damaged during installation. In the Delta Electricity example they had the seal supplier add extra setup tabs in the seal to make the seal less flimsy for installation. The suggestion from the Delta attendee was for applications that require site installation of shaft/seal assemblies, to use Cartridge type seals as the installation is much quicker and there is much less risk of installation problems.

Poor alignment of seal is a key cause of poor seal life.