A major oil refinery in South Africa had an unreliable mechanical seal on a cooler water pump. Despite competitors trying a number of different seal support system configurations, the seal was failing approximately every 6 to 9 months. This was as a result of dry running, causing vaporisation, damaged elastomers, seal face wear and pump bearing failure as a result of heat transfer.
AESSSEAL® installed a CAPI A type 23 mechanical seal along with an API Plan 23 seal support system, utilising a double Python cooler. The new solution eliminated the need for frequent maintenance and has been operating for over 54 months. Subsequently the customer upgraded eight similar pumps on the plant.
“With the good performance of the seal and python cooler as a combined solution, we could afford to do the upgrades on the 8 units from our maintenance budget in 2 years. The pump bearing temperatures drop with about 20⁰C and run @ 65-80⁰C”
Mechanical Rotating Equipment Group Leader
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