Why don’t my PTFE gaskets seal FRP, plastic and other light load flanges?
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Top Seals Articles
Find a reliable dry gas seal system for any application.
First of Six Parts
Follow the major developments in seal technology
This month's "Sealing Sense" was prepared by FSA member Larry Sheffield.
Proper safety precautions for selecting, installing and maintaining seal systems
These recommendations do not take into account any special problem conditions that the pump may be experiencing as a result of its relationship with the system. These must be evaluated and considered separately. However, it will be found that, on many of these occasions, one or more of the recommended upgrades are likely to form a part of the overall solution.
Many factors must be considered when selecting a sealing system for the various types of slurry services. Most important are the properties of the slurry itself and how those properties may change in service and affect seal performance.
When seal designs are applied to abrasive slurry applications that properly address the five design considerations noted above, mechanical seals can provide very reliable sealing performance.
Seals are a commodity to some users, but seals are the most critical element of the system for other users. If a $2 seal fails and causes $500,000 in repairs and/or warranty costs, it emphasizes how important that seal is to the system and its true cost.
Latest Seals Articles
Why don’t my PTFE gaskets seal FRP, plastic and other light load flanges?
Find a reliable dry gas seal system for any application.
First of Six Parts
Follow the major developments in seal technology
This month's "Sealing Sense" was prepared by FSA member Larry Sheffield.
Proper safety precautions for selecting, installing and maintaining seal systems
The conformability, flexibility and wide range of material combinations and designs enable packing to seal many difficult, unconventional applications. These capabilities, coupled with other packing systems components, can provide effective sealing solutions that reduce the consumption of valuable water and energy resources.
As we learned last month, carbon/graphite fiber packings have proven to be effective solutions to many common sealing applications. This time, we have learned that flexible graphite packings appear to have become the packings of choice when sealing fugitive emissions, high heat media, and rotating equipment with limited cooling or flush available.
ePTFE /Graphite packing tolerates a wide range of service conditions and has the capabilities inherent in PTFE while overcoming limitations of low thermal conductivity. These characteristics of ePTFE enable standardization of packing to simplify operations and improve productivity in many cases.
The oil and gas market has remained remarkably stable recently, bolstered by the high price of oil and strong worldwide demand. With refining capacity finite and political unrest in major oil producing countries such as Venezuela, Angola and Iran, the price may rise even higher.
Gasket stress is a term commonly used to describe the unit load on its surface. It is one of the most important parameters of a bolted joint because it directly impacts the ability of the gasket to seal.
Columns and Blogs
In this multi-part series, we will investigate several aspects of centrifugal pump efficiency.
First of Five Parts
Since the original publication of this draft standard in the January 2008 issue of Pumps & Systems, I have received feedback, encouragement, numerous questions and criticism. The draft listed three basic levels of repair.
The McGraw-Hill scientific dictionary [5] states that a volute is "a spiral casing for a centrifugal pump... designed so that speed will be converted to pressure."
