Maintenance engineers and mechanical seal specialists know that one of the most frequent causes of industrial plant downtime is the breakdown of the mechanical seal on a pump, agitator or other machine with rotating shaft.
Experts acknowledge that the cause of the failure and its troubleshooting can be tricky, and it is often traced back to things that are not strictly related to the construction, choice or design of the mechanical seal, but to external events connected to the machine or plant itself. Failure analysis can help us understand the cause, put remedies in place and avoid the cost of unscheduled downtime and maintenance.
The table below shows the main reasons for mechanical seal failure. Except for Incorrect selection of secondary seals or wrong installation, the main reason for failure is THE ABSENCE OF LIQUID FILM BETWEEN THE SEAL’S SURFACES WHICH CAN BE CAUSED BY A SERIES OF DIFFERENT REASONS.
