Equipment Failure: Mechanical Seal Basics

Modern pump systems are moving more and more away from traditional pump packing, and more towards mechanical seals.  There are many advantages to using a mechanical seal instead of pump packing.  However, using these seals brings along some additional potential problems.

Before we can look at these additional issues, we first need to make sure we understand exactly what we mean by a “mechanical seal.”  Here is a quick refresher on how these seals work.  Next week, we’ll look a little more deeply into the advantages and disadvantages of these systems.