Few Reasons Why Mechanical Seal Fail In Sanitary Pumps

Every sanitary pump that you buy from the market will have a mechanical seal. This seal is meant to keep dirt outside. One of the major causes of failure of pump is due to mechanical seal problem. Sometime it is difficult to identify the actual reason, why the seal failed.

Here in this article we shall talk about few possible reasons of such mechanical seal failure in the pump.

• Lubrication failure

One of the major causes of mechanical seal failure has been identified to be because of lubrication failure. Since the mechanical seals usually are of hard material, so during the pumping operation process good lubrication is needed for seal protection. If there is no presence of liquid in the pump then seal is surely going to fail because the temperature gets higher due to dry run. Therefore little liquid present cannot perform its role of a good lubricator. This will create more friction and further heat will be generated and cause failure of seal.

Therefore, during sanitary replacements parts, make sure that seal is used with a flush. Flush fluids are usually compatible with the product and it will help in increasing lifespan of seal.

• Contamination

This is another problem that leads to failure of seal. Most of these pumps are subjected to lots of swings in pressure, temperature and velocity. This constant change may create more sedimentation near the seal gaps and after sometime it may get solidified on the surface of seal. Due to this reason sealing gap tends to increase. This will lead to leaking and in due course of time lots of contamination will get accumulated on seal surface.

Here too, the solution is to use the seal with flush. This will not only help in lubrication but also help to remain clean and prevent any gap.

• Physical or chemical degradation

This is another common source of problem in seal. In case you are using the pump for any abrasive product then you must choose compatible seal material too. When the wearing out of seal takes place the original smooth surface of seal tend to become rough, which result in leaking. Besides that, elastomers used must also be compatible. If the elastomer swells or fails then it will also compromise with chamber of seal and cause failure.

In addition to above, vibration of the pump, operator error can also cause failure of mechanical seal in any sanitary pump.