How to prevent sealed flushing steam from entering the bearing housing?
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To increase the operating time of the mechanical seal, steam flushing at 62 pressure is applied to it; however, water has been found to seep into the bearing box. Do anyone have any good methods to prevent this from happening?
Control the pressure at 62; the bearing caps use IP68-rated bearing isolators
No pressure gauge is installed, so one can only judge by feeling the temperature and things like that
Are there specific control values for pressure?
You can modify this design by replacing steam with hot water. If you have a deaerator and a pump connected to the steam drum, you can make the necessary changes: add a pipe at the pump outlet and use hot water as the quenching medium. It’s not good to use steam for cooling and then release it directly into the air, as this makes it difficult to control and prevents the coolant from reaching the bearing housing. Personally, I think hot water is a better option. I modified our original setup to use hot water, with a continuous flow of a small amount of hot water, and it has been working fine for over 4 years without any problems
The pressure of the steam in the pipeline can be reduced through valve control. However, pumps generally require a very low temperature, around 100 degrees at most. It’s not necessary to install a temperature-reducing pressure regulator just for flushing at 62 degrees. What about winter? When steam is present, it spreads everywhere, and the pump bases and the floor are prone to freezing.
What general steam pressure level should be maintained to prevent leakage into the bearing box?
Apply compressed air at the bearing seal and blow in the opposite direction
A gas disperser can be installed between the bearing housing oil seal and the sealing gland to prevent steam from rushing directly axially toward the oil seal.
Generally, a pressure of a few kilopascals is sufficient for the 62 system; a pressure gauge can be used to determine the pressure. If such a gauge is not available, the pressure can be assessed based on the amount of steam condensate – the condensate should flow downward in a linear pattern, with slight vapor present at the top