Causes of packing leakage in reciprocating compressors
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Reasons for packing leakage in reciprocating compressors: 1) Excessive wear of the piston rod, resulting in a smaller size. (2) The piston rod has a high degree of ellipticity. (3) The piston rod has large runout. (4) The spring fails, and the packing disintegrates. (5) The axial gap of the packing is small, and the packing expands due to heat. (6) Excessive wear of the packing, with no self-tightening compensation effect. What else? Has anyone seen it? If so, could those who have seen it share their experience?
One more thing: the rubber seal is damaged.
The original poster is absolutely right; our factory’s compressors have encountered this problem recently. All the signs point to it being the sixth situation mentioned by the original poster :)
One more thing to add: the quality of filler production and the quality of filler assembly
Let me add a few more points: 1. The cooling effect of the packing box is poor, resulting in extremely high temperatures of the packing, which leads to leakage. 2. The piston support ring (guide belt) fails, causing the piston rod to sink, and this in turn leads to failure of the packing gland. 3. If oil does not reach the packing or the cylinder’s oil injection points, the surface temperature of the piston rod becomes extremely high, again causing the packing to fail and lead to leakage. 4. A failure of the seal gasket between the packing gland and the cylinder (usually an aluminum gasket) can also result in internal or external leakage of the packing (external leakage usually occurs at the end of the piston rod)
Personal opinion: Leaks in the packing are usually caused by problems with the packing itself or its installation. The packing should be installed in layers, with each layer separated by an angle of 45 degrees. If the installation is correct, then the issue lies in the choice of packing
That’s the current situation at our factory. We have just switched to a product from another manufacturer, and the issue is that the inner diameter of the packing is incorrect, which results in poor sealing. The oil-scraping ring on the piston rod is not able to handle the oil properly, leading to mixing of the material with the oil and subsequent solidification, which affects its performance
Possible reasons for excessive air leakage in the stuffing box are: 1. Insufficient oil flow； 2. The assembly sequence of the fillers is unreasonable ； 3. Poor fitting of the filler ； 4. There are scratches on the surface of the piston rod ； 5. Poor phase mixing of the filler ； 6. The filler is not tightened properly ； 7. The piston rod does not move in parallel ； 8. The filler is not tightly secured.
If the packing box does not fit properly with the end face of the housing, air leakage will occur regardless of the quality of the packing.
Remove your piston rods and check to see if they are bent. The gaskets might cause leaks when first installed, but this will improve after some running-in time; they aren’t at their best performance right away – it takes about 2 weeks before they function properly