Dry gas seal
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This post was last edited by yxmqh on 2009-10-13 at 10:12. In the case of large-scale units equipped with dry gas seals that remain shut down for extended periods without the use of seal gas for protection, what damage may occur to those seals?
If some lubricant gets in, there is basically no damage.
There’s basically no damage. However, it is necessary to prevent lubricant from leaking in; if a large amount does leak in, the dry gas seal may fail, and in that case the dry gas seal has to be removed and cleaned, which involves a lot of work.
The operating environment for dry gas seals is very demanding; the sealing gas must be clean and dry. If isolation gas is not used to protect the seal during the shutdown period, it’s fine as long as the oil pump is not turned on; however, if oil has flowed through during that time, it must be checked before restarting the machine. Otherwise, the dry gas seal can be easily damaged.