Mechanical Seal Support Systems: Improve Reliability and Reduce Leak Points
Mechanical seal failures can lead to costly downtime, maintenance challenges, and safety concerns across critical operations. Swagelok® Mechanical Seal Support Systems are designed to help address these challenges by improving reliability, reducing potential leak points, and simplifying installation. Available as complete assemblies or convenient kits, these solutions leverage innovative fluid system design to minimize threaded connections where leaks commonly occur. Features such as integrated components, streamlined connection points, and maintenance-focused designs help reduce auditing and repair time while supporting safer operation. Backed by more than 70 years of fluid system expertise, Swagelok delivers practical solutions that help plants operate more efficiently and confidently.
Video Transcript
Swagelok is a fluid system company. We don’t make pumps, and we don’t make mechanical seals, but what we are experts in is fluid systems themselves. We have more than 70 years of experience in fluid systems, and we’re bringing that expertise to a new area.
If customers have a seal that goes down and their pump has to be shut down, for example, that can shut their whole process down, which is obviously a really, really huge cost to the customer.
From listening to our customers, one of the things they mentioned was that the elimination of leak points was critical.
Reducing the number of leak points on a seal support system not only increases the reliability of the system, but also reduces the time necessary to audit those connections.
Based on their feedback, we developed several products to address their specific needs. The extended male connector eliminated multiple possible leak points. This simple fitting allows for a one-piece transition from the connection at the mechanical seal, out past the shroud, to the tubing system.
Orifices are common installations in flush plans, and our customers needed an easy way to go from a flange to tubing with one piece. So we developed the flange adapter, but we also took the extra step to add the orifice into the flange itself, thereby preventing the need for another connection or gasket for an orifice plate.
The installation of thermometers can be an issue. Orienting the right pipe fittings for a long-stem thermometer can cause extra connections and lead to a bulky assembly. The Swagelok thermowell tee is small and compact and is welded at the factory to eliminate a potential leak point. This lightweight assembly makes installing thermometers and measurement devices a breeze.
When we were designing the seal support systems, we wanted to keep a number of things in mind. At the top of that list was maintainability. For example, wherever possible, we used U-shaped tubes, allowing components to be removed from the system without too much trouble. Other examples include bypass lines on filters, so that when the element needs to be cleaned out or replaced, the flow can be diverted around the filter without actually stopping the flow through the system.
An approach we’ve taken to seal support systems is offering customers not just the seal support systems, such as a seal pot on a stand, but also a connection kit. Seal support kits reduce installation errors and the potential for rework, which can be really costly for a customer.
Having these kits and seal support systems available with just a single part number allows for ease of ordering and ease of maintainability within the customer’s business systems.
Critical spares, such as fittings as well as whole seal support systems, can be stocked locally, so when the plant needs them, they can have them right away.
We wanted to make sure that if and when a component needed to be maintained or replaced, it would be easy for the maintenance crew to do so. For example, all of the gauges include single block-and-bleed manifolds, which allow those gauges to be removed or calibrated in place while the system is still operating.
What’s different about Swagelok is that we are actually manufacturers of a great deal of the parts that are going into these systems.
The great thing about Swagelok is that we are global, but we are also local. All over the world, no matter how remote the location, there are Swagelok sales and service centers that can configure and build these systems.
