Split Seals In Water Pumps Case Study

A large municipal water treatment facility was upgrading pumps for processing both raw water and finished water. The bid included eight new pumps and split seals. The contract was awarded to a pump and seal manufacturer.

Four finished water pumps (130 psig) and four raw water pumps (75 psig) were installed with their split seals. Upon start up, all eight split seals were leaking, varying from heavy dripping to spraying that needed to be contained with sheeting. The pump manufacturer worked on eliminating the problem for two months and was unsuccessful in their attempts. These were new pumps and new seals.

The plant needed to resolve the leakage problem and called Chesterton.