Started my new job and first day found myself helping the shop lead remove and rebuild a pump out of a truck. The pump was leaking according to the operator. Upon removal of the outboard bearing cap housing we found water had made it past the seal and ruined the bearing on the discharge side. The pump relies on packing to seal water inside the pump rather than a mechanical seal. The problem was that the packing inside of the stuffing box had overheated and become a solid black mass allowing water to seep by. We replaced the stuffing box and installed new gaskets and o-rings.
The advantages to using packing vs a mechanical seal is that packing is more user friendly and are more robust against hard use. Mechanical seals a very sensitive and can be damaged very easily while installing them in addition to being more at risk to wear and tear by untrained operators.
Fire Truck!
Pump Compartment (Half of pump removed)
Stuffing Box
Hours: 30
Running Total: 222
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