Oil breather blockage and oil leakage through the seal
Oil breather blockage and oil leakage through the seal
(OP)
Hi, lately, we at our company are having quite a lot of oil leakages in centrifugal pumps with deflector seals. Someone suggested that the reason of oil leakage through a deflector type seal or a bearing isolator could be a blocked oil breather. Is this true and how would a blocked breather on a bearing housing cause oil to leak through the end seals? Thanks





RE: Oil breather blockage and oil leakage through the seal
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(2B)+(2B)' ?
RE: Oil breather blockage and oil leakage through the seal
RE: Oil breather blockage and oil leakage through the seal
Johnny Pellin
RE: Oil breather blockage and oil leakage through the seal
On the right is the bearing compartment. On the left is the oiler. You'll notice the oiler has an upper chamber (bulb) and a lower chamber (cup). What is depicted is a slant-cut vertical tube coming from bulb down to cup. The bulb is sealed except for that tube. The cup is (generally) vented to atmosphere.
INTERACTION BETWEEN BULB AND CUP (COMPLICATED AND NOT SO RELEVANT)
If oil level in the lower chamber ever uncovers a portion of the slant tube, then air can bubble up from the cup into the bulb. Oil flows from bulb to cup. Cup/reservoir level increases until the slant tube is again covered. The vacuum above the oil is now slightly less equal to the new height difference.
That's a lot of words and maybe not too relevant so let me summarize that the bulb feeds into the cup whenever oil is below the top of that slant cut, and stops feeding when oil in the cup reaches the top of that slant cut. This setup roughly acts to keep oil in the cup at a constant level (the top of the slant cut in the tube).
INTERACTION BETWEEN CUP AND BEARING HOUSING (SIMPLE AND RELEVANT)
I wouldn't think positive pressure in the bearing compartment could cause overfeeding
That's my take anyway based on you'd think they would act (not that they always act the way I think they should). Sorry if I stated the obvious.
Good comments by JJPellin as usual.
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(2B)+(2B)' ?
RE: Oil breather blockage and oil leakage through the seal
RE: Oil breather blockage and oil leakage through the seal
If you can't get positive or negative pressure through a reather then you won't have a problem, probably.
Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
RE: Oil breather blockage and oil leakage through the seal
=====================================
(2B)+(2B)' ?