High Speed Stuffing Box

[scooter911]

I have a 2 inch shaft with a standard graphite packed stuffing box that has a vacuum on one side and room air on the other. The shaft turns at approximately 1000 rpm and it has leaked for some time. I am fixing to take it apart and have never seen a stuffing box used on a high speed shaft. As this equipment is 45 years old, I was wondering if this was an adequate seal type and if I restuff it and tighten up the packing, will I have heating problems due to friction. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks for the help.

 

[RotaryG]

1000 rpm, 2 inch is not a problem for graphite packing. How many rings of packing you reckon?

Regards,

Guru

 

[JJPellin]

I agree with above. The surface speed at these conditions is no problem for graphite packing. But the packing needs some form of lubrication in order to last for long. Adding a latern ring in the middle with a grease zerk to pump in grease would help a lot. This assumes that your process would not be harmed if a small amount of grease were to get into the product stream. The film of grease would provide lubrication to the packing and would tend to help seal off atmospheric air from being drawn in.

 

[abcmex]

Which kind of pump are you talking about?
If is a liquid ring pump with water as seal liquid you may use a latern ring as JJPELLIN mentioned but connected to the water supply of your system. This would avoid the grease problem.