| Recently, a pair of John Crane seals were removed from a MAN Turbo compressor after more than 13 years of successful operation. This is some 9 years more than the generally accepted industry standard maintenance period of 4-6 years.
The Type 28AT tandem seals were operating on a gas lift duty, on GUPCO's (Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company) Ramadan 6 platform. Gas lift duties are not normally very clean, so this makes the performance of these seals all the more remarkable.
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The most important factor is to initially focus on the design of the control system and try to ensure that the seals are continuously fed with a clean dry gas. The second factor is to use face materials that are forgiving, so that if contamination reaches the seal, it does not result in premature failure. Carbon seal faces have proved very worthwhile in such duties.
If there are any other examples of seals delivering this kind of record-breaking performance, please let us know, contact me on +44 (0) 1753 224399.
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