A corrugated cardboard packaging facility in the Southern United States was having trouble finding a seal for their abrasive and caustic applications. Frequent seal failures led to considerable production losses as well as an environmental health and safety issues. The mill was using a mechanical seal and flush bushing for the application, but wanted an alternative based on the catastrophic failures that occurred every 68 weeks. The seals cost $2,500 plus the labor cost for 8 man hours to replace the seal and 4 hours of lost production. The plant finally decided to put the Garlock HydraJust™ Sealing System into this problem pump. While the HydraJust™ Seal was half the price of the mechanical seal, the real savings came from increasing the service life from 8 weeks to 1 year. Less maintenance and reduced downtime resulted in a $16,000 improvement to the company’s bottom line. In addition to monetary savings, the company also reduced their water consumption and the associated cost of removing and treating the excess water from the product. The HydraJust TM seal only requires gallons per hour of water as opposed to the gallons per minute required to maintain a mechanical seal. What’s more, because the HydraJust TM seal is process exclusive, no flush water enters the product.
