TECHNICAL LETTER

Technical Letters are proprietary to Solar Turbines Incorporated, P.O. Box 85376, San Diego, CA 92186-5376. The information
in these Technical Letters shall not be used in any communication with a customer or third parties. Only qualified Solar
Personnel should attempt the described procedures. Personnel not trained to Solar standards, or use of material not meeting
Solar’s Engineering and Quality Control Standards may cause or result in damage to the equipment or bodily injury.

NUMBER: 10.0/103A
ISSUED: November 1999
REVISED: September 2014
PRODUCT: Gas Compressors
MODEL(S): All
Specifics: Equipped With Dry Gas Seals

SUBJECT: FLUSHING OF DRY GAS SEAL SYSTEM

—REVISION NOTICE—
Changed references of buffer air seal to separation seal, updated
Figure 1 and DGS flushing procedure

Purpose:
The Purpose of this Technical Letter is to provide a Dry Gas Seal System flushing procedure for
field use.

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Some dry gas seals in Solar® gas compressors have experienced failures resulting in damage
to the seal and adjacent compressor components. Often these failures have been attributed to
contamination of the dry seal with liquids or solid particles.

The procedure contained in this Technical Letter has been used successfully in the field to remove
small amounts of contamination from the dry gas seals without removing the seal from the
compressor. If the contamination is severe this flushing procedure may not completely clean the
seals and removal of the seals will be necessary.

Solar’s Product Information Letter (PIL) 140 contains comprehensive information on the seal gas
and separation air requirements. PIL 140 is suitable for distribution to customers with dry gas seal
equipped gas compressors.

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NUMBER: 10.0/103A
Dry Seal System Configuration
Solar’s dry gas seal system utilizes a tandem dry gas seal cartridge and a separation air seal
assembly (Figure 1). A tandem dry gas seal cartridge consists of two dry gas seals, the primary
and secondary seal, in series on the shaft. The primary dry gas seal takes the full pressure drop to
provide process gas sealing during normal operation. The secondary gas seal acts as a backup seal
during a shutdown should the primary seal fail.

A double carbon ring separation seal is located between the dry gas seal and the journal bearing
to isolate lubricating oil from dry seal vent gas. The separation seal assembly utilizes externally
supplied air or nitrogen (N2) to serve as a barrier between the dry gas seal and the lubricating
oil. Separation air is supplied from an external source at all times when the lube oil pumps are in
operation or the gas compressor is pressurized.

Sources of Contamination
Damage due to contamination of the dry seal can occur if the seal gas or separation air is not present
or is contaminated. Configurations which use the compressor discharge gas as the source to supply
seal gas are subject to seal contamination risk during start up and shut down if the process gas is
contaminated. During operation, contamination can enter the dry seal with the seal gas if adequate
filtration is not in place.

Operation of the lube oil pump without supplying separation air can lead to lube oil ingress into the
secondary dry seal.

High seal leakage flow is a common first warning sign of dry seal trouble possibly due to
contamination. If contamination is found in the primary dry seal vent, the source is usually either
the seal gas or the process gas. Contamination in the secondary dry seal vent is usually traced to
a problem with the separation air seal operation. Oil or water contamination may originate in an
air compressor supplying separation air, and be observed in the separation supply line, trap, or the
secondary dry seal vent.

A small amount of contamination, which will not affect the seal leakage flow during operation, may
be present. When the compressor is shutdown, blown down and subsequently repressurized high
seal leakage may be observed. Typically, the contamination prevents the seal faces from coming
together completely and during initial pressurization high seal leakage flow occurs.

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NUMBER: 10.0/103A
 Figure 1 Cross-Section of Dry Gas Seal Configuration

FLUSHING PROCEDURE:

HSSE risk mitigation practices and documentation (i.e. WHA, TRA,

JSA), and customer risk mitigation requirements as appropriate, must
be completed before starting any work.

Equipment and systems should complete normal shutdown cycles,

coast down to a complete stop, and complete post-lubrication cycles
before commencing work.

Hazardous energy isolation lock-out and tag-out (LOTO) is required.

Isolations and procedures for the turbomachinery package, ancillar-
ies, and associated equipment/systems must be appropriate to the
work being completed.

Hot surfaces may be present, exposing personnel to burn injury haz-

ards. Allow surfaces in the proximity of the work area to adequately
cool, removing the hazard.

Combustible gases or vapors may be present. Test for combustible

gases and vapors; if present, stop work until safe levels are achieved.

Fuel and ignition sources must be isolated and controlled via LOTO.

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NUMBER: 10.0/103A
A flushing procedure has been successfully used in the field and during factory testing when
seals have become contaminated. The seals can be flushed with denatured alcohol, methanol, or
equivalent.

Do not use gasoline or any other solvents, which may leave an oily
film or not be compatible with the elastomer o-ring seals.

Both the separation and dry gas seals should be flushed during the same maintenance cycle to
prevent the contaminants from being moved from one part of the seal system to another. The
compressor must be shut down, depressurized, and cooled prior to performing the alcohol flush.

Prior to performing the following procedures, the instrument air (or nitrogen) supply quality should
be verified. A simple test should be conducted to ensure the air supply is clean and dry. Blow the
air supply into a clean rag for a minute to verify there is no liquid or contamination in the air supply.

Dry Gas Seal:

1. Disconnect the primary seal gas supply line, and the primary and secondary seal vent
lines at the gas compressor end cap.
2. Pour 2 cups of denatured alcohol into the secondary vent port. A short piece of ¾” tube
bent upwards approximately 90 degrees will allow the alcohol to be poured into the port
with a minimum of spillage. After the liquid has flowed into the port, blow compressed
instrument quality air or clean dry nitrogen at 50 to 100 psi into the vent port to blow
the alcohol across the seal faces and dry them out.
3. Leaving the primary seal gas supply port open as a vent, pour 2 cups of denatured alcohol
into the primary seal vent port and blow it out as explained in step 2.
4. Leaving the primary vent port open, pour 2 cups of denatured alcohol into the seal gas
supply port and blow it out as explained in step 2.
Repeat this procedure as necessary. This procedure should always be completed in the sequence
steps above. The sequence order of secondary vent, primary vent, and seal gas supply line should
be followed to ensure the seal is seated properly before case pressurization.

Two cups of alcohol is an initial recommendation. If contamination is still present, more alcohol
should be used. Increased amounts of alcohol will not harm the seals.

Air used to blow alcohol through must not exceed 100 psi. Excessive
pressure can damage the dry seal faces. Also, do not rotate the com-
pressor rotor during flushing.

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 During this cleaning procedure some alcohol may flow down the oil
drain lines. The alcohol may contaminate the lube oil. If this is not
acceptable, the oil drain lines must be disconnected and routed to a
bucket to catch the leakage.

Separation Seals:
1. Disconnect the separation seal air supply line, the secondary vent line and the oil drain
lines if required at the gas compressor end cap
2. Pour 1 to 2 cups of denatured alcohol into the air supply port and then blow through
with compressed air or nitrogen at a pressure of 5 to 30psi. As noted in the dry gas seal
section above, a length of 3/4" tubing may be used to prevent spillage.

Air used to blow alcohol through must not exceed 30 psi. Excessive
pressure can damage the carbon rings.

Repeat this procedure two to three times to insure complete flushing. Reconnect the vent lines, seal
gas supply line, separation air supply line, and oil drain lines.

Once the lines are reconnected and the system pressurized, perform a leak check of the connections
using a leak seeking spray and/or gas detector. Start the unit normally and ensure the separation air
pressure differential is within the specified range for the customer site.

Observe the primary vent flow leakage rate. If liquid fouling caused the problem, the leakage rate
should stabilize quickly in the normal range. If the contamination has taken place for a long time,
causing hard coking, or if there is physical damage to the seal faces, excessive primary vent flow
will still be seen, and the dry gas seals should be removed and reconditioned.

If the separation seals have excessive fouling, or there is physical damage the flushing may have
no effect, and liquid or excessive flow will still be seen in the secondary vent line. In this case, the
separation seals should be replaced.

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NUMBER: 10.0/103A