What They Are, What They’re Made of, and Why You Might Need One

There are many industrial centrifugal fan and blower applications that require a shaft seal, including various pollution control, dryer, food and dairy, process cooling, and process heating applications.

So what does a shaft seal do? It protects the gaps where the fan shaft enters and exits the housing. This prevents gas from entering if it’s under negative pressure from induced draft or escaping if it’s under positive pressure from a forced draft.

Types of Shaft Seal

There are many different alternatives. We can accommodate just about anything you need, but three of the most common types are ceramic felt, Teflon, and purgeable.

Ceramic Felt Shaft Seal

If you don’t specify, the ceramic felt shaft seal is the one you’ll likely get. It’s made of two half plates that clamp over the shaft with a felt piece between the plates and the housing. Be sure to include this in your regular maintenance schedule, as the felt material will wear out over time.

Teflon Shaft Seal

Another common type of shaft seal is Teflon. It’s a bit more rigid than the ceramic felt, and you can cut it specifically to fit much more tightly than you can with the ceramic felt.

Purgeable Shaft Seal

The purgeable shaft seal is also quite common when you need your seal to be 100% leak-tight. This seal allows you to run purge gas in to control the gas that can go into the fan from the outside and/or keep what’s in the fan from escaping.

Hear it from an Application Engineer

Chet White, Senior Application Engineer and Sales Manager, demonstrates these three common shaft seal types in this 2-minute video.

There are many more types of seals you can consider. We’ll be happy to help you determine the right one for you based on your particular specifications.

To determine the right specifications for your centrifugal fan application, reach out and connect with one of our application engineers to discuss the details of your project.

Related Content

Here are related posts and case studies that might be of interest as you think about your application.

We welcome comments and questions via our LinkedIn Page, and you can always Contact Us or Request a Quote for more details.