With recent dramatic changes in the oil industry due to COVID-19, many California Bay Area refineries are idled or at least partially idled. So, a lot of shutdown planning and maintenance work is taking place. During this time, seal support systems should be first on your ‘to-do’ list because they stand between a clean compliance record and easily preventable leaks. Those leaks that reach reportable or fineable levels will be looked at very closely by refinery management, especially now.

Often when you have your head down evaluating and prioritizing seal support systems, you tend to miss the most crucial element of maintaining asset reliability—your vendor. You might be comfortable with whoever is on your preferred vendor list; ordering seal support systems and components is a matter of routine, after all. These are not routine times, though. 

Choosing a reliable seal support systems vendor should be priority number one to ensure you are well-positioned to confidently reopen. Here are the top considerations you need to keep in mind. 

Set High Expectations for a Seal Support System Vendor’s Role

Why does your seal support systems vendor matter? Not only are they a partner in lowering the lifecycle cost of your petrochem pumping equipment, but they should also be a strong support in ensuring maintenance turnarounds go smoothly, on schedule, and on budget. 

When planning shutdown maintenance on pump systems, a lot of work needs to happen. Pump lubrication systems, motor work, and maintenance rebuilds all get a lot of attention. Seal systems are just one of many important things on your plate when planning an outage so you need a vendor you can rely on. The right seal support system partner will help ease your management of special projects now and planned maintenance later. 

Does your current vendor offer the full range of services necessary to help you keep things running smoothly, now and well into the future? Here’s a checklist to be sure.

✅ Prefabrication

During an outage, you are under a lot of pressure with regard to both schedule and budget. Everything that can be prefabricated should be—including seal support systems. This cuts down on expensive fieldwork and overtime. It is also easier to meet project quality assurance (QA) requirements. 

✅ Fast delivery 

Some discovery work always happens in major turnarounds and you will need vendor solutions fast. They should have what you need in stock or be able to fabricate it efficiently. You don’t want to be waiting for the mail to come, so work with a local seal support system company that can deliver right away. 

✅ Field verification

New seal support parts and systems need to fit with a minimum of fuss and extra fieldwork. Your outage requires seal support systems that will be installed on schedule. Using local vendors that can get onsite for field verification means they can be responsible for their systems on your schedule. 

✅ Spare parts

Not everything goes strictly to plan. You might have a warehouse of critical spares, but are they outdated? Will they work with the current process requirements? Local access to additional parts can be critical to keeping work moving in the field.

✅ Warranty coverage that’s actually useful

Too often, a subsystem ordered before a major maintenance outage has had its warranty period over by the time it is installed. Bay Area refineries sometimes purchase systems up to a year or more before the turnaround they will be installed in. It can be very frustrating when a “new” system costs money to repair before it’s even in service for the first time!

When you are selecting a seal support system vendor, you are also choosing a maintenance partner for the future. The best vendor can help select seal support systems, prepare detailed design plans, fabricate, and even repair systems. But if you partner with a local vendor, you can get even more value—especially during time-sensitive shutdown planning and maintenance. 

Shutdown Planning and Maintenance Made Easier

Swagelok has a local team of seal support system experts right here in Concord, California. Our Field Engineers can be onsite as often as needed for the selection, design, and preparation for installation of the equipment.  Because we are local, we can quickly supply additional parts or fabrication work as needed during a stressful outage. We also offer aftermarket support and the best Lifetime Warranty in the industry. Swagelok Northern California wants to help you make seal support systems the easiest part of your next maintenance turnaround. 

Swagelok Northern California, can help you with all your seal support system upgrade or replacement needs for planned and unplanned maintenance. Contact our team today by calling 510-933-6200.

About Paul Lesnau | Sales Manager, Business Development Manager, and Field Engineer

Paul holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from North Dakota State University. Before joining Swagelok Northern California, he was the West Coast Regional Sales Manager for an organization based in Illinois involved in pneumatic and hydraulic applications where he supervised product distribution throughout the western United States, Canada, and Mexico. While in this role, he was able to help provide technical and application-specific expertise to customers and distribution to drive specifications.