The high-density VSG Graphite pressure seal is resilient, guarding against high-cycling. It’s a direct replacement for metal seals and won’t fuse to valve components. In time studies, you can save nearly 75% of your time installing graphite over metal. It works in out-of-round, oversize, steam-cut and pitted bonnet cavities. It’s custom engineered for each individual application, and best of all, it’s delivered in 48 hours. Same day, if necessary!
Stu Padgett, Corporate Purchasing for Industrial Valve in Mobile, Alabama, declares: “I buy the VSG pressure seal because it works. That’s number one. We’ve never had a failure, they’re easy to get along with and easy to explain. I know because I’ve been in purchasing for 33 years, and I don’t mind paying a little bit more if the installation goes smoothly. The best part is you can count on the people at EGC.”
When asked if one installation was more critical others, Padgett said NO. “They’ve all got to be dead-tight! We’ve got to have a 100% seal on every one of them. The problem is that you’re using a VSG in a valve that could be 50 years old, so parts may be less than perfect. But the flexibility of graphite is so forgiving that you don’t need perfect parts to get a 100% seal. They seal every time.”
Given the scale at which Industrial Valve works, that kind of reliability is impressive. “We deal with Georgia Power, and we hold the contract for the gulf region and northern region of Southern Company,” says Padgett. “That means we take care of all the power plants for Florida Power, Mississippi Power, and Alabama Power. So, we’ve serviced a lot of valves! Which has helped EGC build quite a database (EGC maintains a database of over 6,000 previously designed VSG pressure seals). We do place orders based on a history and send a part number of what we put into a specific valve last year. I’ll shoot it to EGC’s customer service and they shoot back a price.”
Does Padgett think the graphite pressure seal will be a permanent replacement for metal pressure seals? “I absolutely do,” states Padgett. “They really hold up in forgiveness and longevity. You know power plants are cycling these super-critical valves much more than they used to. At one time, they’d cycle once a year. Now they cycle multiple times a month and they’re heated to somewhere between 700 – 1200 degrees, over and over. A metal seal just can’t take the heat the way that graphite can.”
Need help in ordering your next VSG Pro pressure seal? Download the VSG data sheet to get started! It’s that simple!
Corporate Profile
EGC is a recognized world leader in the engineering and manufacturing of graphite composites for high-temperature applications in sealing or thermal systems management. The EGC website can be accessed at https://egcgraphite.com/.
