News & Tech Tips

Prevent Safety Hazards and Protect Your Plant With Expert Gasket & Seal

Greencrest Digital on October 30, 2024

When leaks occur in a chemical plant, it presents a very serious safety hazard for plant personnel, and also nearby residents if not taken care of thoroughly. If the hazardous substance drains or gets into the plant waste collection, it must be collected and treated, as no manufacturer wants to release any of the toxic chemicals into nearby streams or rivers. When a chemical manufacturer was having trouble with a leaking man-way gasket, they knew they needed to find a solution fast, so they reached out to the team at Expert Gasket & Seal.

After some initial research on the materials used for the man-way gasket, it was determined to be a bolting issue and not a material compatibility issue. The customer was using a grade 5 bolt on a flange where more bolt torque was needed, as well as a higher-grade bolt material.

Durlon gaskets

Solution

Expert Gasket & Seal switched to a grade 8 bolt, which combined with washers and a thread lubricant, were successfully able to get the proper bolt yield needed to achieve a strong seal. Expert Gasket & Seal leveraged its long relationship with Durlon, its gasket sheet material supplier which has a special bolting program to get the needed bolt torque. From there, the leaking issue was resolved very quickly.

Results

The upgraded bolt and increased bolt torque have prevented further leaks from the man-way gasket. The customer feels peace of mind knowing they found a solution that protects their employees, residents of the city and the environment.

Don’t let hazardous chemical leaks threaten safety at your facility — contact Expert Gasket & Seal and start protecting your plant today!

How to Avoid Purchasing Low Quality Gaskets

Greencrest Digital on February 4, 2024

Gaskets are critically important to the operation of complex machinery and manufacturing processes. A single gasket failure may require hours of downtime, causing production bottlenecks and potential damage to expensive machinery. Even if total failure does not occur, rapid deterioration will cause headaches for maintenance managers who will need to schedule replacement ahead of schedule. So how do you avoid purchasing low-quality gaskets?

Signs of Low-Quality Gaskets

  • Poor Material Quality: Precise materials are needed for specific temperatures, pressurizations, and chemical exposure. Not having your gasket materials align to these requirements is problematic. Additionally, where these materials are sourced from can be extremely important from a quality perspective. Not every country in the world has the rigorous quality control standards that the United States has, which is why Expert Gasket & Seal sources the broad majority of our sheet material from domestic suppliers.
  • Poor Fitting & Sealing: If gasket shapes are inconsistent, leaky, or simply do not fit the measurements, this is an obvious sign of poor quality standards in the production of the gaskets.

How to Avoid Purchasing Poor Quality Gaskets

  • Get Advice from Experts on Material Needs: The most capable suppliers should be able to provide expertise and guidance on the material needs for your gaskets and seals. They should be able to listen to your needs, and provide direct advice on the best options based on their experience. Hint: We at Expert Gasket & Seal are experts and helping clients find the best products for their needs.
  • Find a Supplier That Follows Quality Standards: Your supplier should be using reputable name brands for the products they are selling you, and should be able to identify where they are sourcing their materials from for custom-designed products. They should have quality standards in place along with relevant certifications.
  • Choose a Supplier with a Good Reputation: A high quality supplier should not be seeing extensive client turnover. Find suppliers with a track record of success and consider asking others in your industry who they have enjoyed working with. A supplier that has been around for a long time is more likely to be a good partner than an unknown supplier with no reputation to go by.

Clearly, we are speaking about some of our own values here in this blog post. But building great relationships by making sure our clients get the quality and service they deserve is what has enabled us to serve a wide range of clients for nearly two decades. If you’re experiencing frustration with quality issues in the gaskets you have been purchasing, get in touch with us today and we can help!

To learn more about our gasket and seal solutions, contact Expert Gasket & Seal today at (800) 956-8766.

Expert Gasket & Seal Customizes Solution to Combat Powdery Raw Material Spills

Greencrest Digital on December 14, 2022

Handling raw materials is an integral part of the manufacturing industry, and poor handling can lead to safety and productivity concerns. So, when a welding rod manufacturer was experiencing toxic raw material spills throughout its warehouse, they turned to Expert Gasket & Seal.

While transporting totes of the material by forklift to vessels for production, powder-based raw material was leaking out. Due to its fine particle form, dusty, gritty, pumice-like material was being carried by foot and by equipment contaminating other parts of the building including offices and areas of the plant where “cleaner” manufacturing practices are required. This led to safety and housecleaning issues, as well as the loss of valuable product.

Solution

Working with the manufacturer’s maintenance and engineering teams, Expert Gasket & Seal designed a cone-shaped rubber boot out of 30 Durometer Silicone rubber to form a seal between the top of each metal tote and the production equipment, creating a positive seal and eliminating spillage.

Results

The silicone seal not only eliminated spills on the floor that migrated to other parts of the facility, but it also limited the amount of the toxic material in the atmosphere. Because the cone-shaped seals are durable and can be reused many times over, the savings in loss of material and cleaning costs alone easily offset the cost of the seals.

If transporting raw materials is leading to costly spills in your manufacturing process, call Expert Gasket & Seal today for a customized solution to your sealing needs.

Expert Gasket & Seal Fixes Leaky Filling Equipment, Saving Hundreds of Hours for Solvent Manufacturer

Greencrest Digital on September 22, 2022

A solvent leak can become very costly, very quickly — not to mention dangerous, as it involves hazardous waste. Any leak not only presents risks to production and equipment, but it also puts the health and safety of employees at risk. So, when a solvent manufacturer was experiencing leakage during their filling process, they turned to Expert Gasket & Seal for a solution.

The solvent manufacturer was filling small quart cans with its product using precision filling equipment that filled by weight and volume. During production, the seals which regulated the flow of the solvent experienced a major leak resulting in underfilled cans, the loss of finished products and hazardous material exposure to the workplace.

Expert Gasket & Seal assessed the situation and recommended replacing the dynamic O-ring with an energized PTFE seal. The new seal was energized by a Perfluorelastomer O-ring for its chemical resistance, and the machined PTFE seal jacket provided a friction-free seal with wiping action and with little to no seal wear or leakage.

With the PTFE design, the seal was not wearing out like the plain dynamic O-ring and there was no longer a need to continually stop production to replace faulty O-rings. And this was all done with existing hardware without the need to retrofit the machined components of the equipment.

The filling equipment consisted of 24 filler heads. Expert Gasket & Seal’s expert sealing solution increased the life of each filler by hundreds of hours, allowing the manufacturer to extend the production schedule and cut downtime by at least four times over.

Don’t let a leak put your company at risk. Protect your assets and your people with a custom solution from Expert Gasket & Seal.
Call our experts today at 800.956.8766

Expert Gasket & Seal Helps Client Combat Equipment Failure While Maintaining FDA Compliance

Greencrest Digital on April 6, 2022

At Expert Gasket & Seal, we don’t just provide sealing products, we provide sealing solutions. Our customer’s success is our priority. So, when an international food manufacturer came to us with major equipment failure of one of their cooking vessels, we tackled the challenge with open minds and ready hands.

The large steam cooking vessel was designed to go from the ambient plant temperature to 250 degrees Fahrenheit steam. The steam was injected through a tube that also served as the shaft to which the seal was attached. Because the shaft we were sealing was also the heating element, the axial shaft would grow .250“-.375“. This expansion was causing almost instant failure of the mechanical seal from stretching, rolling O-rings and shattering hard seal faces.

Working with Advanced Sealing International (ASI), our experts designed a custom double mechanical seal, based on ASI’s Model 600, which allowed for the necessary shaft growth without destroying seal faces or damaging plant equipment. Designing the custom mechanical seal required focus on several factors other than the equipment failure. We needed to design a seal that would address factors like minimizing the use of water being wasted as the barrier fluid, frictional heat, the set up and crystallization of the sugars in the product on seal faces during downtime, product loss and waste, product contamination and of course the safety of plant personnel — all while maintaining FDA compliance.

This new custom mechanical seal increased the life of the equipment’s seal from around 2-6 weeks to 1-4 years — that’s an average increase of nearly 3,000 percent. Considering that it takes around eight hours to replace the drive end and thrust end of the vessel seals, increasing the seal life has resulted in a reduction in downtime, increased production, increased safety and decreased collateral equipment damage.

Expert Gasket & Seal can solve your gasket and seal problems too.
Just call and expert today at 800.956.8766

Expert Gasket & Seal Offering Solutions to Sealing Challenges with Custom Gaskets

Greencrest Digital on September 12, 2021

Cleveland, OH-based experts for dynamic sealing products, Expert Gasket & Seal have recently announced that they’re now offering a wide range of custom gaskets. The company’s custom gasket manufacturing services will provide clients with clear sealing solutions for industrial applications where specific performance parameters must be met to ensure cost-efficiency, safety and productivity.

Industrial manufacturing firms require sealing products that have been tested to meet many standards and specifications for their applications. This means that firms must consult with sealing specialists and find the best materials from which to create custom gaskets. Only a company with years of experience in the sealing marketplace can be trusted to provide a pinpoint solution to an array of issues. This is the reason that firms are now turning to the specialists at Expert Gasket & Seal.

Expert Gasket & Seal is now offering their expertise for creating high performance custom gaskets for a range of industrial applications. The company’s standout work begins with the creation or prototypes and ensures that clients and their objectives are a continued presence through the design and fabrication processes. The company’s team works tirelessly to help clients resolve core working challenges and provide cost-effective gasket products for seamless integration within the client’s systems. It’s the professional sealing system design process for companies with complex demands.

To learn more on the custom gaskets now offered through Expert Gasket & Seal, please contact their offices in Cleveland, OH directly today or visit www.expertgasket.com.

Tips for Designing the Right Gasket

Greencrest Digital on June 21, 2021

When it comes to gaskets, there are so many different materials and designs out there, choosing the best one for your application isn’t always plain and simple. Since gaskets are mechanical seals that are designed to be airtight and prevent contaminants from entering your important equipment, you need to be precise when designing them.

As one of the leading manufacturers of custom rubber gaskets in Ohio, the team from Expert Gasket & Seal wants to make things a bit easier on you. So, here you’ll find some of the most important things to consider when designing your gaskets.

Key Considerations for Custom Gasket Design

Materials

Before beginning any of the real design work, you’ll first need to decide upon what type of material you want your custom gaskets fashioned from. When looking over the different options at your disposal, pay close attention to characteristics such as hardness, density, and elasticity. These properties will play a large role in the performance of your gasket and should never be overlooked.

Some of the most common gasket manufacturing materials include:

  • Neoprene / Chloroprene rubber: This is a synthetic rubber compound that’s both durable and resists damage from exposure to UV radiation, ozone,  and refrigerants.  . Another benefit of neoprene is that it remains flexible in a temperature range of -40° C-120° C.
  • Nitrile: Nitrile is a synthetic rubber used in a wide range of applications, but most commonly where the gaskets are exposed to petroleum based fluids.
  • Silicone: One of the most versatile gasket materials, silicone is available in everything from solid to sponge form and is excellent in temperatures to +232° C.  Silicone is typically FDA compliant and is used in food service and pharmaceutical applications.

Gasket Design

After deciding on the right material for your gasket, you’ll then need to consider what type of design you’d like it to have. Of course, the end design will depend upon what application you’llbe using it for, but you’ll need to design its shape, as well as consider its cross-section and thickness.

Application Environment

Lastly, consider what type of environment your gaskets will be installed in. What type of wear and tear and operating temperatures do you expect? Will there be any chemicals present? Answering these questions will help you make certain your finished gasket is both well-designed, as well as durable.

Contact us for custom rubber gaskets in Ohio

For more about our custom rubber gaskets, seals, and other products, contact us online today or call (330) 468-0066 or 1 (800) 956-8766.

Why Quality & Consistency Is So Important With Custom Gaskets

Greencrest Digital on May 21, 2021

Quality rubber gaskets create leak tight seals using rubber’s natural memory to minimize the chance of unwanted leaks. They also need to have the correct compound chosen to resist extreme temperatures, pressure, and a variety of fluids and gases.  That’s why so many trust their custom gasket creation to Expert Gasket & Seal.

However, we wanted to let you know more about why we place such an emphasis on quality, so take a look below!

  • Saves on Time & Money: One of the top reasons that quality and consistency when creating custom gaskets is essential, is because it makes the process much quicker and reduces waste.  Expert Gasket & Seal can provide prototypes at low or no cost to properly evaluate your design and possible changes.
  • Enhanced Efficiency: In custom gasket design, precision is the penultimate goal. It needs to perfectly match the application for which it’s designed. This creates gaskets that are less likely to fail, and you can design your custom gaskets for optimal efficiency. You’ll find less need to replace properly designed gaskets.
  • Outstanding Quality: Having a gasket fail during operating hours can be a real nightmare. Thankfully, custom gaskets drastically reduce that scenario since they are properly spec’d and designed for your specific application.  Custom gaskets are designed with all of your exact needs and specifications, as well as your gasket performance expectations.  A professional and knowledgeable company will create custom gaskets of unmatched quality.
  • Flexible for Every Industry: Another great thing about working with custom gasket designers is they have experience designing gaskets for every type of industry you can imagine. For those needing gaskets that will withstand the extreme conditions of chemical processing plants or the specific materials and requirements of FDA applications,  custom gaskets are an absolute must.

Contact us today for more about custom gaskets, seals, and more!

For those in need of custom gaskets that are built to your exact specifications, contact the team from Expert Gasket online today or call (330) 468-0066. We also specialize in mechanical seals, braided packing and hydraulic seals, and more!

5 Tips for Choosing the Best Custom Gasket Manufacturer

Greencrest Digital on April 21, 2021

When you work with a custom gasket manufacturer, make sure that they’ll be capable of manufacturing precisely what is needed. That’s why the team from Expert Gasket works with all of our clients to assure we’re clear about their needs, expectations, and the type of performance required from their custom gaskets.

Here are some of the most important things to look for when choosing a custom gasket manufacturer.

1. Variety of Materials Offered

A reliable custom gasket manufacturer will have a variety of gasket materials from which to provide the correct product for your application. Such materials include Neoprene, Viton®, Durlon®, PTFE, and more.

2. Technical Experience

Choosing a gasket provider with extensive industry experience will assure that your custom gaskets will meet the specified requirements. Gasket manufacturers with a long history in the industry will know what works best for different and challenging sealing applications.

3. Safety Features

Any custom gasket manufacturer you work with should also adhere to the strictest safety precautions at every step of the way, from the design and development process to the manufacturing of the gaskets themselves. Make certain you work with a manufacturer familiar with all of today’s latest best practices that also strictly follows local laws and guidelines.

4. Customer Support

This is, perhaps, one of the most important characteristics of any gasket manufacturer. How they handle their relationships with clients is a direct reflection of the products that they produce. Choose a provider that offers support and prompt service for the best results.

5. Competitive Pricing

It’s no secret that running an industrial firm, water processing plant, or another type of enterprise-level industrial facility is a costly endeavor. That doesn’t mean they always require costly gaskets and seal products.  A knowledgable custom gasket manufacturer, like Expert Gasket & Seal, will recommend a cost-effective solution for your seal problem.

Let us be your custom gasket manufacturer!

Are you in need of quality, custom gaskets, and mechanical seals that are enduring? Contact Expert Gasket online today to learn more about our services or call (330) 468-0066.

Four Big Benefits of Custom Die-Cut Gaskets

Greencrest Digital on April 21, 2021

Custom die-cut gaskets can be a great investment, and it’s a good idea to partner with a qualified manufacturer.  Working with custom gaskets frees you from having to make “best fit” compromises to work with off-the-shelf components.  They’re also less expensive than you might expect from custom work!

There are plenty of reasons, and plenty of situations, that call for custom die-cut gaskets. Here are just a few…

Reasons to Choose Custom Die-Cut Gaskets

1. Custom cutting fits your needs

When you’re designing products, you should be designing them for the best possible functionality, rather than making compromises.  Ordering custom gaskets means they can be any size or shape you require.  Your design can be optimized, and you’ll still be able to get the best gaskets for the job.

2. A wide selection of materials

The performance of a gasket depends a lot on the material from which it’s made, and that’s determined by the operating conditions.  Factors such as temperature, pressure, range of movement, and local environment or atmosphere will all affect how long a gasket lasts.

Custom die-cut gasket manufacturers have a wide range of materials at their disposal, ranging from common rubbers to specialized materials such as Durlon 9000, Viton®, and PTFE  designed for difficult environments. Gasket experts can work with you to find the best material for your needs.

3. Replace old parts for cheap

Custom die-cut gaskets aren’t only for manufacturing new products – they’re also a great option for maintaining your current machinery.  If you have a custom machine with expensive OEM parts – or if the manufacturer has gone out of business – a custom gasket shop can provide you with 1:1 replacements at a low cost.  You can even stock up on spares, to prevent any unnecessary downtime.

4. Adhere to regulatory standards

Are you working in fields that require a better grade of machinery, such as maintaining sterile conditions when working with food or pharmaceuticals?  You definitely want custom die-cut gaskets in this situation.  Gasket experts can help you select materials and designs which will adhere to all relevant regulatory standards, keeping your operation within the law – and keeping your customers safe.

America Trusts Expert Gasket & Seal

We have over 50 years of combined experience in custom die-cut gaskets, rapid prototyping, and other sealing solutions.  If you’re facing a tricky gasket problem, or need a custom part that other shops can’t handle, contact us to discuss your needs with the experts.