With the valve isolated and depressurized, the gland comes off, the old rings are dug out with packing hooks, and the stem and box are cleaned and inspected. New rings go in one at a time with their cut joints staggered 90 or 120 degrees apart, each seated before the next, then the gland is torqued to the specified value. Repacking is the fix when the gland has run out of adjustment.
Gland is bottomed out on that feed valve, put it on the list to repack at the next outage.
Cut rings on a mandrel the same size as the stem, not by eyeballing around it; short rings leak forever.
Also heard as
- repacking
- pack it
Related terms
Packing
Compressible rings packed around a valve stem to stop process fluid leaking out to atmosphere.
Gland
The part that presses down on the packing to load it against the stem, adjusted by the gland nuts.
Backseat
A seat on the underside of the bonnet that a stem shoulder seals against at full open, isolating the packing.
Weeping
Leaking a drop or wisp at a time from packing, a gasket, a threaded joint or a casting.