Stuffing box temperature

Among other things, I just replaced my old stuffing box packing with the GFO fiber "virtually dripless" packing. After cruising at about 2800 RPM for 20 minutes, I stopped to check the stuffing box. It was fairly warm but not too hot to touch. Does this sound alright, or should it be cool to the touch? Thank you for your expert opinions.

Now that You have the expert opinion I will give you mine. I replaced my packing with gortex this spring. I have it dripping about a drop every 10 seconds. I trailer my boat so a few extra drops in the bilge do not bother me. After two hours of running at cruise speeds it was 71 degrees with the infered thermometer, or cool to the touch. Water temp was also about 70 degrees.

Just smoked my packing first thing today.

I snuged it with a wrench to set it / pack the rings into shape, Then loosened it and went back hand tight. Launched and check a few things ran past the shallows 1/4 mile and stopped to check the packing with the infared ~ 250 deg. OMG!! Cooled with a wet rag backed off the nuts and let some water flow to cool it faster. Played with it a few more times but it seems to either be fast drips ~ small stream or none at all. Thought I had it at a few drips and a good steady 95 deg but then an extended run brought it up to 145. Guess I need to deposit another quarter and try again. It is difficult for me to mentally accept letting water in. Obviously I need to set it looser for break in.       

Any suggestions for better packing break in... and how long before readjusting. Didn't seem to be any leeway in my adjustmet after the over heat.

pmccook1 wrote:     Then you'll notice that your boat runs warmer at idle and you need a new impellar and the cycle goes on and on.... took mine out today and the blades looked good but were starting to crack at the bottom.

Phil,
The temps Michael's mentioned are on his shaft stuffing box.

Michael,
Pull the packing out and take a look at it. With the high temp, some of the lubricate in the packing may have come out. The GFO is PTFE but it also has a graphite with some kind of grease carrier.

This is with the new prop shaft correct?

How easily should the packing rings go into the gland?

My packing rings do not fit easily into the stuffing box. With the shaft in place I could not even force them in with a tool. I've got to work it with my hand to make it thinner and then I've gotta thread the stuffing box onto the coupler to press the packing into the gland. Maybe I'm stuffing 1/4" packing into a 3/16" gland ???

This time at the 3rd ring the gland was full and the coupler would not thread on. I'm thinking about taking it to the water and give it a run with 2 then try to readjust and go for the 3rd.

I've got 2 rings of 1/4" in right now. Temps stayed around 100 deg. with a few drips per min.   Any down side of only running the 2-rings?

I'll order up some 3/16" to have ready for next time.

Brainard,,,,,

   Obama got voted in because most people read only the last line of his campaign,,, " You'll also get a free puppy ".....   


I talked about the stuffing box in the first part....   the impellar part was refering to the gremlin's that pop up after you get the other part fixed.

grimlins are like roaches,,, they'll survive a nuclear wipeout or could possibly cause it.