This standard specifies requirements and gives recommendations for sealing systems for centrifugal and rotary pumps used in the petroleum, natural gas, and chemical industries. See A.1.1 and A.1.2. It is the responsibility of the purchaser or seal vendor to ensure that the selected seal and auxiliaries are suitable for the intended service condition. It is applicable mainly for hazardous, flammable, and/or toxic services where a greater degree of reliability is required for the improvement of equipment availability and the reduction of both emissions to the atmosphere and life-cycle sealing costs. It covers seals for pump shaft diameters from 20 mm (0.75 in.) to 110 mm (4.3 in.).

This standard is also applicable to seal spare parts and can be referred to for the upgrading of existing equipment. A classification system for the seal configurations covered by this standard into categories, types, arrangements, and orientations is provided.

This standard is referenced normatively in API 610. It is applicable to both new and retrofitted pumps and to pumps other than API 610 pumps (e.g. ASME B73.1, ASME B73.2, and API 676 pumps).

This standard might also be referenced by other machinery standards such as other pumps, compressors, and agitators. Users are cautioned that this standard is not specifically written to address all of the potential applications that a purchaser may specify. This is especially true for the size envelope specified for API 682 seals. The purchaser and seal vendor shall mutually agree on the features taken from this standard and used in the application.