Stuffing box with pressurized fluid chamber and related methods

A stuffing box for sealing the end of a rotatable rod is disclosed. The stuffing box includes a sleeve adapted to concentrically receive a portion of the rod therethrough and a tubular pipe 5 concentrically arranged within the sleeve, the rod passing generally concentrically through the pipe, the pipe being in annular spaced relation to the sleeve and the rod. One or more ring seals are arranged between the pipe and the sleeve to prevent the flow of well fluids into the annulus between the sleeve and the pipe. An annular fluid chamber is defined between the sleeve and the pipe below the ring seals. During normal operation, the fluid chamber is 10 pressurized to apply a pressure to the one or more ring seals. One or more uni-directional seals are arranged below the fluid chamber and configured to permit fluid flow into the fluid chamber.