The city of St. Marys (Georgia) Public Works Department was spending more than $500 per month on maintenance and repair of some of its solids-handling pumps, which were experiencing ongoing clogging issues.
The site of the problem was Lift Station No. 42 — one of the city’s 78 lift stations that serve a population of 18,000 people. The city’s treatment plant has a 4 mgd capacity.
The lift station in question is a duplex station which serves a hospital, restaurants and nearby residences. It equips 15 hp pumps that move sewage to Lift Station No. 6 at 400 gpm. Lift Station No. 6 is another duplex station equipping 60 hp solids-handling pumps.
Built in the 1970s, Lift Station No. 42 saw the worst of the city’s clogging. Hairnets, fishing lines, rags and debris clogged the solids-handling pumps every week, costing the city time and money.
Chopper pumps to the rescue
Eager to find a permanent solution to this clogging problem, George Nettles, wastewater maintenance supervisor, worked with Pump & Process Equipment, Crane Pumps & Systems’ channel partner, to install two 15 hp Barnes Sithe chopper pumps.
These pumps have been in operation for more than eight months and haven’t once clogged, according to Nettles. In fact, the 60 hp pumps in Lift Station No. 6 which had to be de-ragged every month haven’t clogged since Sithe pumps were installed in No. 42, either.
Equipped with state-of-the-art hardened stainless steel chopping mechanism and superior solids-handling capability, Barnes Sithe was not only successful in eliminating clogs at the station, but also downstream of it.
“When we installed Sithes at Lift Station No. 42, we did not consider the assistance at Lift Station No. 6,” says Nettles. “We did not believe that it could do what was promised. Barnes Sithe is a problem-solver.”
The city of St. Marys will see an estimated cost savings of more than $10,000 annually from reduced service calls to clean out both stations and de-rag the pumps, according to Nettles.
The Barnes family of pump products by Crane Pumps and Systems provides versatility, high performance and good value. For more than a century, design and specifying engineers, plumbing contractors and end-users including homeowners have relied on Barnes pumps for reliability and durability. From essential applications like municipal sewage and wastewater to decorative fountain pumps, Barnes pumps deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions with speed and accuracy.
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