Application Overview:
Life Before Chopper Pumps: Vernon Parish is a county in Louisiana located about 50 miles east of Alexandria, and has a population of 52,000 people. The Vernon Parish School Board is a school district headquartered in Leesville and administers all schools in the Parish. The School Board owns and maintains 6 sewage pump stations that receive sewage from various schools and discharge into Leesville Waste Water Treatment Plant.
Lift Station Details:
One of the most problematic pump stations for Vernon Parish School Board was the North Polk Elementary school pump station. The duplex station was built in mid 1990s to cater the elementary school that has about 500 students. The sewage from the station is pumped to gravity sewer which then flows into the treatment plant.
The station’s traditional submersible non-clog pumps had been causing problems right from the beginning. The biggest pain point for Mr. Keith Bush, the School Board’s maintenance supervisor, was pump clogging. The non-clog pumps in the station were clogging at least twice a week due to mop heads, 60 gallon trash bags, rags and non-woven fabrics. Every time a pump clogged, Mr. Bush had to hire manpower and trucks to clean the clog. This costed the Board thousands of dollars including labor, truck rental and bypass pumps.
Mr. Bush’s attempt to solve clogging by reverse rotating the non-clog pump impellers also did not yield positive results as motors kept failing. Completely frustrated with clogging and high costs, Mr. Bush decided to trial a submersible chopper pump in the station.
Chopper Pump Installation:
Delta Process Equipment, a municipal distributor of Crane Pumps & Systems, worked with the Vernon Parish School Board to size and install a 4” 7.5HP Barnes Sithe chopper pump in the station in May 2018. The pump never clogged even once since installation and made it through a whole school year and a summer. Mr. Bush feels Sithe chopper pumps are a good solution and is so confident of the pump’s non-clogging and solids size reduction capabilities that he “doesn’t even check on the station anymore.” Mr. Bush is extremely pleased with Sithe chopper pumps and with Delta Process Equipment’s passion for solving problems and quality of service.
Key Takeaways:
PAIN POINTS:
• The existing non-clog pumps in North Polk elementary school pump station were clogging twice every week
• Mop heads, trash bags and rags were clogging the pumps
• To clean the clogs it was costing thousands of dollars due to labor, rental truck and bypass pumps
SOLUTION:
• The School Board installed a 4” 7.5HP Sithe chopper pump in the station in May 2018
• The pump has not clogged even once since installation
