Inkster is located in Wayne County, Michigan (only 25 miles from Detroit), and has a population of nearly 25,000 people. Inkster had been experiencing recurring pump clogging issues in the John Daly CSO pump station. The pumps in the station were clogging on average every 48 hours, and in some cases, within 10 minutes of installation. The city installed and tried several competitor pumps in the station, including a mix flush valve system. However, none of the solutions solved the clogging problem.

The John Daly pump station is a triplex station with three 5HP submersible solids handling non clog pumps. It’s design capacity is 1 million gallons per day. The station receives inflow from nearby residences and small commercial establishments, and discharges into Detroit Sanitary Sewer System. All three pumps in the station were frequently clogging due to typical household items including rags and mop heads.

The persistent clogging required the city maintenance team to monitor the station continuously to keep the pumps running. When pumps clogged, overflow was diverted to a nearby retention pond. Waste water from the pond was then vacuumed and transported to the city’s waste water treatment plant. This meant, in addition to cost of pump deragging, the city was also incurring costs to vacuum the pond. The problem became so severe that Inkster completely decommissioned the station and directed all flow to the retention pond to avoid the cost of pump deragging. This decision was retracted because it was not a sustainable solution. The city continued to de-rag the pumps and vacuum clean the retention pond.

Inkster worked with Jett Pump & Valve, a municipal distributor of Barnes pump solutions. A Barnes 4SH vortex pump was installed in the station for a trial period of 60 days. The pump never clogged even once during this period. The staff in Inkster were so impressed with the Barnes vortex solution, that they replaced the remaining two competitor pumps in the station with Barnes SH pumps. The city was able to eliminate pump deragging and all the associated vacuuming costs, saving them a significant amount of money.