When planning for a commercial establishment’s success, an often-overlooked factor is its wastewater pumping system. If you’ve ever experienced a backed-up drain, you know the bad impression it gives customers while also leading to lost revenue, increased labor costs, and health and safety issues. The solution is selecting the right pump to ensure you’re equipped to handle your customer or tenant volume. Selecting the proper wastewater pump requires considering the following factors.

What Solids Are You Pumping?

The first factor is knowing what items find their way into the drain. Let’s be honest, people in a commercial setting simply don’t care very much about what they flush down the toilet. You shouldn’t be surprised to find towels, rags, used diapers, and all sorts of other heavy solids in your wastewater stream. Inferior pumps can’t handle these more difficult solids and tend to clog.

Flushable wipes and paper towels are prime examples of items that may cause your pump to clog. This was the case for the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. Wipes and rags were clogging their sewage ejection pumps, increasing pump replacement costs. Labor costs also increased as the hospital brought in extra maintenance staff to clear the clogs and replace the pumps. After switching to BJM’s SK shredder pumps constructed to handle the wipes and rags, the hospital hasn’t had any pump issues in 15 months, saving them time and money.

Another factor to consider is chemicals or corrosive materials that might be in the liquid. Especially in medical settings, you may have to dispose of corrosive lab waste. In these situations, stainless steel pumps are your best bet. Stainless steel resists corrosion better than cast iron pumps. Another of our customers is a children’s medical center that uses two wastewater sump pits. They use one for lab waste with stainless-steel shredder pumps and the other pump is for “normal” sewage and requires a shredder pump to handle wipes and paper towels.

Sizing Your Solids Handling Pump

After determining the right pump, you need to calculate the pump size needed to accommodate a large number of people. The piping and flow rate you need for your system varies. Luckily, most pump manufacturers and distributors can help you. The example chart below can also serve as a starting point for your pump sizing calculations.

Figure 1: Source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/documents/2004_07_07_septics_septic_2002_osdm_all.pdf

Peak periods, even short ones, are also an important factor in selecting the right pump. During a restaurant’s dinner rush, it’s not practical for staff to stop and address backed drains and/or sewer systems. Stadiums and arenas are extreme examples of needing to handle thousands of people for a short period of time. BJM was able to help Coors Field handle large amounts of trash and debris in its storm sewer system. Once again, BJM’s SK shredder pumps proved to be the right solution. The pumps are reliable in handling the solids that find their way into the system while being durable for a long service life.

BJM Pumps Offers the Pumps You Need, Guaranteed

BJM Pumps offers shredder pumps that handle the solids that disrupt your operations. Working closely with our customers, we understand the issues that plague you. The SKG Series shredder pumps feature their patented RAD-AX® dual shredding technology to handle the most severe solids, including flushable wipes. Knowing that not all materials need that level of shredding, IFS also offer non-clog and Vortex impeller pumps.

In addition to solids handling pumps, IFS offers stainless steel pumps, including stainless steel shredder pumps, for applications containing difficult solids, chemicals and other corrosive materials. For applications that pump high temperature liquids and/or require high duty cycles, IFS Fahrenheit pumps can handle temperatures up to 200°F and heavy use (even 24/7).

Industrial Flow Solutions specializes in the design, manufacturing, sales and service of pumping and fluid management solutions for harsh, rugged environments. With OverWatch™ direct in-line pump systems, BJM Pumps® products and Stancor® Pumps and Controls, they offer a comprehensive portfolio of submersible and direct in-line pumps and controls ideal for industrial, commercial and municipal applications.

IFS offers problem-solving solutions for Industries including Mining & Materials, Food Processing, Construction, Commercial Building Trades, Municipal Wastewater, and Power Generation/utilities. Industrial Flow Solutions years of application and design engineering experience provide you the assurance that you are getting the best fit pump for your application.

Contact one of Industrial Flow Solutions’ Application Engineers today to learn more. 860-631-3618 | flowsolutions.com