According to Hydro Innovations , whenever maintenance or repairs need to be done on submersible pumps, or their lifting chains, guide rails or discharge bend, the wet well lids need to be opened and the safety screen pulled back. In this situation, this then exposes personnel to the potential of falling into a deep hole, drowning and inhalation of gases. The site needs to be approached with caution.
Furthermore, if work needs to be done on the discharge elbow or guide rails, it is a major operation requiring the complete bypassing of the pump station, draining of the wet well, full confined spaces treatment, and requires one or more personnel to be lowered into the pit to perform repair or replacement tasks. This is not a healthy work environment.
If work needs to be done on the pump, lifting apparatus are needed. The lids and safety screen again need to be pulled back, again creating a potential hazard.
The Gorman-Rupp configuration is different in a number of ways:
- There is no need to enter the wet well.
- There is nothing mechanical apart from the suction lines, which can be removed from the surface(if necessary) without ‘lifting the lids’.
- There are no guide-rails or ‘duck foot’ bends to ever maintain or replace.
- If internal clearances need to be adjusted on a Gorman-Rupp Super T or Ultra V Series pumps, this can be done by one person, using two small spanners in less than five minutes.
- To accomplish this, the pump does not need to be dismantled. The piping and the drive do not need to be disconnected.
This is quite a large station (pictured), but the concept is the same. It is much cleaner, out of the blazing heat or pouring rain, has no open wet wells, and the sewage pumping equipment is easy to access, monitor and maintain.