RETROFLO CLEARS THE WAY TO INDUSTRY-WIDE SAVINGS WITH ITS PUMP CONTROL SYSTEM

Phil Black - PII Editor 06/11/2009

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The Retroflo RPC_2000 Pump Control System has been winning plaudits across the UK water industry by resolving the traditional blockage problems and the resultant energy efficiency issues that plague wastewater pumping stations.

The RPC_2000 has been successfully put into operation at pumping stations operated by Northumbrian Water, Scottish Water, United Utilities and South West Water and has lived up to its billing by delivering a vast reduction in blockages while guaranteeing a minimum 12 percent reduction in energy consumption costs. This combined with almost no reactive maintenance call-outs, means that utility companies can expect a return on CAPEX within 12 months of installing the system.

Understanding that every pumping station is different goes some way to explaining the philosophy behind the Retroflo system. The RPC_2000 was specifically designed to control pumping stations as a whole, rather than just the individual components within.

Scottish Water’s Charlotte Street Pumping Station in Fife is a good example of Retroflo technology solving the issues of a particularly problematic station. Situated as the last pumping station before the treatment works in Kirkcaldy’s sewerage network, the station handles large flows and is subject to frequent blockages.

Willie Burnside, an Asset Planner for Scottish Water, explains: “As soon as it rains in Kirkcaldy, resultant flows hit Charlotte Street like a cascade. Network contents previously settled in the low/flat rising main along The Promenade caused blockages and lots of ‘reputational’ internal flooding as a direct result.”

Blockages are a common and costly problem at wastewater pumping stations due to the gradual build-up of debris on pump impellers. Retroflo’s RPC_2000 utilises its patented Pre-Blockage Detection function to detect debris build-up and remedy the problem by initiating a rapid pump reversal before it becomes a blockage.

The RPC_2000 was installed at Charlotte Street Pumping Station on June 1st 2009 and in its first three months of operation performed 47successful Pre-Blockage Detection routines, all of which returned the pumps to optimum performance. During this period there were no recorded blockages and therefore no need for expensive reactive maintenance call-outs.

Another principal cause of blockages at Charlotte Street was due to a lack of self-cleansing velocities being generated in the flat rising main, resulting in a build-up of sediment and solids. The RPC_2000’s Intelligent Flushing Cycle uses historical operating data to clean the well on a daily basis. If the conditions are acceptable the well is allowed to fill to a level higher than normal operating levels. The pumps are then operated to rapidly empty the well to a low level. The benefits of this process are to scour the wet well to remove settlement, whilst achieving appropriate settlement dilution ratios and generating rising main self-cleansing velocities.

The condition of the Charlotte Street wet well was inspected by a Scottish Water team two months after the Retroflo installation and the results, says Willie Burnside, were much better than expected: “You wouldn’t have thought it was a wastewater wet well at all. There were no scum lines, no ragging, no grease, not a hint. It’s the cleanest I’ve ever seen a wet well.”

The introduction of the Retroflo pump control system not only maintains consents through reduction of blockages but can also dramatically reduce energy costs. By initiating pump reversal cycles on detection of partial blockages and returning the pump to optimum operating conditions, the improved pump performance equates to a minimum 12 percent decrease in power during normal operation.

For more information contact;

Retroflo, Washington, Tyne & Wear,
Tel: 0191 497 2840 Fax: 0191 419 1579

E-mail: info@retroflo.com Web: www.retroflo.com