Despite informing residents about the dangers of introducing non-flushable items into the sewer system, problems have persisted at the James Street lift station in North Judson.
In order to address the issue, Interim Town Superintendent Randy Schwartz is proposing converting the station’s pumps to Variable Frequency Drive (VFD).
He told members about the success they had converting the Third Street lift station over to VFD.
Schwartz explained, “We had been having the same issue that we’re having with James Street and were always having to pull pumps and always having to replace start kits and once that station got converted over to VFDs back in June of 2017, we haven’t been back.”
Just this year, Schwartz said they’ve gone through at least 8 start kits at the James Street lift station and noted that those cost approximately $140 each. He mentioned that they also had to replace one pump and another is starting to show seal failure.
With the proposed conversion, the Town would not only be saving money in the long run because they won’t have to keep replacing start kits but it would also save the utility crews time and labor since they’ve been consistently pulling pumps, replacing burned out start kits and emptying baskets to address this issue.
Schwartz explained that he approached the company Flow-Technics to do the conversion because they have a contract with them and they’ve been utilized for work on other lift stations. He indicated that it’s important to keep the stations consistent for maintenance purposes.
He presented members with a purchase order of $12,740 from Flow-Technics to get the lift station converted. Members voted unanimously to approve the conversion and permitted the payment of the PO.
