Grinder Pumps

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  Thoughts after the grinder pump information meeting

  by J Codrington, over 6 years ago

  The recent Open House meeting was successful in making some valuable points. The most significant point was the observation that municipal waste water always requires pumping assistance to get to the central treatment facility. Traditionally, waste water was arranged to initially flow by gravity to the first pumping stage. The grinder pump starts waste water on the journey, but the cost is now on the homeowner for the required pumping.
  As one of the 180 resident with a grinder pump, I appreciate the fairness of involving the Town in the maintenance costs of the pump on my property.
  However, there

  ... Continue reading

  The recent Open House meeting was successful in making some valuable points. The most significant point was the observation that municipal waste water always requires pumping assistance to get to the central treatment facility. Traditionally, waste water was arranged to initially flow by gravity to the first pumping stage. The grinder pump starts waste water on the journey, but the cost is now on the homeowner for the required pumping.
  As one of the 180 resident with a grinder pump, I appreciate the fairness of involving the Town in the maintenance costs of the pump on my property.
  However, there is more than a homeowner financial benefit to involving the Town in pump maintenance.
  The reliability of the grinder pumps is a big disappointment. While we do get prompt changeout service from Roto Rooter, the frequency and the cost of the serviced pump is far from acceptable. As an individual, I have no way of understanding why the pump performs poorly, nor can I go out and get a more economical pump option that will perform better without exposing me to service delays.
  If the Town becomes involved in pump maintenance, things can change. The priority should be to understand the reasons for the poor performance so that changes can be made to improve reliability.
  John Brookes has been rebuilding the pumps for almost 15 years now. The rebuild technician can usually determine why the pump failed, and make a note of this. The information was supposed to go back to Roto Rooter to be given to the customer. However, this was not happening. I did see one report for a pump owned by someone other than me - pump seal failure allowed water to enter the motor to cause electrical failure. Does this data still exist to allow failure trends to be determined?
  The E/One is a Progressing Cavity pump. This type of pump will have a short life if it is pumping into an excessive back pressure. Some of the pump owners in the St. Davids area have suffered high rates of pump failure. Is there anything special about thee problem installations that causes high back pressure? An unusually long line length from the pump to the pressure main in the street comes to mind.
  Industry experience with the progressing cavity pump as used by E/One is that the most common failure cause is the pump running dry. This would follow from a control malfunction that caused the pump to continue to run after pumping the basin dry. Could this be happening here? Perhaps cold winter temperatures could be allowing frost to penetrate the uninsulated cover of the E/One pump to cause control malfunction.
  Speaking to the service technicians installing my fourth grinder pump, it was noted that the service pumps they were installing were not lasting as long as did the original pumps. So, what could be happening here? Possibly a loss of quality in the pump rebuild process, but perhaps more likely is a slow buildup of solids in the buried lateral or even in the street receiving line. Only the Town could answer questions like this.
  I have reviewed the descriptive material provided by Barnes/Crane describing what they call an upgrade pump to the E/One pump. E/One has responded with what they call an upgrade to their own pump. Both manufacturers are now talking about solids buildup and line scouring. However, the E/One pump performance curve is unchanged, while the Barnes/Crane pump has 3 times the flow rate of the E/One pump with a 100 psi backpressure. The Town could do a test installation of the Barnes/Crane pump to see if the upgrade really gives reliability improvements.
  To summarize, involving the Town in pump maintenance is much more than shifting costs from a few homeowners to the Town rate base. It is rather a chance to understand the problems affecting the E/One pumps and come up with solutions that will make pressure sewage systems a truly cost effective and reliable alternative to conventional gravity systems.
  John Codrington79 Melrose Drive
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  We are all in this together

  by dwniagara, over 6 years ago

  Lets share the cost among all NOTL taxpayers - the pumps are all part of infrastructure that the Town recommended and required, although many people could have continued with their septic tanks.

  Lets share the cost among all NOTL taxpayers - the pumps are all part of infrastructure that the Town recommended and required, although many people could have continued with their septic tanks.
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  Grinder Pumps

  by Redphyl, over 6 years ago

  The presentation made recently to St. Davids residents was excellent and we are hopeful that positive results will come from the investigations being done. I feel one of the crucial issues is that back up electrical sources are required on these pumps because if there is an outage (we have had three in recent months) we cannot use any of our plumbing. Thank you.

  The presentation made recently to St. Davids residents was excellent and we are hopeful that positive results will come from the investigations being done. I feel one of the crucial issues is that back up electrical sources are required on these pumps because if there is an outage (we have had three in recent months) we cannot use any of our plumbing. Thank you.
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  Grinder Pump Insurance refused

  by simonpym, over 6 years ago

  I am a new home owner on Stoneyridge Crescent. I was told about the grinder pump, and that I should buy insurance on repairs, maintenance, and replacement from Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC). I was shown a policy by an existing owner which covered those items.

  When I phoned SLWC they refused to provide any insurance on my grinder pump. I mentioned they had before and the conversation was bumped up 3 times but still they refused to provide insurance. I have never lived in a municipality before, where there is a sewage system that is part of my... Continue reading

  I am a new home owner on Stoneyridge Crescent. I was told about the grinder pump, and that I should buy insurance on repairs, maintenance, and replacement from Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC). I was shown a policy by an existing owner which covered those items.

  When I phoned SLWC they refused to provide any insurance on my grinder pump. I mentioned they had before and the conversation was bumped up 3 times but still they refused to provide insurance. I have never lived in a municipality before, where there is a sewage system that is part of my taxes, but that I am actually responsible for! This is absurd.
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  Information for Grinder pump meeting discussion

  by J Codrington, over 6 years ago

  Background
  The grinder pump was a service replacement that had lasted 4 years when it failed to pum[ on the morning of August 12 2019. The previous pump had laste 9 years, and the first failed after 6 months and was replaced und rwarranty.
  The current failed pump was attem[ting to start, but power was being cut after 3 seconds. There was a loud electric hum noise, but no apparent sign pf rotation. The start attempts would repat after a minute or so.
  Request for Help
  The service line insurance was paid up and so the company was contacted by

  ... Continue reading

  Background
  The grinder pump was a service replacement that had lasted 4 years when it failed to pum[ on the morning of August 12 2019. The previous pump had laste 9 years, and the first failed after 6 months and was replaced und rwarranty.
  The current failed pump was attem[ting to start, but power was being cut after 3 seconds. There was a loud electric hum noise, but no apparent sign pf rotation. The start attempts would repat after a minute or so.
  Request for Help
  The service line insurance was paid up and so the company was contacted by phone at about 8 an on the morning of September 10. The insurance company requires that they contact the contractor to deal with the malfunction. They said they would do this and the contractor would contact us within 4 hours.
  After 4 hours, no word from the contractor. The insurance company was contacted again and assured we would soon hear from the contractor/
  Pacific Plumbing HamiltonAt around 1 pm, a call came from the contractor. At this point, I was uneasy about who the contractor was. I was told the contractor was Pacific Plumbing from Hammilton. Their truck was on the road to Niagara with one man who would look at the pump to see what it was. At this point, I was very uneasy simce all this appeared to be a set up for an extended delay, perhaps requiring wait time for a replacement pump to be shipped out to the contractor.
  RotoRooter St CatharinesAfter this discussion, I called RotoRooter in St Catharines to find out if they were still servicing the E One grinder pumps - perhaps they had dropped the pump service work so that the insurance company was obliged to find another contractor. No, they were still doing the service work and kept two pumps ready in their shop ready to come out at short notice.
  By about 2 pm, the Pacific Plumbing service man showed up at the site. He prepared to inspect the pump/ He did not seem familiar with the pump, and did not have a replacement in his vehicle or back at his shop. I was disappointed that he was not showing confident lnowledge of the particular type of equipment. We agreed that, with a local contractor available with the special tools, the experience, with a replacement pump at hand, then it was best that he backs off so I can talk to the local contractor. I thanked him for coming out.
  I immediately contacted the insurance company and explained that the Hamilton contractor was not equipped to do the work in a timely fashion. I received a verbal authorization to engage RotoRooter on a cost reimbursement basis.
  I contacted RotoRooter at about 3:30 pm and they made an a[[oimtment for the required two man team to be on site at 9:00 am the next morning.
  At about 4 :00 pm, the insurance company called and told me that they do not work directly with RotoRooter but they confirmed the cost reimbursement agreement.
  RotoRuuter were one site at 9:00 am prompt and the replacement pump was installed and running within the hour.,
  John and Jeanne Codrington