Variable Speed Pumps | Metropolitan Industries

Lift Station Upgrade with Fabricated House

November 15, 2012

Major Lift Station Renovation for O’Hara Woods Includes Increased Pumping Capacity, Upgraded Controls and Prefabricated Concrete Structure

The upgrade to Romeoville, IL’s O’Hara Woods lift station was a major endeavor. Among the additions were separate generator, mechanical and control rooms housed in a prefabricated concrete structure.

Metropolitan Industries has extensive experience in the implementation and upgrade of lift stations. For over 50 years, we have provided components and even complete prefabricated lift stations as single-source systems that include all equipment required for operation.

Services such as design assistance and a 24/7 service department help ensure systems are engineered to meet the owner’s specifications in a variety of sizes. For the complete system, a station can be combined with a “MetroFab” custom-designed, prefabricated housed system. Housed systems are factory pre-piped and wired, and are shipped fully assembled for easy installation. Like a prefabricated lift station, these systems can also be customized to meet any specifications you require.

A recent example of a customer’s desire for a significant upgrade to their existing facilities is the work completed at the Romeoville, Ill. O’Hara Woods lift station.

Working with an existing duplex sanitary lift station, the village decided to make many custom upgrades to the site.

The previous configuration did not feature enough pumping capacity to keep up with the station’s increased demand.

“The existing 20-year-old duplex system was still functioning fine, but an upgrade was needed due to village growth and the planning for future development,” said Metropolitan salesperson Keith Girup. “To keep up with the demand, the station was upgraded to a triplex system by utilizing the existing duplex wet well and a parallel existing manhole for a simplex wet well to house the three new pumps. We also supplied three precast concrete enclosures which, when installed on the concrete pad, were made to look like one common building. The three separate rooms make up the building, and house the new lift station controls, standby generator and chemical dosing system all under a common 28-foot by 28-foot roof.”

In total, the system now has three eight-inch submersible, non-clog, explosion-proof sewage pumps each with a capacity of 2,084 GPM at 99 feet of TDH. Each pump motor is rated at 125 HP, 1750 RPM, 60 Hz, 480 volt, three-phase.

Control system upgrades were made to replace obsolete equipment not capable of operating the new horsepower and new quantity of pumps. In addition, the prefabricated concrete buildings gave the customer a more secure and attractive solution. Metropolitan supplied the three prefabricated buildings and provided a simulated “Ashlar Stone” finish as an attractive exterior design. Inside walls are painted concrete and the owner chose an aesthetically pleasing metal roof to complete the buildings.

In addition to housing the new controls, another primary benefit of the lift station upgrade was the addition of new variable frequency drives.

“All pumps are variable speed meaning they will speed up or slow down to match the influent rate,” said Girup. “This type of application only uses electrical consumption as needed, thus saving energy.”

Another upgrade included in-place standby power.

“When power loss would occur in the previous configuration, the customer needed to mobilize personnel and a portable generator unit to support the remote lift station,” said Girup. “In the new configuration, the permanent standby 400 kW, diesel-fueled generator will support all three pumps during a power failure automatically.”

An additional advantage of including a permanent generator is phase protection. If any phase of power is dropped at any time, the generator’s automatic transfer switch will recognize the power failure and supply clean power from the generator to the pumps until the full power supply is regained. Because pump motors may burn up during dropped phases, or brown outs, the permanent generator provides further investment protection to the lift station.

Chemical Room with Dosing Pump System and Tank

A chemical room, complete with a dosing pump system and tank, provides accurate feeding of treatment chemicals and will reduce the frequency of chemical replenishment.

In addition to the standby generator, a chemical dosing system was supplied to replace the existing system. The new chemical system provides accurate feeding of treatment chemicals via a dosing pump that paces the total sewage discharge flow rate and reduces the frequency of chemical replenishment by increasing the volume of the storage tank, thus reducing fees associated with chemical delivery. The implementation of a chemical tank was deemed necessary per customer specifications. The chemical is used for odor control and to start the biological process of the sewage, assisting in the treatment process.

Surveillance cameras and anti-graffiti coating were also part of the new control and SCADA system upgrades.

New equipment was needed to monitor flow and tie in the third pump. A polyurea-coated, prefabricated meter and valve vault with measurements of 16 feet in length and 8 feet in diameter was also included to connect the new simplex pump system with the existing duplex system and also includes flood-proof hatches. Flood-proof hatches were provided due to the fact the lift station is located directly next to a large pond. The hatch elevations now all exceed the 100-year flood event elevation, however, if the customer does encounter significant rainfall, the hatches are water tight and will not allow water into the wet well, valve vault or meter vault.

Lift Station Controls for Upgraded O'Hara Lift Station in Romeoville, IL

Among the many upgrades provided to the O’Hara Woods Lift Station was the addition of new lift station controls.

A number of accommodations were made for the customer while upgrades were taking place, the most important being the need to keep the station functioning during construction.

“A great deal of planning was done ahead of time to make the field installation, start-up and integration into the SCADA system seamless,” said Girup. “All of the buildings were pre-wired and all controls were programmed before arrival on-site, making the transition as efficient as possible. The prefabricated components of the project allowed the contractor to save on bypass pumping due to the expedited nature of prefabricated system installation.”

An existing control enclosure also needed to be moved to a strategic location for installation to occur simultaneously with the existing lift station still in service. The existing control box was located close to where the prefabricated buildings would be installed. The contractor and supplier made sure the entire transplant of controls remained reliable and the customer did not miss a beat in regards to system operation, data acquisition and potential alarm notification.

“The prefabricated buildings were chosen for a variety of reasons, including cost and security,” said Girup. “Alternatives such as a large steel traffic box enclosure would have been nearly as costly, but would not have provided the same level of security that the buildings provide.”

The project reflects Metropolitan’s commitment and ability to meet the customer’s needs with ease of installation and peace of mind while making a smooth transition to an upgraded system.

A large upgrade project such as the Romeoville O’Hara Woods job is a large undertaking for all involved not only financially, but in regards to keeping the existing system in operation while upgrades are taking place. Metropolitan’s expertise, customer service and fabrication abilities helped to ensure the best possible transition from the old existing system to a first class facility.

The new improvements include a total of three sewage pumps, and provide housing along with surveillance cameras and anti-graffiti coating for further protection.

Project engineer, Jon Zabrocki, P.E., of Robinson Engineering, LTD praised Metropolitan’s ability to supply and support all of the equipment needed for this installation.

“When you’re dealing with a project as complex as this, it’s comforting to know you’re working with a single-source provider who is willing to take on the responsibility of supplying and supporting anything you might need throughout the job,” said Zabrocki. “The end result is that the new system has exceeded our expectations and it shows what can be done when owner, contractor, supplier and engineer are all on the same page.”

Village of Romeoville, Ill. wastewater superintendent Bob Stoppenbach credited the village’s confidence in all parties involved for establishing a strong level of comfort throughout the entire rehabilitation process.

“We’ve worked with Metropolitan on many projects and knew they were very capable of delivering the quality of upgrades that we required,” said Stoppenbach. “We were very pleased at the project’s conclusion and look forward to working with them again in the future.”

For more information, please contact Keith Girup at 800-323-1665 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

July 19, 2012

Hotel Employs Variable Speed Controls to Reduce Energy Demands

The Wyndham Hotel of Lisle, Ill. is located just outside of Chicago and includes 242 rooms spread across eight floors.

At Metropolitan Industries, we have the capability to bring the most up to date, energy efficient pump system to your commercial facility.

Whether you require a retrofit substitution of a previous design or an entirely different pump system in general, Metropolitan has the experience, adaptability, and customer service to design and service the most complex commercial projects.

A premier example of our commitment to delivering this type of system is demonstrated by the work done at the Wyndham Hotel of Lisle, Ill.

Working with a constant speed system that was over 10 years old, the hotel turned to Metropolitan Industries to deliver a solution that would save in energy costs.

“The previous system the hotel was using was a constant speed triplex system utilizing two large pumps and one small pump,” said Metropolitan Salesperson Mike Ponx. “With this configuration, the pumps would run even during the lowest demand periods. This type of system is quite wasteful from an energy consumption standpoint and we replaced it with a system that is more energy efficient.”

Metropolitan replaced the existing system with a Metro-Varipac System 2100 Triplex Variable Speed Pump System designed to provide a flow rate of 600 GPM at a constant discharge pressure of 90 PSI. A total of three pumps were supplied, each designed to perform at 200 GPM at 115’ TDH. Each pump motor is rated at 15 HP, 3500 RPM, 60 Hz, 460 volt and three phase.

Metropolitan’s Triplex Variable Speed Pump System will not only save the Wyndham Hotel funds in energy savings, it also freed up space for the hotel to utilize differently.

Metropolitan’s Metro-Varipac systems are available with options including, but not limited to, touch screen control, stainless steel piping and hydropnuematic tanks.

The smart pump technology incorporated by Metropolitan extends the life of the pump system. The compact packaged design allows for easy maintenance and gives customers the ability to place systems virtually anywhere. Variable speed controls can save customers thousands in energy savings and can virtually pay for the entire system over time.

“The use of variable frequency drives ensures the pumps are not running at full capacity during low flow periods,” said Ponx. “This is when energy savings are maximized.”

The compact design of the new triplex system not only allows for easier maintenance, but also saved a great deal of space for the hotel.

“The previous configuration the hotel was using had actually taken up two rooms,” said Ponx. “By removing an old, out of commission water softener and incorporating the compact design of the new triplex booster system, they only needed to reserve one room for the new system, allowing them to use the additional space for whatever they please.”

With the installation of the new variable speed booster system, the hotel can expect an energy reduction of 30% to 40% in domestic water system operation. For more information, please contact Mike Ponx at 815-886-9200, etc. 265 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

July 5, 2012

Equipment Upgrades Bring Pump Station Efficient Operation

In addition to the equipment we supplied to the Joe Orr Road Lift Stations of Chicago Heights, Ill., Metropolitan was also chosen to supply equipment to the 71st Street Stormwater Pump Station in Bridgeview, Ill. The control and power distribution equipment was housed in a prefabricated concrete building with outside dimensions of 10’6” in length and 10’4” in width.

The addition of variable frequency drives will provide the pump station with efficient operation, which will lead to energy savings for the customer.

Three Hydromatic model S12L4000 non-clog pumps with 100’ cords and silicon carbide seals were supplied. Each pump has a capacity of 3142 GPM at 29.2’ TDH for a total pumping capacity of 9,426 GPM when operating in parallel. Each motor is rated at 40 HP, 1150 RPM, 460 volts, 60 Hz and three phase. A 125 kW natural gas, sound attenuated Caterpillar generator was also included in the equipment package.

Metropolitan’s Keith Girup said Metropolitan was contacted to take part in the project at its inception, and that the eventual place where the building would be placed and function had much to do with its overall design.

“This pump station is on the southwest side of Toyota Park on 71st Street in Bridgeview where an IDOT viaduct is being constructed so that traffic can flow under the railroad tracks,” said Girup. “The pumps will displace stormwater during rain events to prevent the viaduct from flooding.”

Girup said additions of variable frequency drives and enhanced controls with SCADA components will provide the municipality with both energy efficient operation and alarm notification if procedure encounters a malfunction.

Control upgrades were made at Metropolitan and the building was shipped fully assembled and ready for installation.

“This station has been designed with variable frequency drives which will vary the speed of the pumps to match the rainfall event,” said Girup. “By varying the speed of the pumps, the motors will only consume the amps needed to match the influent rate, thus saving on electrical costs.”

For more information, please contact Keith Girup at 815-886-9200, ext. 264 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

June 23, 2010

Famous Chicago Building puts pressure on Green Initiative

The Merchandise Mart located in Chicago.

When the world-renowned Merchandise Mart in Chicago began the task of obtaining LEED-EB certification, it was just the fifth building in Chicago to go “Green”. Adhering to standards set forth by the LEED Green Building Rating System, a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. The Merchandise Mart focused on five key areas of green building strategy: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials/resources and indoor environmental quality as set forth by LEED. Such on-going improvements involved reevaluation of capital programs for replacement of windows, roofs, controls, plumbing fixtures, utility meters and lighting.

To better target energy efficiency, just one of the many strategies directed by Merchandise Mart’s Vice President of Engineering Mark J Bettin, P.E. was replacing an outdated domestic water supply system that was a large consumer of energy and an inefficient supplier of water.

Original System

The original system consisted of five pumps ranging in size from 40 hp to 75 hp. The pumps ran at a constant speed intended for the highest demands even during low-flow periods such as during the middle of the night. The system was designed to deliver over 1250 gpm, churned at 290psig, and incorporated pressure reducing valves on the discharge of each pump to maintain a system pressure at 200psig. The five original pumps were oversized by 35HP each, totaling 175 unnecessary horses.

“With recent restroom renovations complete, the water consumption and demand reduced annually by over 35%, resulting in an oversized, inefficient pumping system.

It required large amounts of energy to run and replacing it would help in the buildings’ on going energy reduction efforts and contribute in maintaining the standards of LEED certification,” Bettin said.

According to Merchandise Mart’s Plumbing Foreman, John Geiss, prior to the retro-fit and during heavy usage the domestic water system would see momentary swings in the system as much as 40-PSI at the top end of the system, resulting in noticeable fluctuations at the fixtures and excessive pipe movement.

The Merchandise Mart is the world’s largest commercial building, largest wholesale design center and one of Chicago’s premier international busine

Back View of the Energy-Saving Pump System

ss locations. Encompassing 4.2 million gross square feet, The Mart spans two city blocks and stands 25 stories high. Today, The Merchandise Mart welcomes more than three million visitors each year to its retail shops, boutiques, 11 floors of permanent showrooms for gift, residential, casual and contract furnishings, 10 floors of office space, dozens of trade shows and a myriad of special educational, community and consumer events.

During peak flows, which typically are during a large tradeshow event or during the workweek, demand can reach 750 gallons a minute when up to 20,000 people populate the building during major exhibitions. However, during low flows, as witnessed during the early morning hours, demand can slow to a few gallons a minute. With such a wide range of flows and given the Merchandise Mart’s demanding show schedule where water consumption constantly changes, the new domestic water system would need to match not only extremely high flow demands but also the low flow demands using the least amount of energy necessary.

During the bidding process, quality, service and experience were the criteria important to Bettin when choosing the companies to complete the work.

“We pre-qualified the companies such as engineer KGWW, Metropolitan Industries, Inc., Great Lakes Plumbing and Blaze Electric based on their experience and reputation,” he said.

Chicago-based Great Lakes Plumbing was awarded the design/build contract based on the proposal they submitted. Great Lakes’ Bob DeGuiseppe, project manager, served as the general plumbing contractor and pump and control system manufacturer Metropolitan Industries, Inc. of Romeoville, Ill., designed the new system and pressure reducing zone stations while Blaze Electric of Broadview, Ill. served as the installing electrical contractor and KJWW of Chicago served as Engineer during the project.

The New “Green” System

Metropolitan’s design of the pump system and pressure reducing zone stations was based on two specific goals that included reducing energy costs on day one of start-up; and ensuring enough redundancy to prevent loss of service in the future due to power or mechanical issues.

Working closely with DeGuiseppe, Metropolitan Chicago Sales Manger, Mike Ponx suggested installing a variable-speed system that would reduce energy costs by half due to the system’s ability to precisely match demand using only the minimal amount of energy necessary.

During low flow periods where little or no demand exists, a variable speed system shuts down entirely saving energy and money while four bladder tanks located in two separate locations help maintain pressure, while the system is in shutdown / low flow mode

Front view of the Energy-Saving Pump System

The system supplied was a variable speed, quadraplex booster system using vertical, multi-stage pumps, total system rated at 1000GPM at 200 PSI. The Merchandise Mart’s peak flows are 750 gallons/minute so in a condition where any single pump fails, the system will still be able to handle the load without shut down. To add to the redundancy, there are two separate power feeds divided between the system. Feed A runs three pumps and Feed B runs two pumps. If either feed A or feed B is lost, the building will still have one electrical feed to supply water to the building without interruption or system shutdown. The electrical control system and plumbing design was also configured to one existing pump to operate as a manual stand-by pump to further add redundancy to the building.

The building is divided into four zones to stabilize pressure. At each zone, pressure reducing valves were downsized to maintain each of the zone’s pressure requirements and the four bladder tanks were installed on the 6’’ cold water express risers to sustain pressure when the system shuts off during low flow periods.

Using bladder tanks at the top of the express riser, pressure is stored so the system can shut off during low flow periods. As flow is consumed the pump system will activate and supply water to the building at the desired pressure. Once the demand for water is reduced to a low flow period, the system will shut off once again. Significant energy savings is realized during low flow periods when using variable speed drives and bladder tanks in combination.

During installation of the pumps and controls, interruption of service did not occur to the building said DeGuiseppe. “Since the existing booster system had two independent electrical feeds and the building could not be without water at any time, the electrical controls were built into two sections, which would be mated together during the second phase, he said. DeGuiseppe spilt the new control panel into two sections, Blaze Electric installed the main control section first after disconnecting the first electrical feed, than installed the first two of four pumps using the new controls. Once the first two new pumps were online Blaze Electric removed the old panel and installed the second half of the new control panel, which was designed to mate up to the first section. After that, the remaining two pumps were installed.

Green Savings

The energy savings realized using a variable speed booster system are tremendous. In order to commission the system and measure the savings, meters were installed to measure flow and energy consumption.

Results appeared quickly with the installation of the first two pumps. Energy reductions in the first week were 34%. With completion of all the pumps, the bladder tanks came on line and the system was set for commissioning. Utilizing a system by-pass and real-time flow meter, various loads were created to allow for fine tuning of the drives and staging of pumps. With the removal of the top zone PRV, the system pressure was successfully lowered from 200 to 185. Taking advantage of the bladder tanks, the night-time mode was enabled resulting in the cycling of pumps. Week after week evaluation has shown a reduction in energy by up to 50% with an anticipated annual energy reduction of over 125,000 kwh.

Within a decade, the system will pay for itself entirely on energy-savings and the expected life of this system is over 25-30 years so eventually the system will not only pay the end-user for the cost of the system but it will also pay the costs to replace itself in its lifetime!

Conclusion

According to Geiss, the completion of the retro-fit work improved the overall performance of the system by lowering working pressure and reducing fluctuations throughout the system.

“For the first time we have experienced the most even flow and the best overall PSI performance at the top of the 10th, 18th and 25th floor zones,” he said.

This was accomplished by reducing the size of the valves in the respective zones to “tighten,” up the flow in conjunction to the smooth operation of the variable speed booster system and bladder tanks that feed and assist the entire system as a whole.

“Overall Metropolitan and all parties involved came through with the promise and commitment to a 2-4 psi swing, and an energy savings that will match the Merchandise Mart’s committed effort to LEED providing for a GREENER tomorrow,” said Geiss.