Working with a below ground pump system and faced with the dangers associated with entering a confined space, the village of Hoffman Estates, Ill. turned to the trio of Metropolitan Industries, Inc., of Romeoville, Ill., engineer Burns & McDonnell of Chicago, Ill. and Bolder Contractors, Inc. of Deerfield, Ill. to deliver an above ground solution.
“The previous system the village employed was a below ground pump station in which water operators needed to travel below ground, and service the station in a confined space,” said Metropolitan salesperson Ken Turnquist. “Our design team not only supplied three brand new submersible pumps, we also provided new controls consisting of a control panel with a color operator interface, SCADA panel, flow meter converter, submersible transducer and three 100 HP variable frequency drives. All controls were housed in a large stainless steel mounted traffic box.”
Each of the three pumps has a pumping capacity of 1900 GPM at 100 feet of TDH, and four-inch diameter solids handling capability. Each pump motor is rated at 100 HP, 1750 RPM, 460 volt, three-phase and 60 Hz.
A large stainless steel traffic box housing all controls and permanent standby generator were part of the supplied package.
Installation included the addition of a new valve vault and the reuse of an existing oval-shaped wet well to accept the new triplex system. A permanent standby 250 kW diesel-fueled generator was also included with the package. The generator’s 600 amp automatic transfer switch was placed in the traffic box.
Additional accessories included a 48-inch by 108-inch safety grate hatch for wet well access and a 36-inch by 64-inch safety grate hatch for valve vault access.
To ensure safety, access hatches were added for wet well and valve vault access.
Turnquist said the above ground traffic box provides the village with a safer method of interfacing with controls.
“Confined spaces present serious dangers for those who need go below ground to service pumps, interact with controls and more,” said Turnquist. “If safety precautions are not followed with great care, consequences could be serious. The implementation of above ground controls significantly reduces the frequency water operators will need to enter a confined space.”
An additional advantage of above ground controls is investment protection.
“Having controls below ground opens the door to potential system damage with the danger of vault floods,” said Turnquist. “Placing controls above ground eliminates the hazards associated with placing them below ground and ultimately improves the longevity of equipment.”
Turnquist said the variable frequency drives, which slow down or speed up pumps, can possibly offer a reduction in energy costs.
Controls were specified by engineer Burns & McDonnell and supplied by Metropolitan Industries. Metropolitan also supplied the traffic box complete with all controls, which was transported to the village in two parts and eventually combined into one onsite.
“Because of the nature of the specified controls, we needed to construct a double, back-to-back traffic box,” said Turnquist. “It was one of the largest Metropolitan has ever provided and Bolder Contractors, Inc. did a great job ensuring its delivery and installation was well-organized.”
For more information, please contact Ken Turnquist at 800-323-1665 or sales@metropolitanind.com.
