April 13, 2005
City of Brockton, MA / Veolia Water
In October 2004 the City of Brockton, MA purchased an APSCO, Inc. ScrewSucker™ 4” Model 100 for Veolia Water North America which operates and maintains the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.
In a recent conversation, the plant’s Lead Mechanic, Tony Pagani, stated that they were extremely pleased with the performance of the ScrewSucker™. The pleasing features most mentioned by the operators were quiet operation, long run times between refueling (200 hours), dry self priming, and start/stop operating capabilities.
The pump is used for a wide variety of services such as tank draining, primary clarifier pump down, Bio clarifier pump down, Chlorine Contact Chamber pump down, and wet well bypassing.
The unit was originally introduced to the plant during a demonstration by the local representative, NE3 of New England. After seeing the advantages presented by the demonstration unit, Veolia approached NE3 and APSCO about purchasing the unit on its trailer.
The Water & Sewer Contract Administrator for the City of Brockton is Dave Norton. The Plant Manager for Veolia Water NA is James Lauzon and the Head Mechanic is Tony Pagani.
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Wellpointing…Not Fueling Around.
“Do you wind your watch?” asked Steve Leech, designer of the high efficiency Electronic Vacuum System utilizied in the ScrewSucker™. The answer is no, Americans have been utilizing the benefits of electronics in our automobiles, watch’s, cell phones…and must embrace their capabilities in the construction world. The robust Electronic Priming System and fuel efficient ScrewSucker™ is capable of performing in a myriad of applications including the most adverse.
Wellpointing is tricky business, it can be a nightmare with unreliable and inefficient equipment. Rest assured, the ScrewSucker™ is here to stay. A couple of inherent features of the ScrewSucker™ make it a top pick in the wellpoint world. The most obvious is the electronic priming system. What may go unnoticed to the naked eye is the design of the pumpend. The single vane screw design of the Hidrostal pumpend creates extremely low NPSH characteristics, in addition to its 80% best efficiency. It really acts as a progressive cavity, non-return style impeller in the front and a true centrifugal in the back. This allows the pump to move water without having a full volute, very uncharacteristic of a centrifugal pump. The impeller also reduces the cyclic wave action of an end suction wellpoint pump. The screw creates a non return action for the water enabling very smooth operation and eliminates “bouncing” of the swing arms on the wells. The entire package combines to create a highly efficient package capable of deep, high vacuum, suction lifts necessary for wellpointing.
Another concern with Wellpointing is mechanical seal life. The oil bath, tandem mechanical seal, enables indefinite dry running and extremely long life. The rubber sleeve also protects the seal from abrasives that might jeopardize seal life in a high vacuum application.
To top it all off, the ScrewSucker™ only consumes 0.25 gallons per hour of diesel in the 4 inch model 100, and 0.7 gph in the 6 inch model 125. This is raising the bar and setting precedent for fuel efficient construction equipment. The ScrewSucker™ is the pump of choice for dewatering contractors; saving them thousands of dollars in operating cost, and letting them sleep at night.
Fuel Efficient ScrewsuckerTM aids in Environmental Clean-up
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The small timber and mining town of Skykomish, Wa nestled below Stevens Pass was home to a large railroad fuel and maintenance depot owned by BNSF Railway. Oil leaching through wood stave pits contaminated groundwater and soils in Skykomish over a period of 80 years. In June 2006, BNSF started cleaning up a small portion of the site; multiple contractors were called to duty for their expertise; one of which was Wilder Construction Inc.’s Environmental Division overseen by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
They were awarded the contract for their experience with railway and water clean up efforts across the northwest. As with any remote location, equipment mobilization and operation is always a challenge. Wilder Construction initially approached Apsco, Inc. for electric drive Screwsuckers™ to pump contaminated water from the Skykomish River to the large filtration process required to treat the water before discharging back to the river.
After reviewing the cost of a power drop to operate electric drive pumps and comparing that to the fuel consumption of a diesel drive, dry self priming, ScrewSucker™ it was clear that the 0.7 gallons per hour fuel consumption of the 6 inch diesel ScrewSucker™ would save thousands of dollars over the duration of the project. Another factor in the decision was the eco-friendly ScrewSucker™ Whisper Quiet container the diesel ScrewSuckers™ are packaged in.
The double wall containment construction lends itself well to in channel water work as it prevents any oil/diesel spills during preventative maintenance or fueling. Two diesel ScrewSuckers™ were put into service and pumped well over 500 Million gallons of contaminated river water to be processed in the clean up effort.