Prism Engineering in Burnby, British Columbia, investigated the energy savings with smart pumps for BC Hydro,publishing the findings in a report, “New Pump Technology Pilot Project,” dated May 2009. The study compared two nearly identical high-rise residential towers in Richmond, B.C. Each building originally had a 1.5 hp pump to serve all perimeter heating needs. In one of the buildings, this pump was replaced with a Wilo Stratos pump.Metering was installed in both buildings to measure electricity consumption for pumping.
Measured power consumption for the existing pump averaged 1.1 kW throughout the test period, while power consumption for the Wilo Stratos pump averaged 0.45 kW in the winter months and 0.3 kW in the spring. The researchers projected annual savings of 76%.
A 1-HP pump that ran nearly continuously at All Souls Church in Brattleboro, Vermont, was replaced with this Grundfos Magna VFD “smart” pump, which senses pressure and circulates only as much hot water as needed.
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I was involved with one of the first installations in New England of the Grundfos Magna pump. As part of a major heating system upgrade of the 7,000 ft2 (650 m2) All Souls Church in West Brattleboro, Vermont, failed zone valves were replaced so that hot water flow could be shut off to zones in the building where heat is not needed. Mechanicalengineering firm Kohler & Lewis Engineering of Keene, New Hampshire, recommended the Grundfos Magna, because it wouldautomatically modulate the flow of hot water through the hydronic loop depending on how much heat was called for. Thenew pump replaced a one-horsepower pump that ran nearly continuously throughout the heating season.
While the heating system upgrade at the church was only completed in February 2010, there have been no problems so far, and the new pump is remarkably quiet.
Re-Published By - www.BuildingGreen.com 8/30/2010
Here is just one example of how we saved one company over $40,000 annually.
Figueroa at Wilshire high-rise
Meet Eric Skjarstad. He’s the president of California-based PumpMan, Inc., and was called upon to install a replacement pump system in Los Angeles’ eighth-tallest high-rise, The Figueroa at Wilshire. Skjarstad immediately knew the system for this tall order. Building owner Brookfield Properties had cited high maintenance and energy costs, along with declining water pressure, as problems to be overcome. These were the perfect challenges for a Grundfos BoosterpaQ®. This system, with its variable speed, energy-saving feature, reflects how Grundfos takes responsibility for conserving the world’s energy.
The old 6-pump system was replaced with a 4-pump variable speed pressure boosting system in the 52-story high-rise. Variable speed provides power to any of the system’s four pumps, freeing any one pump to speed up and slow down as water demand changes. “The variable speed drive not only reduces energy consumption,” says Skjarstad, “but because pumps come online at full speed only when prompted, the life of the pumps is extended.”…… Click here for the full article.
Flushable Wipes, is the convenience worth the cost?
The past few years have seen the introduction of more and more disposable wipe products for a variety of household uses. Many of these products are labeled as not only disposable, but also flushable.
While marketed as convenience items, these products may potentially become a huge inconvenience because they may clog not only the sewer on your property, but also cause blockages and backup problems in your city's sewer system and pump stations.
To understand how these wipes can become a problem, it’s important to know how the sewer system works. Every home has a sewer connection that runs from the home to the public sewer system. This sewer service line is the responsibility of the homeowner to maintain so there are no backups of wastewater into the home. From there, the sewage moves into larger collector lines, and pump stations help lift the wastewater across different elevations in the sewer system.
Why are household wipes a problem? Unlike toilet paper, these products do not break down once they are flushed. They can then cause blockages in your home sewer lines, resulting in the backup of sewage into the home. A repair of the service line can leave the homeowner with a nasty repair bill – often not covered by homeowners’ insurance – and an even nastier cleanup.
On a larger scale, when these products make their way into the public sewer system, they collect together and cause clogs in the collector lines and get tangled in lift pumps. When pump stations are clogged, they stop working and require cleaning and repair – or even replacement – in order to get the sewage moving again.
Avoid a nasty cleanup in your home and help protect the City’s sewer system by never flushing any consumer item, other than toilet paper, down the toilet, regardless of what the packaging promises.
Put these items in the trash instead:
Disinfecting wipes, baby wipes or “flushable” wipes
Cotton swabs and cotton balls
Feminine hygiene products
Paper towels
Facial tissue
Not sure what should or shouldn’t be flushed? : If it’s not toilet paper, and if you didn’t eat it or drink it first, it shouldn’t go in the toilet.
Pump Repair
