Pump Stations, Lift Stations - How They Work To Drain Communities

www.frenchdrainman.com
That's pump one. This is a pump station. It's designed to where there are alternating pumps that pump the water. What a pump station does, well, in this case, we have done a lot of drainage in the area. All the properties that we built drainage systems for go to this drainage ditch. When the water reaches a certain level, it starts to go into the pump station through that grate. The reason why there a grate is so that no debris can get in and plug the pump station, like a big log or something like that. So you can see how the water is pouring through this. We just had a pretty good rain, so there's been a lot of water feeding this drainage ditch. So this thing is going to be pretty active for a little bit here until it catches up.
Now, look at the water line on the dam. Let's go to the other side here and look at the water line. Quite a bit of a difference. That's what a pump station does. In order for the properties on the other side of this dam to stay dry, to protect those homes. Here comes pump two alternating pumps. So there was pump two, and it'll alternate between pump one and pump two like this.
In the event that a pump should quit, the properties won't be flooded out. That's the beauty of an alternating pump system. This is a commercial pump station. Where's all this water going to? It's going out to Lake St. Clair.
Now the lakes here in Michigan, there are at record highs. We haven't seen the lake water this high in 30 years. They've been really high the past couple of years. This pump station had not been working for many, many years and a couple of years ago it just started. It just started pumping water with literally no notice. The boats that were tied up on the canal, once this water started, started to be pumped. The boats there were, there actually was some property damage over that. There was this no notice once, once we reached a level to where it was going to be catastrophic to the homeowners. You know, we're talking massive insurance claims, you know, homes being underwater. Well, as you can see, there's, when you look at the one side of this dam, and you look at the, the other side, I mean, it's pretty amazing. They're able to control the water. Look at that. [...]
Read More: www.frenchdrainman.com/pump-s...
French Drain Man - Michigan’s Yard Water Drainage Experts. Masters in the art of constructing contained French drain systems & curtain drain systems that and fix your yard drainage problems for years to come. Over 30 years’ experience in solving yard water drainage problems in Oakland, Macomb, Lapeer and St. Clair Counties.
French Drain Man / Sherwood Landscape Construction, LLC
122 S Rawles St
Romeo, MI 48065
248-505-3065
www.macombcountylandscaping.com #frenchdrain #drainagepipes #frenchdrainman

[@TheOnlySgtRock]

Interesting. Amazing the volume of those pumps.

[@whitemonkey7932]

I would never have understood the concept of the pumps changing over if you hadn't mentioned it a thousand times during this recording.

[@HaakimGordon]

lmao

[@elliottsmith3632]

I'm in Memphis Tn and we have a series of levees around the city to protect us from the floods from the Mississippi River. At several location near the river there are pumping stations that do this but on a more massive scale. You can drive by them and see the grates. During low water times the water just flows thru the pumps. Once flooding occurs they will close the gates and the pumps lift the water over the levees. These grates have automatic cleaners that remove the debris collected on the grating. During the floods in 2011, these stations ran for about 4 months.

[@FRENCHDRAINMAN]

Thank you for sharing. That's pretty massive. 4 months is insane 😳

[@scottstrang1583]

Very cool.

[@charliefunboy5210]

you would think those short cycles would be bad for the bearings, etc.

[@rs-xr3ty]

You mentioned that it wasn't working for a long time but then it suddenly began operating on it's own unexpectedly?

[@FRENCHDRAINMAN]

It's on a float trigger. When the water is high enough, it turns on automatically.

[@dunlaoghaire1000]

Why is that all needed? What is going to happen, if all that ( dam, pumps, pumps house ) wili be taken away?

[@rajivunome]

It is design to keep the canal water level low so the storm water will be able to drain into the canal

[@KevinBenecke]

If there is a lot of water, can it turn both pumps on if needed?

[@FRENCHDRAINMAN]

They may do that I don't really know. I thought they alternate until on fails. The main station gets a warning light. They send repair technicians out while still on one pump

[@mikeelliott9469]

If powered by electric motors, this short time, start/stop operation , is very expensive ! start up uses the most electricity and as the pump “primes” the motor runs more efficiently ! …..js

[@braintumor943]

theres a problem with this one, its stopped up, short cycling

[@FRENCHDRAINMAN]

I believe it's working correctly. The pumps Alternate

[@braintumor943]

Well these applications are usually set up as stages, you may have a lead and a lag but I will guarantee you no electric motor should short cycle like that, in no world is that a good thing, the on and off constantly hood on a motor

[@braintumor943]

My first guess, I can’t see it but I would guess There’s not good drainage in to the intake where the floats are, but maybe a control issue

[@braintumor943]

I would find a mechanical guy to look at it, but if you want to check it out, look at the floats or what ever controls the pumps, are there two of them at different levels, I bet so

[@mccarag13]

Damn, guess the cities failed and thats why Grosse pointe flooded.

[@mccarag13]

Is this Connor creek?