Maintenance does a variety of different things in the plant. My staff and i handle all of the day-to-day maintenance problems that occur within the facility. We do more thatn change out light bulbs. We peform PMs (preventative maintencance) and break downs. We grease, change oils and filters, and clean certain equipment when needed. We have two digesters for our waste sludge. Every year or two we drain them out, clean them and repair the diffusers. We use the fild division's vactor truck and take out all of the grit that has accumulated. Then we clean all of the diffuser piping and replace what we need to. We pull, repair and / or replace electric motors, pumps, bearings and gearboxes. Our oxidation ditch sometimes needs a lot of repair. We need everything running on it in the summer because the oxygen demand goes way up when it's hot out. We work on the repairs to get them done as soon as possible so all of our aerators work. We replace hubs, couplings, and bearings. Sometimes it is only a oneman job and sometimes all three of us are out there. The only bad thing is most of the other work has to be put on hold until they're done. We also do minor fabrication and welding. The plant was having a problem with foam on the clarifiers. The operations Coordinator and myself talked it over about how to make the scum troughs pick up more scum. After we went over a few ideas we finally hit upon one. My staff and myslef made the modification to one of our clarifiers. It picked up twice the amount of foam as the old setup and now it is on our list to do the others. We repair everything from electrical outlets to leaking water pipes to changing out blowers. We have ran electrical conduit and pulled wires. We even have done concrete sidewalks and pads. We have installed new equipment that we have gotten. We retrofitted the new grit pumps for the grit system. We recently figured out how to save a lot of money. On our UV mondules there are cooling fans. We retrofitted a new motor and fan blade in the existing mount saving the facility about $240.00 per fan. We do as many of the repairs as we can in house to save money. We've even learned to troubleshoot and repair the furnances so we don't have to call out a repairman near as often. We welded a new edge on a bucket for one of our loaders. We also welded a debris shield on the top of it to keep what ever is in the bucket from falling out on the machine. If we have the time, equipment, and know how, we get the job done!
By: Steven E. Rebeck
Maintenance Supervisor
