Case Study 04.2023

Submersible Pump Stations
Improve Efficiency andSafety in Lake Superior
Community
A small community on Lake Superior upgrades lift stations for employee
safety, operations efficiency, and resilience in harsh winters.
Located along the southernshore of Lake Superior, Chocolay
Township, situated in Marquette
County, Michigan, has nearly 6,000
residents requiring an average daily
wastewater flow of 50,000 gallons.
The township uses several lift stations
to move wastewater to the Marquette
Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The community has upgraded its liftstations to improve employee safety,
operational efficiency, and resiliencein harsh winters.
Prior to installing the upgraded units, the stations
used a traditional design with a steel can that reached
20 to 30 feet below grade to the suction pumps.
Staff used man lifts to descend and ascend intoand out of the stations, with an emergency ladderavailable when needed. Due to the confined space,maintenance required at least two workers to fix anissue when service was required. Special attention wasalso necessary to ensure safe air quality, with a four-© 2023 Gorman-Rupp Pumps

The stations designed for Chocolay Townshipoccupy a smaller footprint than previously
manufactured Gorman-Rupp ReliaSource® liftstations and offer adequate space for performing
maintenance should a problem occur.
gas tester and a fan operated by a whisker switch toguarantee the safety of maintenance staff.
Chocolay Township Public Works Superintendent Brad1

Raising the Floor
Eric Finnila, Director of Sales for Water andWastewater at Crane Engineering, worked with
Chocolay Township to install Gorman-Rupp
Reliasource® Above-Ground Submersible Valve
Packages (ASVP) stations as a starting point.
These systems, Finnila explained, addressed themaintenance concerns of the Chocolay Public Works
Department while also ensuring they were resilientin the harsh winters of Northern Michigan on Lake
Superior where heavy snowfall and whipping winds
are common.

The Gorman-Rupp sales and engineering teams
worked together to develop a customized
pumping solution to meet Chocolay’s specificsystem requirements. Each station included
drawings based on previously designed
ReliaSource® lift stations.
Johnson said the bi-weekly maintenance checks werea “nightmare.” Not only did lift station maintenancerequire at least two workers due to the confined
spaces, but the old stations were worn out after
operating for nearly a half century.
“The lift stations were nearing their 50th birthdaywith mostly original parts,” Johnson said. “The parts
that were used back then were extremely difficult tofind or even obsolete in some cases. In several cases,
we had to be creative to keep the stations operating
properly.” Pressed with maintenance challenges, andthe end of service life, Chocolay Township Public
Works developed a renewed asset management plan,
which determined the best course of action was new
installations. The township board agreed.

2

“We talked to them about switching to this newer
style that includes an enclosed building,” Finnila said.
“The piping header, controls, and everything are allinside versus the other, traditional style where guys
are outside with the double doors open, flapping up
against them while they’re on their knees.”
Chris Suomi, Gorman-Rupp Municipal Central District
Manager, indicated that the design for these liftstations was custom-tailored to the project based ondesigns from Crane Engineering.
“Further, they wanted a completely engineered liftstation that could be manufactured, tested, shipped,
and installed as a single unit – reducing installation
time and costs,” Suomi said. “Crane Engineering andGorman-Rupp had been discussing the idea forsome time, and this project provided a catalyst to
make it happen.”
Suomi said Gorman-Rupp’s mechanical and electricalengineering teams used existing station designs asa guide to develop the custom-designed lift stations
for Chocolay Township.
“Gorman-Rupp listens to our customer’s needs,” headded. “Many of our product innovations have comeas a direct result of Gorman-Rupp customer requests.”
Finnila explained that initially five of the township’sstations were converted to this style with a sixth one© 2014 ©
The
2023
Gorman-Rupp
Gorman-Rupp
Company
Pumps

converted near a commercial development. All thesestations use the Gorman-Rupp SF Series submersible
pumps. Suomi said neighboring utilities have begun
to request similar designs for their lift stations as well.

Maintenance Made Easy
Johnson said the workflow for maintenance has notchanged dramatically — the township still conducts
bi-weekly checks to ensure smooth operation – butthere have been other benefits.
“They did make life much easier for our crew byadding SCADA and standby generators,” Johnson
explained. “When a repair is needed now, it isextremely nice to be able to make one phone calland have the part on its way versus trying to findparts for 45 to 47-year-old equipment that is now
obsolete.”
Finnila noted that the lift stations are equipped withalarms that can reach the operators over a cellular
network if something goes wrong. Because themaintenance work is no longer done in a confined
space, Finnila said when there is an issue with a liftstation after hours, they no longer need to call twopeople in to do the work.
“It’s a huge game changer and upsell for them,”
Finnila said. “They only have two guys on themaintenance staff, so both of them were essentiallyon call all of the time.”

Brad Johnson (left), Chocolay Township Public
Works Superintendent with Craig Koch (FieldService Project Lead – Crane Engineering) infront of one of the original ASVP stations.
“After that, we would like to add two to three more to
get a couple more subdivisions tied into the system,”Johnson said.

About Gorman-Rupp Pumps
For more than ninety years Gorman-Rupp Pumps
USA has manufactured pumps for municipal, sewage,industrial, mining, construction, petroleum, OEM,government, agriculture and fire markets.

Finnila said with the new Gorman-Rupp lift stations,the township maintained the same horsepower ofpumps at the new lift stations as with the previousstations, but due to improved efficiency, the stations
were able to increase flows by 10 to 15%.

The company’s extensive line of pump products includes
self-priming centrifugal pumps, standard centrifugal
pumps, submersible pumps, rotary gear pumps,
diaphragm pumps, engine-driven pumps, and priming
assist pumps. In addition, Gorman-Rupp manufactures
a complete line of state-of-the-art packaged lift stations
and booster stations that include pumps, motors,controls, piping, accessories and enclosures.

Chocolay Township, he added, is continuing toconvert the remaining lift stations to this new style.
Johnson said the township’s ninth conversion will
come online in the second quarter of 2023, but there
is interest in more uses for the stations.

For more information, contact Cyndi Hoffner,
Advertising Manager, Gorman-Rupp Pumps USA; 600
South Airport Road, Mansfield, OH 44903-7831; Phone:419-755-1011; email cyndi.hoffner@gormanrupp.com;
www.grpumps.com.

Completing Conversion

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