Case Study 05.2021

Lift Station Upgrade
Modernizes Outdated
Technology at Mansfield,Ohio’s Largest Pump Station
When the Park Avenue East Lift Station in Mansfield, Ohio, suffered recurring
flooding due to failing valves, a bigger picture goal came into view: Build a
new lift station.
The lift station had 14” pumps datingback to 1961 that were still in service;failing valves flooding the station; amotor control center from 1984; anddrive shaft-driven pumps that had
become antiquated.
“The station had become a local legend for operators
in Mansfield,” said Bob Coker, wastewater treatment
plant manager for the city of Mansfield.
“Nobody really understands the troubles with that[station anymore],” Coker said, noting that previously
workers would spend days rebuilding the outdated
pumps at the station every week. “We started calling ita workhouse because that’s really about what it was.
It was just that you knew you had to do it. You knew
you had to fix it and get it running, but nobody liked
it. It was going to be bad. It was going to be nasty, theworst environment.”
Located nearly equidistant to Columbus and Cleveland,
Mansfield has a population of around 46,000 people.
The Park Avenue Lift Station was built in 1959, and thepump manufacturer for the equipment that had beenoriginally installed went out of business around 20years ago. Since then, Coker said the city had worked
with a local machine shop to fabricate parts for pump© 2021 Gorman-Rupp Pumps

During heavy rain events, incoming flow
would overwhelm the outdated pumping
equipment often resulting in station flooding.
repair to keep them running after the manufacturer
went out of business.
Park Avenue East is considered the city’s primary liftstation as it handles around 70% of the community’s1

so the team hit the drawing board. “The way it
was originally planned, the VFDs were located in adifferent area and the level controls were located ina different area,” Beres said. “So what they ended up
doing is taking that level control panel and placing it
where the VFDs were.”
Coker said making the MCC turn a corner gave him andhis team confidence in the safety of the space. But healso highlighted that the installation of the VFDs was amajor step forward in addressing the wear and tear of
the starts and stops for the motors and pumps.

Due to space and structural restrictions, thecorner design of the motor control center was
crucial in fitting such complex technology into
a confined space.
total flow. Shawn Beres, application sales engineer for
The Craun Liebing Company, said that to address thebudget, the contractor and Gorman-Rupp provided analternate bid.
“We got together and did some field measurements
after they had walked [through the site],” Beres said.
“We went to this corner motor control center (MCC)type of design and asked them to do it as a bid
alternative. As an alternate to the bid, they could award
the station on the main lift station, but then they could
choose if they wanted to spend the extra money forthe brand new motor control center.”

Motor Control Center Leaps Forward
Upgrading the MCC from its original 1984
components became a massive leap forward intechnology for the city and the lift station operators.
But it was not without some interesting design
choices due to space limitations.
Additionally, a structural beam for the entire station
disrupted the intended original design, which
resulted in an adjustment to a corner motor controlcenter. The contractor essentially could not run
conduit without penetrating that structural beam,

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The Right Pumps & RightEngineering
The original pumps from the 1960s presented somedesign challenges for the project. The design for the newstation uses a horizontal shaft-driven end suction pump,
but the original equipment used vertical shaft-driven end
suction pumps. Beres said some of the piping had to be
reworked because of this design shift.
“Gorman-Rupp was able to work with the bases thatthese pumps sit on and create custom bases to allow
the suction lines to line up when they installed them inthe field,” Beres said. “Reviewing the previous installation
versus the new installation, it’s just so much cleaner with
the Gorman-Rupp pumps.”
Beres noted that the station had been limited at certain
amp draws due to pump limitations and that some of theolder pumps had seal failures as well. With the valves also
failing, operators couldn’t shut the valves off because of
the seal failures, and this resulted in the flooding of thedry well. With the new pumps, that issue no longer exists.
The project used two 16” pumps and two 12” pumps
designed for 27,000 gallons per minute (GPM). They firststart by ramping up a 112C60-B pump to between 3,000
to 4,000 GPM, followed by bringing a second 112C60-B
online to double the flow. If the flow continues andnumbers hit a specified level in the wet well, this triggers
a 6516A60-B pump to come online for 13,500 GPM. In
the event both 6516A60-Bs are brought online, during
heavy rain or large flow events, the total capacity reaches
around 37.4 million gallons per day (MGD). The station© 2014 ©
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Gorman-Rupp
Gorman-Rupp
CompanyPumps

was tested for 38.1 MGD, and Beres said in high water
alarm applications, they found the updated station could
actually reach a capacity of 51 MGD.

Reliability, Warranty & Service
One of the driving factors in the choice of Gorman-Rupp
Pumps was its five-year warranty, which Beres said
is “really unheard of in our business.” Because of thealternate bid, the motor control center was includedin the warranty that was offered, in addition to thewarranty on the pumps and load controls.
Curtis Freeman, sales application engineer for
Gorman-Rupp, said the five-year warranty is applied
to any packaged lift station from Gorman-Rupp. And
he noted that the manufacturer aims to also provide
a one-stop-shop for service for the customer, whichbecomes easier to manage because all pieces areprovided directly by Gorman-Rupp. Regardless ofwhat parts may need servicing, one call to them will
provide a solution to the issue.
With Gorman-Rupp’s corporate headquarters locatedlocally in Mansfield, Coker said the proximity ofservice response has been a large factor in providing
him and his team peace of mind.
“There’s times that we’ve had to call them in at themiddle of the night, and they’ve responded with noproblem whatsoever,” Coker said. “Those little things
really add up and it has taken us to where we are now
with this major lift station rehab with Gorman-Rupp
being very, very involved.”

About Gorman-Rupp Pumps
For more than 85 years Gorman-Rupp Pumps USA
has manufactured pumps for municipal, sewage,industrial, mining, construction, petroleum, OEM,
government, agriculture and fire markets.

The new installation with two 16” 6500 Series®
and two 12” 10 Series® pumps resulted in a muchsafer and cleaner environment for performing
routine pump maintenance and monitoring.
The company’s extensive line of pump products
include 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.
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.

GORMAN-RUPP PUMPS | P.O. BOX 1217 | MANSFIELD, OHIO 44901-1217 | USA | 419.755.1011 | GRSALES@GORMANRUPP.COM | GRPUMPS.COM23

© 2014 ©
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Gorman-Rupp
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