While we wish things were different, lift stations are one of those things that homeowners or business owners only think about when something goes wrong. Lift stations essentially pump wastewater and sewage from a low level to a higher level when a gradient level doesn’t allow for natural flow.
Maintaining them is important because just their very existence in your system means that if they’re not working properly, then your system could almost totally fail. And nobody wants to deal with a problem like that.
Here’s what lift stations do and why maintaining them with lift station services is so important. Let’s jump right in.
The important stuff
There are two basic elements to lift stations: the controls and the wet well. The well is the place where the sewage and waste flow into and where the pumps that pump it out are located. The control panels are the guts of the system, however. The brain, if you will. They monitor water and waste levels, any potential issues, all of it.
How does it work?
The basic way to explain it is that sewage gets fed into a repository. Once it gets to a certain level the control sensors will recognize it and activate a pump that will then pump the sewage out and move it along to its next destination.
Lift stations live underground – to help avoid health risks and keep everything in a confined space. Since sewage has been known to produce poisonous gases like methane and hydrogen sulfade – keeping them underground keeps people safe. As such, it’s essential that owners consult professionals and use lift station services to make sure the pump is working efficiently at all times.
What does proper maintenance look like?
When in doubt – always use a professional lift station services provider. Everything in a lift station – from the pumps, electronic controls and system – are all in a corrosive environment and can experience a ton of wear and tear. Getting out ahead of issues before they become problems is essential.
All lift stations should be cleaned to prevent solids from building up – and it’s doubly important if you’re a restaurant owner – as grease can cause several problems as well. Inspecting the pumps, maintaining the floats and valves – are all things that should be done at least once a year. In addition, an inspection of your control panel should be done as well. So long as these are being done on an annual or close-to-annual basis, you shouldn’t experience many problems, if any at all.
Hopefully today’s blog was helpful to you in terms of explaining the basics of lift stations and why maintaining them is so important. If you need lift station services or help with maintenance – give us a call today and we’ll be happy to help. Until then, good luck!