Pumps UK Service were approach by Dartford FC, a local football club to us, and they informed us that their pump which supplies water to the sprinklers for the main football pitch had failed and they needed a replacement urgently.
A couple of our engineers visited the site and upon investigation we found that their current borehole pump had burnt out. We feel that one of the reasons the pump could have failed is due to the configuration of the controller which timed the sprinklers coming on/off onto the football pitch. The pump would be switched on before the sprinkler heads were open, and this caused the pump to run against a closed valve and would heat up due to the water not having anywhere to go. When the pump was left on for too long, the water inside reached high temperatures and caused damage to the motor.
Another fault with their previous installation was that the pump was installed in a well that draws water from a man-made lake that is replenished through the rain water and surface run offs. This water contains leaves, debris and various other things and where there was no filtration mechanism fitted to the base of the pump, any debris from the lake could be pulled through the pump impellers.
We decided to install a new Lowara Scuba borehole pump as a replacement, but this time we fitted the new pump with a protective shroud and strainer on the bottom. This will help prevent any leaves or debris from the lake becoming trapped in the pump/ impellers in the future.
To combat the current controller issue, we installed a differential pressure switch. This allowed the pump to switch off when a set pressure was reached. Meaning that if the pump is switched on but the sprinkler heads were not open the pump would switch off until the sprinklers opened and water was called for. The switch was set to just under the maximum head of the pump which was 10 bar.
The customer was left very happy as the pitch can now be watered again and all works were carried out within a day with little to no disruptions.
If you have a project or installation that you need quoting then please give our offices a call today on 01322 292 415.
