Lift station pumps & gas lines questions

Anyone have any experience with lift station pumps? I'm looking at purchasing a park which has two of them installed a few years ago at a cost of $55,000. The two pumps are installed together and operate alternatively to save wear. It will work on one if the other fails. How long do these things last? Should I figure a couple thousand annual reserve for that day when they need to be replaced? Annual maintenance? Anything to be concerned about here?

What do you think about parks serviced with natural gas? Does the gas company ever take responsibility for the lines? I seem to recall a Frank horror story about gas lines in a park.

Andy I have a lift station mine is as you have described with two pumps. Obviously, they are not all identical in capacities, mine is 8 years old I bought when I added some lots, It is an ABS brand.
I am thinking that part of the $55k must have included some new sewer mains as mine didn't cost nearly that much $12k. But to answer your questions about maintenance costs: The most frequent problems I have had have been at the control panel a thermo-protection relay has failed me 3 times. They cost $45 each. I had to change an impeller on 1 pump - cost $300. And I just this week had 1 motor rewound $450 (new 4.5hp motor and pump assembly cost $2005). The float switches will sometimes need to be cleaned of the powdered detergent that sticks to them- basically just pull the lid and hose it off. Also, a GFCI breaker will need to be reset after lightening storms and power surges.

If your manager doesn't have the skill set for this sort of thing, I would suggest making friends with some city utility guys who may want some side work or just go ask the electrical supply counter guys who is familiar with these systems in the area.

I would think $500 per year is more than you will spend maintaining your lift station over the years.

Andy,

Actually it was three horror stories about gas -- I had my master-metered gas system fail in three different parks.

Yes, it is very expensive to fix. But don't confuse "master-metered" with a conventional natural gas system. If the customer pays the gas company direct, then the gas company owns the lines, and the park owner is only responsible from the home connection to the gas meter -- which is not very far. It costs about $1,000 to replace per lot. A master-metered system can cost $250,000+ to replace, based on the size of the park. You might want to stay away from those if you can help it. Otherwise, make sure it has been recently pressure tested, and make sure it is legally permitted and up to date in all respects. There's nothing like losing your gas when it's 5 degrees out on Christmas Day.

MobileHomeParkStore.com

Your Source to Help you Buy, Sell, and Operate Mobile Home Parks for Maximum Profitability

Andy,

I have had many lift stations and while they are not something that will usually break a deal, you need to make sure to do the diligence on any lift station. I just finished having a new system put in one of my parks (there are 3 lift stations in this park) and the cost for 1 of them was about $35K. This is the first time it was replaced since the original install so it lasted about 35 years. The other two systems in this park have been replaced over the past 5 years. So using this as an example they last from 30 to 35 years.

If you budget $1K per year for reserves and another $1K per year in maintenance that should cover it. I have some lift stations that I have never done anything to and others that cost $2K per year in maintenance.

Dave

MobileHomeParkStore.com
MHBay.com

Andy,

I have utility-owned gas lines in my park and I think they are great. I don't have to do anything except the meter to home connection. Having the utility be responsible for the lines and meters means no worries when you accidently jackhammer through a line or drop a tree onto a meter and split it in two. I've done both and the utility company simply came out and fixed the boo-boo at no cost to me.

Rolf
Wheat Hill

My company operates and maintains sewer systems including lift stations. The arrangement you describe is called a "duplex" system - one pump is called "simplex".

Just a few of the myriad things that can go wrong in a lift station:

Panels corrode, internal components wear and corrode, if you have grinder pumps the cutting surfaces will wear, pumps need to be matched to each other and to the panel, otherwise you will have problems if the relays or capacitors are mismatched, sand can enter the system and prematurely wear your pumps out, infiltration can be a problem, check valves can clog or break, floats go bad or stick or get hung up, people flush things into toilets that they should not and it causes major problems in the lift station. THESE THINGS ARE ALL GUARANTEED TO HAPPEN AT ABOUT 1:00 IN THE MORNING IN A DRIVING SLEET-STORM ON CHRISTMAS EVE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

On the other hand, you might have very little problem with your lift stations. Preventative maintenance is your friend - stuff you can do when the weather is nice.

Best thing you can do is keep a good log book at your LS and write down everything you do every time you open it. Include pump hours. Do a draw-down test on each of the pumps, know what the pump curve specs are. Try to keep a good spare pump, a float, and some panel components on hand. Check the station visually once a month whether you need to or not. Pull the pumps once a year whether they need it or not, clean them visually inspect them. Check the amp-draw of your pump motors regularly and write it down in your log. make sure you can power the lift stations in an emergency power outage via generator plug. Only do this if you understand how to do it safely.

If you have a licensed operator taking care of your permit, then dealing with your lift stations should be part of his responsibility. If you are doing this yourself, then you might seek out a local maintenance contractor who can respond in emergencies.... it never hurts to have someone available who can give you a hand when you are in a bind.