Water and Sewage Treatment: Expertise Unlimited
Sean Moran, our Principal Engineer writes this occasional blog about his experiences. Our company (Expertise Limited) design, commission and troubleshoot Sewage, Industrial Effluent and Water Treatment Plant. We provide Process and Hydraulic Design, Staff Training, Review and Audit and Expert Witness Services.Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Business as usual II
The call-out didn't come at 3AM Sunday morning as predicted, but at noon the previous day. Frost damage had shattered many pipes, several pumps were air-locked, and there were unexpected foreign bodies in the feed which were causing blockages-and of course the buffer tanks were completely full at both sites, and the generators, instrumentation and SCADA system were also misbehaving.
It took half a day to patch things up, clear the blockages and airlocks, and get both plants running at top speed again to shift the melt-water.
It took half a day to patch things up, clear the blockages and airlocks, and get both plants running at top speed again to shift the melt-water.
Labels: emergency callout, groundwater, plant, treatment
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Teaching/Bits and Bats
I've been asked to be on high alert for problems with the Manchester groundwater treatment plants, but experience suggests that they never fail during the working week. I'm expecting the callout Sunday morning 3AM. Luckily I love an emergency.
I've received all sorts of exciteable emails from Invent Water Features/Invent Water Treatment's other creditors this last week, including solicitor's letters, threats of reporting to the DTI and so on.
I'd be a lot more excited if they owed me more than the £650 I'm down, and if I thought that it wasn't too apparent what happened to all of the company's assets and director's loans as the emails tell me it isn't.
I've received all sorts of exciteable emails from Invent Water Features/Invent Water Treatment's other creditors this last week, including solicitor's letters, threats of reporting to the DTI and so on.
I'd be a lot more excited if they owed me more than the £650 I'm down, and if I thought that it wasn't too apparent what happened to all of the company's assets and director's loans as the emails tell me it isn't.
Labels: emergency callout, Invent Water Features, Invent Water Treatment
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Emergency Callout Groundwater Treatment
A call-out to a groundwater treatment plant earlier in the week showed a few interesting problems. "Dirty" power from a failing generator caused the failure of a single instrument (a Siemens Hydroranger), but the knock-on effect was total plant failure.
The software programmer had "interpreted" the requirements of the Functional Design Specification in such a way that this instrument became critical for plant operation. This was especially annoying as there was a backup instrument working on a more robust principle, but no way to switch plant operation over to this alternative instrument without a programmer on site.
Of course at the point where I was called, the working day was coming to an end, the plant's feed lagoon was on the point of overtopping, and it was raining. I love a challenge!
Naturally there was an expedient way to get the plant to go again, but the fix was a little questionable. I consequently thought it best to connect a web-cam into the system so that I could see and hear what was going on remotely, as well as being able to see what the SCADA shows. All is now well with the plant.
The software programmer had "interpreted" the requirements of the Functional Design Specification in such a way that this instrument became critical for plant operation. This was especially annoying as there was a backup instrument working on a more robust principle, but no way to switch plant operation over to this alternative instrument without a programmer on site.
Of course at the point where I was called, the working day was coming to an end, the plant's feed lagoon was on the point of overtopping, and it was raining. I love a challenge!
Naturally there was an expedient way to get the plant to go again, but the fix was a little questionable. I consequently thought it best to connect a web-cam into the system so that I could see and hear what was going on remotely, as well as being able to see what the SCADA shows. All is now well with the plant.
Labels: emergency callout, groundwater, treatment, troubleshooting
Friday, 1 August 2008
Invest NI
We have been appointed for a second term as advisors to the Central Procurement Directive in Northern Ireland. Which is nice.
Emergency callout yesterday to problems on a groundwater treatment plant. Didn't take long to diagnose problems with a pressure sensor were inhibiting pump start.
No word back on the three tenders we have out, so had gone fishing. Was glad to be called away, it was hammering it down with rain, thunder and lightning...
Emergency callout yesterday to problems on a groundwater treatment plant. Didn't take long to diagnose problems with a pressure sensor were inhibiting pump start.
No word back on the three tenders we have out, so had gone fishing. Was glad to be called away, it was hammering it down with rain, thunder and lightning...
Labels: emergency callout, invest ni, problem, pump, treatment, wastewater
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