Emergency pump hire keeps popular shopping mall open

The breakdown of a sewer pumping station can have a very serious and immediate impact on its surrounding area, requiring an urgent response to prevent discharge spillage and allow repair works to be carried out. Designed to transfer waste from an underground well to a central main, pumping stations undertake a very important task.

A Sykes Pumps engineer was recently called out following reports of an issue at a shopping centre on the south coast. The facilities manager responsible for looking after the site explained that their pumping station had failed and left a busy retail hub potentially at the mercy of untreated sewage.

Coincidentally, the shopping plaza’s previous estates team had also reported an issue with the pumping station a couple of years ago, which meant our regional experts had prior knowledge of this application.

We provided two 2” P701 drainage pumps to supersede their own faulty submersibles on the last occasion but a different solution was required this time. Specifically requesting a bigger flow and solid handling capabilities, we recommended the deployment of our 4” H100 hydraulic submersible.

Delivering flows of up to 38 litres per second, this product negates any requirement for an electrical power source thanks to its diesel engine and hydraulicly powered pump end.

Without our intervention, it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that the shopping centre would have been closed indefinitely due to the obvious safety implications of environmental contamination.

As it was, we were able to demonstrate our expertise in a highly sensitive situation and help avert a catastrophe that could have caused significant revenue losses to local businesses.