Water Treatment
KEY INSIGHT
Disrupted groundwater production, treatment, and distribution can affect the health and welfare of communities, not to mention hampering industrial operations and other establishments. It can interfere with or even halt critical operations and leave citizens without potable water. Mitigating damage caused by transient voltage with a Maxivolt engineered solution can reduce failure and misoperation by up to 80%. Reliable groundwater treatment means reduced maintenance expenses, more resources for other system improvements, less costs passed on to consumers, and averted environmental fines.
THE CHALLENGE
A publicly owned water supply and wastewater system operator serving over 97% of its territory’s population was routinely experiencing catastrophic failure of system components due to transient voltage. Cumulative damage was also shortening the useful life of essential and expensive equipment. Each unplanned repair or replacement was increasing operating costs (which ultimately meant rate hikes for consumers) and disrupting production (which meant dissatisfied customers — industrial, commercial, and residential). As a publicly owned entity, the interruptions reflected poorly on the territory’s government.
Two of the operator’s facilities were partially protected by Maxivolt devices at their 480V VFDs, motors, and pumps when a lightning strike at a utility pole transformer caused a surge. While the VFDs, motors, and pumps remained undamaged, unprotected 120V coils, relays, and monitors at the same facilities were damaged to the tune of $35,000.
At a third facility, a similar event caused $8,000 in damage to a chlorination pump control panel. At a fourth facility, power quality issues cost the operator $15,000 in motor control center connected equipment.
THE SOLUTION
Through phone and email correspondence, Maxivolt and the client developed a TVSS strategy to minimize catastrophic equipment failure and service disruption due to transient voltage. After the power quality events, Maxivolt SPDs were added at all the affected facilities.
THE IMPACT
Just one week later, a second lightning strike at a utility pole transformer occurred near the first two facilities. This time, neither 480V or 120V equipment was damaged. The water authority attributed this to the added protection at sub panels and control panels. The $6,881 investment in Maxivolt protection more than paid for itself in one week, also realizing a five-fold return on investment.
The third facility experienced power quality events two months after installing Maxivolt SPDs, but did not lose any equipment. The water authority realized a two-fold return on its $3,120 investment in Maxivolt protection.
Finally, at the fourth facility, the operator saw a payback in four and a half months. These figures do not include returns based on averted downtime, regulatory fines, and other related benefits.
Seeing the swift ROI (on average three months), the water authority then decided to outfit all its facilities with Maxivolt transient voltage mitigation systems.
