The Old Made New

An inspection vehicle retrofit enables a Maine sewer district to improve efficiency and significantly enhance reliability

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The Brunswick (Maine) Sewer District needed to upgrade the equipment in its inspection truck. The vehicle was in sound condition, so when the replacement was budgeted, supervisor Wes Wharff went shopping.

 

He returned from the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo with information on numerous inspection systems, reviewed the material with his six operators, then invited selected companies to give demonstrations. The district chose Cobra Technologies, and the company performed an on-site retrofit in fall 2009. Compared with replacing the existing truck, the upgrade saved the municipality about $50,000 and was completed in two days. The retrofit has enabled inspection crews to increase their efficiency by 200 percent.

 

Small but determined

The district’s Collection Division is responsible for 70 miles of 6- to 12-inch clay, AC, and PVC gravity mains; 24- to 32-inch cement gravity mains; and 6- to 10-inch pressure mains. The system dates to the late 1800s. The district purchased its first camera in 1988. Several years later, the technology was obsolete, and only 10 miles of sewer had been inspected.

 

The second upgrade lasted 12 years, and crews inspected 11 miles of pipe. “We probably televise three or four months per year because we’re busy repairing manholes and raising them to grade when the roads are paved,” says Wharff. “Other duties include taking care of 18 pump stations in one town, six in another, and a small community subsurface system with 14 mini-stations.”

 

By 2007, the district had addressed many of its inflow and infiltration issues and was ready to intensify its inspection program. The district purchased a CCTV vehicle — an enclosed box mounted on a 1986 one-ton Chevy G30 cargo van chassis with 37,000 miles — through a federal surplus property program. The men in the shop outfitted the interior with wood paneling, but the inspection equipment was outdated, and replacement parts almost impossible to find.

 

“After Cobra won the bid, we took interior pictures of the truck and sent them to the factory in Georgia,” says Wharff. “Their designers requested lots of measurements, then sent a layout plan with our chosen equipment for approval. When the racks and product arrived, they fit perfectly.” From order to delivery took six weeks.

 

Complete system

The camera crew removed the old equipment in the truck. Then Cobra technicians installed a standard 8-inch crawler, pan-tilt-zoom camera, mainline reel with 1,000-feet of multi-conductor cable, electronic console, flat-screen 17-inch LCD monitor, CDL 9000 data logger with industrial touchscreen, and flush-mounted system controls.

 

The electronics console with DVD recorder, video overlay, and CPU came in a custom wood cabinet that matched the existing décor. The console is mounted on a lazy Susan for easy access to the connections in the back.

 

“My guys were right there every moment,” says Wharff. “The technicians showed us how everything was installed so we could repair it. Then they trained us to use the equipment. The truck has been out almost every day for a month now and we haven’t had a problem.

 

“The guys like the data logger touchscreen because it guides them through the whole PACP inspection program,” says Wharff. “They’re inspecting the remaining 40 miles of sewer. Meanwhile, I’m inputting the data into our ArcView program to develop the short- and long-range repair and replacement capital improvement plan.”



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