As London smoothly continued its business, Hydro Cleansing moved into the dirty underworld of a pump station in West London. After a free site survey HCL established that four screens within it were on the verge of becoming blocked.
Four vast 4m high screens were located within a 20m deep shaft. This would be an overwhelming job for most companies. Megatron’s force was the only answer!
To accompany the beast, HCL sent an articulated bulk tanker to hold the waste and a five man confined space team. The team comprised of one topman, a two man working team and a two man rescue team. With extendible hand lances, the engineers were winched into the large space to blast the rag off even the highest parts of the massive screens. Not only vacuuming the silt and rag 20m vertically, Megatron phenomenal jetting force was required to cut the rag loose. A nearby hydrant provided a good water flow which was then blasted though the beast’s powerful hoses. These screens were fixed in place. Our confined space team worked using the jetting equipment and crow bars to chop through the rag. Lights powered by Megatron’s generator and the lights on the engineer’s hardhats lit the gloomy space.
The screens are there to act as grates to filter the solid waste, allowing the liquid waste through. Having not been cleaned for a number of years, the silt was almost at dangerous levels. Rag and solid waste caked the giant grates. Clearing them efficiently was essential. The silt that had built up behind it had to be removed and disposed of immediately. The utility company, who we were working on behalf of, closed the sewer’s pen stocks (large gates that act as valves regulating the flow of the sewer) temporarily which allowed the work to go ahead. A storm hit after the first day. The sewer had to be allowed to flow. Our team returned after the storm’s flow had abated and finished the remaining screens.
The engineers had compressed air breathing equipment on site in case it became necessary. Our confined space engineers were winched down into the space. They were equipped with masks and air bottles in case of gas emergencies and we had supplies of compressed air and hose with us in case it was necessary. The team could wear masks and have air pumped from above. Thankfully, this turned out not to be necessary.
Before, during and after:
We were delighted to complete this job for one of the South East’s largest utility companies. Our engineers’ hard work and the almighty force of Megatron allowed them to complete the job in three days!
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