A police motorbike escort was sent to accompany the return of repaired electric motors to the Mythe water treatment plant in Tewkesbury, following the floods in July which left thousands without running water.
ABB Motor Service Partner, Central Electrical of Knowsley on Merseyside was called upon by Severn Trent to salvage the critical motors which power the filter pumps; return them to the company’s workshops; and repair the damage as quickly as possible, in an effort to restore water to hundreds of thousands of homes. ABB Motor Service Partners signed a framework agreement five years ago to undertake Severn Trent’s electrical motor repairs and replacements.
“When the extent of the damage became apparent, Severn Trent contacted us immediately and we despatched a team of four engineers to Mythe,” explains Shaun Sutton, director of Central Electrical. “We removed the electric motors from the treatment works, which was flood-damaged, and brought them back to our Knowsley repair facility. Then we cleaned and overhauled them before sending them back to site.”
24 motors, ranging in frame size from 90 to a number of old, large imperial frame motors used on the filtration pumps, needed to be taken out. The removal from site posed some very difficult lifting challenges due to limited space.
It was around 24 hours before the motors could be transferred to the repair shop. Here, each motor was stripped down, thoroughly dried and the windings assessed and repaired or re-varnished. All bearings were replaced and the motors underwent stringent testing before being transported back to Mythe.
“We managed to remove, repair and return all motors within 48 hours,” says Sutton. “Initially they were going to fly the motors from our plant in Knowsley to Tewkesbury in an RAF Chinook helicopter. The motors we repair are an essential part of the water treatment process, and many of the Mythe ones have been under water.”
More than 300,000 people had been told they faced up to two weeks without water at home after the Mythe treatment plant flooded. However, through the tremendous efforts of all concerned, water supplies were restored after just one week.