Pump Station Repairs

Last season we had three leaks in the main pipe that feeds our irrigation system, so last fall we inspected the pipe and determined that it had significantly deteriorated over its 15 years of use.  The steel pipe had many pits in it that were nearly as deep as the thickness of the pipe which meant that more leaks were likely to occur and there was a chance of a catastrophic failure.  If the pipe failed during the summer, we could potentially have been without irrigation water for at least a week or more, not a risk that is work taking, so the decision was made to replace the pipe.

This was a huge undertaking due to the fact that the pipe is over 6 feet under ground, and the underground pipe fittings were encased in concrete to prevent the pipe from moving.  We rented a small excavator with a jack hammer attachment to dig the hole and remove the concrete so that a contractor could come in and do the pipe work.

Jack hammering away at the concrete, exposing the pipe and fittings.

After we did the work to expose and remove the old pipe, the contractor came and took the old pipe to their shop so that they could fabricate a new piece of pipe with the same dimensions.  The first few days of this week they were here installing the new pipe and fittings.

New pipe going into the pump house.

Final welds being performed on the new pipe.

Now that the new pipe is installed and ready to go, we still have to encase the pipe in concrete again.  We hope to have the concrete in next week, and once it's cured we will finally be able to start up the irrigation system, hopefully in about a week and a half or so.