CF ChatterFix
Preventive Maintenance

Lift Station Pump Service

A lift station is unattended infrastructure whose failure mode is a sanitary sewer overflow — raw sewage into a street or watercourse, which is a public health event and a reportable regulatory one. Duty pumps bind with rags and wipes, seals admit water into the oil chamber, and float switches stick. The redundancy that protects the station is a second pump and a working alarm, so verifying both is the job.

Interval Quarterly
Est. Duration 3.0 hrs
Steps 6
Applies To Municipal & Public Works

The Procedure

The steps ChatterFix schedules for this PM. Every step is a checkable item on the work order — a technician can speak their way through it without touching a keyboard.

  1. Confirm the wet well is treated as a permit-required confined space before entry
  2. Inspect impeller for rag binding, wear and imbalance
  3. Check mechanical seal and oil chamber for water ingress
  4. Test level controls and float switches through the full range
  5. Verify the alarm dialler and telemetry actually reach the on-call phone
  6. Exercise the check valve and record pump run times and amp draw

Why This PM Exists

A lift station is unattended infrastructure whose failure mode is a sanitary sewer overflow — raw sewage into a street or watercourse, which is a public health event and a reportable regulatory one. Duty pumps bind with rags and wipes, seals admit water into the oil chamber, and float switches stick. The redundancy that protects the station is a second pump and a working alarm, so verifying both is the job.

What Skipping It Looks Like

Stations run on one pump for weeks without anyone knowing, because the duty pump covers normal flow and nothing reports the standby's failure. Then a storm arrives, the single working pump cannot keep up, and the overflow happens at the worst possible moment. The untested alarm dialler is the compounding failure: the operator finds out from a member of the public.

Setting the interval

Quarterly service with the run-hour leg leading on high-flow stations. Compare pump run times between duty and standby at every visit — divergence is the cheapest early indicator of a binding or failing unit, and it costs nothing to read.

Equipment This Covers

Common Questions

How often should this PM run?
Quarterly. Quarterly service with the run-hour leg leading on high-flow stations. Compare pump run times between duty and standby at every visit — divergence is the cheapest early indicator of a binding or failing unit, and it costs nothing to read.
How long does it take?
Budget about 3.0 hours for a technician working to the standard procedure. ChatterFix uses that estimate for capacity planning, then learns your plant's actual time from completed work orders.
What happens if we skip it?
Stations run on one pump for weeks without anyone knowing, because the duty pump covers normal flow and nothing reports the standby's failure. Then a storm arrives, the single working pump cannot keep up, and the overflow happens at the worst possible moment. The untested alarm dialler is the compounding failure: the operator finds out from a member of the public.
Can I use this checklist in ChatterFix?
Yes — this exact procedure ships in the Municipal & Public Works industry pack. Pick your industry at signup and it is scheduled on the right assets automatically, with no configuration.

Related Procedures

Stop Retyping Your PM Library

This procedure — and every other PM for your industry — is already built into ChatterFix. Pick your industry and it lands on the right equipment, on the right interval, in about three minutes.