Pumping Station Equipment, Oshawa, Ont.

Abstract

The Oshawa water works plant has enjoyed a rather unique development on account of growth from a small town into a city of nearly 30,000 people in a short space of years. The plant was first conceived and installed under the direction of Willis Chipman, in 1904, when a town of 4,300 people expended nearly a quarter of a million dollars on a steam operated pumping plant and a gridiron system of limited proportions, surmounted with a cylindrical standpipe of 65,000 imperial gallons capacity. The consumption grew until, in the year 1922, when I first took charge of the system, the total annual pumpage was 266,000,000 gallons, with an average daily demand of 730,000 imperial gallons for a population of 12,780 people. The plant at that time consisted of two 90 H.P. horizontal return tube boilers, one cross compound Corliss horizontal high-duty steam pump with a capacity of about 600 gallons per minute, one duplex Snow steam pump with a capacity of 1000 gallons per minute, one centrifugal pump with a capacity of 1000 gallons per minute, driven by a 4000 volt motor, and one centrifugal pump of 1000 gallon capacity driven by a 550 volt motor of 175 H.P. capacity. The above constituted all the high-head plant for delivery of the water from the pumping station on the lakeshore to the City. In addition, the lowhead or filter plant equipment was as follows: two centrifugal pumps with a capacity of 650 gallons per minute each, driven by 10 H.P. 550 volt motors, one centrifugal pump with a capacity of 1300 gallons per minute, driven by a 25 H.P. motor and also by a 25 H.P. Sterling gasoline engine as an auxiliary. The plant as outlined, was amply sufficient for the town up to the year 1922, when it was found to be inadequate. Steps were then taken to improve it. The 4000 volt motor unit was replaced with a new pump and motor unit purchased under rigid specifications as to efficiency guarantees, and mechanical features, and having a rated