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Tackling Costly Sewage Blockages at a Category B Men’s Prison

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The Challenge

A Category B men’s prison in Kent faced continuous issues with its sewage system, leading to frequent blockages that required expensive tankers to remove the waste. Inmates disposing of inappropriate items down the sewage system caused persistent blockages, costing the prison over £50,000 annually. Despite the inevitability of blockages in the sewage system, stronger pumps designed to manage non-flushable materials could significantly reduce the issue.

The existing system could not manage fibrous materials, plastic, and other non-sewage items, leading to frequent maintenance interruptions.

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The Solution


To resolve this costly problem, Dura Pump installed two Landia cutter pumps. These high-efficiency pumps are designed to manage challenging materials by tearing through fibrous substances, cutting plastic into small pieces and crushing brittle items, reducing the need for frequent interventions.

In addition to installing the new pumps, we removed the failed junction box and wired the pumps directly into the control panel.

Technical Specifications:

  • Replaced existing Flygt 3127 4.7kW submersible pumps.
  • Installed 2 x 5.5kW Landia DG80 submersible cutter pumps with extended chopping knife systems.
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The Outcome

The installation of the Landia submersible cutter pumps has delivered significant operational and financial benefits:

  • Reduced Costs: Twice weekly tankers no longer needed, saving over £50,000 annually
  • Minimised Downtime: Fewer blockages and callouts mean less disruption to daily operations
  • Improved Monitoring: Upgraded control panel with enhanced alarm visibility, allowing for quicker identification of potential issues
  • Faster ROI: The project will pay for itself within four months, thanks to the substantial reduction in maintenance costs.

This efficient solution ensures the prison can operate more smoothly, with fewer interruptions and with better cost management.

Choosing Dura Pump means investing in reliability and safety for your facility. Talk to an expert about your needs

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Clear, Consistent Communication

The communication from Dura Pump to the customer is very good. We knew what was happening with the repair every step of the way

Purchasing Manager

Outstanding Turnaround

We just wanted to feedback our grateful thanks to Chris and Phil for all their hard work yesterday in getting us up and running again. To turn us around from failure to full recovery in 4/5 hrs was nothing short of exceptional. Please pass on our gratitude to them both.

Operations Manager

Seamless End-to-End Service

Service and communication received from initial inspection and specification through to delivery and installation of our replacement system was seamless. Thank you.

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Your engineers are always informative and always let me know when they are on site. Always very helpful, always kept well informed, which makes such a difference!

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Over the moon with the service and quality of work/engineers.

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