Fairfield Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Butler County, Ohio, was having trouble with its grinders. The plant serves more than 42,500 domestic customers and a number of commercial and industrial institutions, as well as Mercy Hospital of Fairfield. It treats about 5 million gal of wastewater collected in over 175 miles of sewer pipe each day.
The brand of grinders it was using was extremely costly to maintain. It had two—one in each of its wet wells. Each year, one of the units would come out for a full rebuild due to the cutters’ complete deterioration. This was costing the utility about $25,000 per year in rebuild costs.
“It was ridiculously expensive,” said Brad Abner, chief operator at Fairfield WWTP. “There was no way we could keep using something with such high maintenance costs.”
After some market research, the plant decided to install a Franklin Miller Dimminutor to replace its current machine. Almost immediately, it found the Dimminutor to be more reliable and easier to maintain than its old grinders ever were.
“They are running wonderfully,” Abner said. “Even if we had to maintain the Dimminutor on the same schedule as our old machines, it would still be half the price.”
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The Dimminutor is an open-channel comminutor that provides automatic screening and grinding of liquid-borne solids with a straight-through design. It reduces plastics, wood, vegetable matter, disposables and other oversized items to a fine particulate. The Dimminutor’s features, heavy precision construction, dependable operation and simplified maintenance have earned it a solid reputation amongst operators and specifying engineers worldwide. It is designed for reliable operation and easy maintenance. For example, with its cantilevered design, the Dimminutor needs no seals or bearings near the gritty channel floor. The unit’s screen is stationary, so it never wears against bottom grit. Each cutter is interchangeable, and cutters can be removed or adjusted independently. The unit’s seals and bearings are immersed in an oil bath for long life and low maintenance.
