Project Overview

When a vital pump station in Binghamton, NY struggled with constant ragging and pump failures, resulting in weekly/daily emergency crew callouts, the City needed a reliable solution to maintain satisfactory operational status within their sewage collection system. Frequent pump removals consumed dozens of operational manhours and created legitimate concerns regarding severe weather performance and the potential for sewage overflow. That’s where valued Wilo channel partner, W2O, stepped in.

The previous pump station upgrade was funded through a state flood mitigation program and was installed and commissioned in 2020. However, shortly after start-up, the station began experiencing extreme clogging occurrences that required the pump to be lifted from its base, manually cleared, and placed back into service several times per week.

“As soon as that station was online and running, we were pulling each pump, you know, sometimes a couple times a day, three or four times a week,” said Kurt Brown, Water Sewer Superintendent for the City of Binghamton WWTP.

The competitor’s original non-clog sewage pumps were eventually replaced shortly after with centrifugal chopper pumps from the same manufacturer; however, the problems persisted. While the frequency of pump removals initially decreased, the city eventually returned to pulling one pump, and in some cases both, during moderate-to-heavy rain events. Due to continued clogging, the alternate chopper pump installation did not provide Binghamton with a long-term solution.

The Challenge

Recurring ragging and pump clogging events were a significant operational burden for the city. Crews were required to pull the pumps, clear blockages, and place the station back into standard operation, often sacrificing time & manhours allocated to daily site checks & maintenance for other pump stations throughout the Collections Systems.

“It was extra work that they didn’t have time for to begin with. It was taking away from daily operations,” said Kurt Brown.

Severe weather added another layer of concern as the city operations team was unsure whether the lift station would perform as intended.

“If we had severe weather, is the station going to make it through the storm? Or are we going to have to be out there in the storm pulling the pump just to keep things going? Yeah, it was a nightmare,” said Brown.

When the pumping equipment was deemed uneconomical to repair, W2O worked with the City to develop a comprehensive plan to demo a Wilo solids-handling pump and determine if it could provide more reliable operation.

The Solution

Dereck Withey, Owner and Operator of W2O, provided a Wilo FA10.51E purpose-built sewage pump-end, with a proven FK17 motor, for the application. Furthermore, in lieu of immediate payment from the owner, W2O offered a unique opportunity by providing a demo pump so performance could be validated by all stakeholders in real-time.

“When we first looked at this application with Kurt, the rags they showed us were quite heavy for a pump station with 4-inch pumps. I have a long history with Wilo but was unsure if the FA10.51 would work with such heavy rags. We paired the FA10.51 with a FK17 for its [internally integrated] cooling system. Although this is a submersible station, the “dry pit” motor would cool itself during the long run times that come with storm events. We just happened to have the motor in stock and a used wet end with the correct impeller trim. Everything came together to be able to do the trial, and the pump surpassed everyone’s expectations.”

The opportunity to trial the pump before making a purchasing decision proved to be the value proposition that influenced the owner’s desire to move forward.

“I consider it huge that I was able to try the pump before I had to spend the money to buy one, not knowing that it was going to fix our problem. So, I mean, that doesn’t happen,” said Brown.

The trial pump operated for more than 60 days with no issues. Moreover, the Wilo pump also provided higher pumping output using the same horsepower motor rating as the previous competitors’ pumps.

“We ended up getting a higher pumping capacity with that same horsepower pump, and therefore it was cutting the pump run times in half,” said Brown.

“The trial pump was installed on April 28th [2026], today is August 13th [2026]. The station has not clogged to date, with the exception of when one of the permanent pumps was installed on July 8th; it sucked up a brick that had to be manually cleared. Other than that, this station has run without issue. “ – said Withey.

Benefits

The successful trial gave the city confidence to move forward with three new Wilo pumps for the duplex station, two duty pumps and one spare. The new pumps increased pumping capacity while reducing runtime(s), energy usage, clogging events, and premature pump failures.

“And we’ve had no high-level alarms; we haven’t had to pull the pumps once for plugging up with rags or anything like that,” said Brown.

For the wastewater team, the biggest benefit has been performance and reliability.

“The biggest benefit for my station guys is not having to pull the pumps every week. Reliability,” said Brown.

Emergency callouts also dropped from approximately once a week to nearly zero. Brown summarized the experience for other municipalities facing similar issues: “We went from unreliable pumps due to ragging to reliable pumps with no ragging since we’ve had Wilo in there.”

The city also valued the support provided by W2O throughout the process. “My biggest thing is, and I’ve always said it to Dereck, is reliable customer service,” said Brown. Adding, “He’s always willing to go the extra mile, and that’s a big deal to me.”

About Wilo

At Wilo, we are more than just a pump supplier; we’re a solutions partner. Working alongside trusted channel partners like W2O, we deliver reliable solutions designed to meet the specific challenges of wastewater applications. From engineering support and pump selection to trial and evaluation, Wilo is dedicated to helping customers find solutions that keep their systems running reliably.

Project Partners

• Client / End User: City of Binghamton, NY - Kurt Brown, Water Sewer Superintendent
• Channel Partner: W2O Pump & System Services, – Dereck Withey, President
• Wilo: Paul Jezuit - Regional Sales Manager, Northeast
  

Key Products

• Wilo-FA 10.51E With FK17 motor
  

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