Ron Osborn with J. Ranck Electric helps guide the pump out of the collection pit, as Pendills Creek/Sullivan Creek Maintenance Mechanic John Shuman stands back and watches. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo by James L. Anderson) - Photo Credit: n/a

The pump propellers are located within the casing, just behind the "star" shaped support. The protective cage that keeps out debris has deteriorated from a lifetime of being submerged in water. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo by John Shuman) - Photo Credit: n/a

Located in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, within the Hiawatha National Forest, lays the Sullivan Creek National Fish Hatchery. Sullivan Creek raises Lake Trout broodstock which provide five million eyed eggs for the Great Lakes Lake Trout Restoration Program.  

Sullivan’s has a total of sixteen raceways of lake trout brood fish in various age classes that range from one to eight years old.  The raceways get cleaned once or twice a week depending on the age of the fish and how much feed they are being fed.

When cleaning the raceways you need to open the “mud valve” at the end of each pond and the water gets sucked down into a twelve feet deep collection pit.  This water then gets pumped by a large vertical pump that sits two inches off the bottom of the collection pit, and up into a circular sludge collector/clarifier.

The large vertical waste pump roughly pumps a thousand gallons per minute from the collection pit to the circular sludge collector/clarifier.  The pump is run by a three-phase, five horse power motor.  Due to Sullivan’s remote location, there is no three phase power available, so there are “add-a-phases” located around the hatchery to convert incoming power up to three-phase specifications.  

The waste pump system was put in twenty-six years ago and during that time it has been rebuilt once during the mid 1990’s, but never had an electrical upgrade.  In July of 2010, the twenty-six year old “add-a-phase” for the waste pump was upgraded to a “rotary phase” system which replaced all the converters and capacitors.  This “rotary phase” uses less electricity and is a self contained unit with no converters or capacitors to replace.  The work was performed by J. Ranck Electric out of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

During January 2011, the hatchery experienced several days of below zero temperatures with the coldest being minus thirty-three degrees Fahrenheit.  After these extreme temperatures the waste pump would not work.  Hatchery staff members were not sure if the pump was frozen, or if it could be an electrical problem.  

No one could ever remember the pump freezing in the past twenty-six years.  After the weather warmed up some, hatchery staff proceeded to get the pump working by spinning the shaft with a pipe wrench and freeing the pump up.  The staff got the pump working again, but with some dreadful noises when it would first start up.  It was decided that the pump should be pulled and inspected further to determine the cause of the noise.  

February 14, 2011 was the date picked, since J. Ranck Electric was pulling the pump they had to wait for their crane operator to get back from vacation.  The morning of the February 14, was rather warm, at a balmy twenty-four degrees then add in the wind chill factor and the temperature was more like twelve degrees.  Since all the hatchery had was a blue print on how the pump system was built and nothing specific on the pump itself, it was slow going to get the pump out of its hole.  

Once everything on the surface was unbolted, it was down into the collection pit to unbolt the “Y” connection pipe which leads to the circular sludge collector/clarifier.  By the looks of the Y-pipe, it was designed to be unbolted and then slide back out of the way of the vertical piping.  Due to the nature of the system being in a moist environment and twenty-six years old, the Y-pipe did not want to slide back out of the way and had to be cut off with a torch.  Once that was done, the pump was lifted up, but a section of Y-pipe still on the vertical casing was hitting a section of the concrete lid.  

After further inspection, the last time the pump was pulled they had to core drill a section of the concrete lid out to get the Y-pipe through the hole.  After the pump was reinstalled though, they placed some fabric matting in the drilled hole and poured redi-mix in it to fill the hole.  So, with a chisel, sledge hammer, and some massive persuasion, the hole was reopened and the Y-pipe was able to exit with out any problems while being lifted up out of the collection pit.  

Another problem was encountered while lifting the pump out, the hole in the concrete lid was big enough around for the casing, but not for the protective cage around the pump propeller on the bottom of the casing.  It was then decieded that was enough for one day, since it was close to the end of the work day, and J. Ranck would need to get more tools to finish the job.

The start to the morning of the February 15 was a rather cool one at minus two degrees Fahrenheit.  It was determined that instead of climbing back down into the collection pit and unbolting the old cage, the opening in the concrete lid would be enlarged to the size of the cage.  On this day J. Ranck showed up with a concrete saw and went to work on making the lid opening larger to pull the pump out in one piece.  

After the hole was enlarged and the pump lowered onto a trailer, it was noticed that part of the protective cage had rusted away and a wooden pond wedge that was accidentally flushed down the drain had made it way into the pump propellers and was stuck between the casing and the propeller.  J. Ranck then took the pump with them back to their shop to inspect it and make sure nothing more was broken or worn out from the wedge being stuck in the propeller.

On February 22, 2011, J. Ranck Electric called to indicate they had finished with the repairs and to schedule a day to reinstall the pump. The repairs to the pump system were: a new protective cage at the base of the casing, cutting in a new key way, and enlarging the casing cover plate, to cover the enlarged opening that was cut into the concrete lid to pull the pump in one piece.  The pump propeller, bearings, and shaft where in good shape and needed minor attention.  

Both parties agreed that February 23, 2011 would work to reinstall the pump at Sullivan Creek. The morning of the February 23 was a modest, eight degrees Fahrenheit and started by pumping out the collection pit and cleaning out all debris accumulated during the removal of the pump.

A new slide collar was installed at the Y-pipe section and the pump was lowered into place, bolted down, and wired back together. The collection pit was then filled with water from the ponds and the pump kicked on without a problem or dreadful noises. A big “Thanks” goes out to everyone who worked on getting this old pump system pulled, repaired, and reinstalled in a timely manner during the middle of winter.