A different kind of pump repair!

Users may not notice but the hub building is slightly lower than the bridge accessing the site. Equally people may not notice that there is a sewage pipe attached to the side of the bridge. What this means is that we have a sump in the car park outside the hub building that has submersible trash pumps which pumps liquid and solids from the hub building drains up to  the level of the bridge.

As the pump lives underwater it isn’t something you think about too much until it breaks down, which it did on 5th February. Although we had become aware in 2025 that the stand-by (spare) pump had broken down many years ago (2019?) and not been replaced since then, we had planned and budgeted to install the standby in May 2026.

With the one remaining pump now broken we were able to contact the pump engineers to source 2 replacements and schedule their installation the following week, however at 4pm on Friday we needed to secure portaloos for the next day and up until the repair was completed. Thankfully Loo Kings came to our rescue with portaloos sent out at 7am the next morning for our open water swimmers. Our friends at the loading bay also offered use of their facilities when they were open.

A week later everything was back to normal, and 2 pumps now in place for the future. Having repaired the White Water course pumps (which costs over £100,000 each and need a HIAB to lift for servicing) this bill was a fraction of the cost but still a reminder of how expensive it is to maintain a busy site.