Water and Wastewater.com Help Forums - Measuring sludge in Final Clarifier

op1wpcp

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Measuring sludge in Final Clarifier
May 01^st, 2012, 3:23pm

Hi,

This may sound like a dumb question to all of you, but I'm looking for a little bit of experience and knowledge outside of our WPCP.

What do you use, or what would you recomend, to measure your blanket on your final clarifiers? Our clarifier is approximately 25' deep.

We have been using a "sludge judge", a long, 1" diameter clear plastic tube with a ball at the end. It frequently doesn't seal totally at the bottom, allowing fluid to escape as you pull it up. And I'm not sure as to how accurate it is because of the syphoning effect as your lowering it into the water.

We recently got a new Cheif Operator, and he is wanting to buy a Sludge Gun. An electronic measuring device.

Does anyone have any experience with the Sludge Gun? Not sure if we should spend that kind of money on this piece of equipment.

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grrun

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Re: Measuring sludge in Final Clarifier
Reply #1 - May 1^st, 2012, 4:14pm

This website explains how the interface sensor works:

http://www.environmental-expert.com/products/sludge-gun-portable-sludge-level-detector-3608/view-comments

Personally. I have no experience about how reliable the Sludge Gun is, but I would think that it would be far easier to handle than a 30' long sludge judge.

grrun

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The sludge judge

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Re: Measuring sludge in Final Clarifier
Reply #2 - May 1^st, 2012, 5:00pm

These technologies are fairy reliable, but don't abandon the sludge judge as a backup. I would look into getting a new one that seals properly. (they're not expensive) and still verify the automatic level reading on a frequent basis.

Personally I prefer to not use automation whenever possible. This keeps people out in the plant checking on things.

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Anabaena

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Re: Measuring sludge in Final Clarifier
Reply #3 - May 1^st, 2012, 8:57pm

I agree with the above advice. We have transducer type sludge depth monitors in our six clarifiers. They are accurate, however I feel as Sludgefather does, looking at the clarifiers with a sludge judge gets the operators to take a closer look at how the clarifier is operating. The transducers only note a compact blanket, at least from my experience. Personally I prefer the sludge judge because they are inexpensive and they show the whole cross section of the clarifier, not just a compact area of sludge depth. I hope this helps.

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op1wpcp YaBB Newbies Offline I love Water and Wastewater.com Posts: 2 Company or Organization: WPCP City of Midland	Re: Measuring sludge in Final Clarifier Reply #4 - May 2^nd, 2012, 8:50am Thanks for the sound advice guys. I appreciate the feedback!
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