Any golf course will rely on their irrigation pump station heavily. If it goes down, all ability to irrigate is lost and the Club's biggest asset is then in jeopardy. At HCC, we have 3 pumps; a 25, 50 and 75 horsepower. Depending how much water is running, dictates how many of the pumps are running. This is old school. New VFD (variable frequency drive) pumps can operate a different speeds to supply the needed amount of water. This saves money in electricity, wear and tear on the pumps and also wear and tear on the irrigation pipes. Our pumps are either on or off which is extremely inefficient. When we lose a 50 horsepower pump, it is even more inefficient because we are relying on a 75 horsepower pump to work at 10-20% of its capacity. Not good.
Fortunately, Flowtronex (service folk) was able to come to Highlands this morning and chased the problem to a bad connection on the 50 horsepower starter. That's the good news. Unfortunately the next day service charge will be relatively steep. However, it is much better than finding out the motor was bad!
