Wet Well Maintenance Checklist
Layla Al-Harbi
Principal Process Engineer
Most emergency callouts to a lift station are not sudden failures. They are the visible end of something that has been developing for weeks and that a ten-minute visit would have caught.
Every visit
Check the float switches move freely through their full travel and are not fouled with rag. Confirm the check valve seats fully — a valve that does not seat lets the rising main drain back on every stop, which multiplies start counts and is the single most common cause of premature contactor and bearing wear.
Record run hours per pump, not per station
A station figure hides an uneven duty split. Two pumps alternating correctly should track within a few percent of each other; a divergence means the duty assist is not rotating, and the lead pump is doing the work of both.
Photograph the wet well
Accumulation trends are far easier to see than to remember, and a photograph from the same position each visit turns a subjective impression into evidence you can act on before the well needs emptying.