Frosty Reception for Amos Pumps

The British Antarctic Survey has employed Amos Pumps (UK) Ltd to provide a Pressure Set to give a constant pressurised water supply in the accommodation block at Halley VI Research Station situated on the Brunt Ice Shelf in the Antarctic.  The station has been manned since 1956; it is used to conduct research into meteorology, glaciology, seismology, radio astronomy, and geospace science.  These continuous measurements can be used as a baseline to help understand the impact of human pollution on the planet, for example, long term measurements of stratospheric ozone from Halley allowed BAS scientists to discover the hole in the ozone layer, which lead to the signing of the Montreal Protocol banning the use of CFCs.

The two storey accommodation block will be populated by 70 construction engineers, aircraft pilots, steel workers, scientists and plumbers during the Antarctic summer; the winter, with 24 hour darkness outside, consists only of scientists.  Halley Station is located on the Brunt ice shelf which is likely to have a calving event* in the next few years, so the buildings are mounted on skis so they can be relocated. Also the snow increases in depth by 1.2 metres each winter in temperatures down to minus 70 degrees Centigrade that if the snow was allowed to build up on the sides it would create such pressures on the walls that it would eventually crush the building.

Our Pressure Set is part of the hot & cold water services for the building.  Reliability is essential as parts can only be flown in during short weather windows and we are proud of being associated with such a prestigious project.

* calving event means that the ice will break off into icebergs as Halley is on a floating ice shelf.

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In deep at Chard's new theatre

The new theatre at Chard Guildhall, Somerset, is being built partly below ground. And as everyone knows, water runs downhill. So where do the dressing room drains run to?

Into an extra-deep Amos package sewage pumping station, that's where. From there, the waste water is automatically pumped up to the level of Chard's main sewer for disposal in the normal way.

Apart from an annual service, the system will function with no attention for many years, unnoticed by casts and audiences.

Amos pumping stations are supplied fully assembled and complete from pump and internal pipework to secure manhole cover. Site work is confined to setting it into a suitable excavation, and connecting up. No wonder architects like the Van Der Steen Hall Partnership, who are responsible for the Chard Guildhall redevelopment, are increasingly specifying Amos package pumping stations.

There's a bonus to an extra-deep chamber, too: if there's a power cut, a great deal of waste can build up without the system reaching its capacity.

Royal Cornwall Show 2008

We are moving

After several years on our previous site we have decided to move to a corner plot as we feel it would show off our product more. Come and see us to discuss about borehole pumping, water treatment, sewage pumping and rain water recycling, we shall be pleased to see you.

Amos make West End début

Where's the nearest monsoon, then? No, not in south-east Asia. In the West End of London.

At the newly refitted Apollo Victoria Theatre, London, where Starlight Express rocked audiences for 18 years, Andrew Lloyd-Webber's latest £4m creation, Bombay Dreams, opens June 20. Its starring special effect is a tropical Indian rainstorm.

At exactly the right moment, the theatrical heavens open, and in 90 seconds 400 litres of warm water drench the cast to the skin. It's a startling attempt at bringing reality to a musical story set in the make-believe world of Bollywood: the Indian film industry.

U-V disinfection

So where do Amos come in? On the recommendation of one of the companies that has supplied specialist pumps to the production, special effects engineer Paul Kelly called Amos. He was in search of the perfect ultra-violet disinfection device, to make sure his rainwater could be guaranteed pure.

The water is warm, for the benefit of the actors. It's a mix of two tankfuls of water immersion-heated to 65°C and a tankful of cold. It sprays from the atomising nozzles of the overhead rain bar at 40°C, and cools to around 15°C by the time it's fallen 40ft to the special grille-topped pool which has been built on stage to receive it.

Dancing water

Even though the water is fresh from the mains for every performance, the tanks and pipework will be in constant use: they also feed a dancing water-jet effect.

The monsoon "rain" pours on the heads of the cast, who carry on performing standing in the pool.

Though tiny, there is a real risk of legionnaire's disease, which occasionally crops up in the water systems of large buildings. The Really Useful Company, the producing management, see even the slightest possibility of the show having to close or cast or audience becoming ill as too big a risk.

So between the reservoirs and the rain bar, the pampered rainwater passes through a u-v disinfection unit - supplied by Amos Pumps. It'll be the cleanest monsoon ever.

Let's hope Bombay Dreams is a splash hit.

Keeping it brief

Most pumps do workaday chores like drawing water or shifting sewage. Not so a recent Amos sale to Imperial College, London University.

In the Femtosecond Optics Group of the Physics Department, they work with powerful argon-ion lasers. As well as producing powerful flashes of laser light for their research, these machines produce a lot of heat - and need a lot of cooling.

Finding Amos Pumps' website was a godsend for Dr Jan Siegel, who was having trouble stopping his lab equipment overheating.

After briefing our engineers on his precise requirements, he now has a reliable Amos-supplied pump driving a cooling system - and research is continuing uninterrupted.

Oh, and a femtosecond? That's a thousand million millionth of a second. Which gives a whole new meaning to "brief".

Pressure Set to provide "mains" type water pressure.

Aircraft with supplies for Halley VI.

Pulling bulk fuel tanks.

Main food store.

The bottom three pictures are by kind permission of the British Antarctic Survey.

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The Chard Guildhall job actually involves two pumping stations, seen below. One will handle sewage from the dressing rooms and the other surface run-off water.

The inlet connection - which has to be deeper than the waste water source - is visible in the taller chamber at about the level of Amos marketing manager Kevin Gormley's hip.

As you can see, even the largest pantomime cast will have trouble exceeding the system's capacity.

Amos' popular package sewage pumping stations are available in a very wide choice of options.

We offer bespoke units to suit awkward site conditions: where, as at Chard, the invert must be deeper than normal, a deeper chamber is necessary to maintain adequate pumping depth.

We can supply a temporary cover for use where additional concrete or blockwork is required to allow a station access cover to carry vehicular traffic.

Click Sewage/Sump Pumps, left, for details.

See us at these Shows for 2008

Royal Cornwall at Wadebridge
See our new site.
June 5th-6th & 7th
Stand 440

Stithians Show 14th July

Homebuilding & Renovation Show at the Bath & West Showground, Somerset
22th & 23th November 2008.

It's a pretty straightforward pump - but its job is extraordinary. Imperial College's Physics Department now boasts an Amos-supplied pump in its Femtosecond Optics Group. Its job is to circulate coolant to an argon-ion laser (that's the larger white box, inset). The laser "optically pumps" the other laser box, which produces femtosecond laser pulses.

Amos Pumps (UK) Ltd, Wendron, Helston, Cornwall TR13 0PY, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)1326 573341. Fax: +44 (0)1326 572322