Catalyst System Increases Efficiency

In an effort to improve plant efficiency and provide safe drinking water, the Pike Township Municipal Authority installed a RACO Catalyst system at its Curwensville, Pa., water treatment and distribution facility. The authority did this as part of its membership in the Partnership for Safe Water program, which encourages utilities to voluntarily survey plant operations.

The treatment plant’s previous monitoring system could only monitor four points at once, leaving 12 points unmonitored. Because the facility is unmanned on nights and weekends, staff members often arrived at work only to find that a problem had occurred when no one was there. The plant’s 16 chart recorders also were inefficient, since they needed to be programmed onsite and staff could only respond to alarms at the remote terminal unit. The Pike Township Municipal Authority had used RACO’s Chatterbox system in the past, so officials were open to trying out Catalyst to improve efficiency.

Catalyst is RACO’s first integrated, interactive data logging and alarm monitoring system. It can monitor up to 256 points and store data with up to 5 MB of onboard memory. Plant operators can program Catalyst onsite or remotely, using RACO’s Alarmware software or a phone. The system also provides status-checking capability, so staff can call in to get up-to-the-minute updates.

The Pike Township Municipal Authority’s Catalyst system uses one Catalyst unit, which monitors 16 conditions. If an alarm condition occurs, it begins calling a preset list of numbers. First, it sends a message to fax machine, which prints out a report. Then it calls both the plant manager and operator to alert them of the problem.

The utility has found that the system allows the staff to respond more efficiently to alarms and has reduced the chance for human error. It also allows easy report generation and helps the staff schedule preventive maintenance before a problem occurs.

Learn more about the Pike Township Municipal Authority’s Catalyst system by downloading the complete case study.