Case Study: TASKMASTER® Grinder Saves Over $36,000 For Kirksville, Mo.

The City of Kirksville, Mo. had a problem. Their 25-year-old Smith and Loveless comminutor suddenly stopped working and could not be repaired. Their main bar screen could not handle the complete flow of the plant headworks at daily peak periods, which meant that unreduced solids could get into the plant’s downstream equipment and cause severe operational difficulties. The City found out that the replacement cost for a similar design unit was going to cost over $60,000.00, way over their budget. That’s when the plant personnel turned to Franklin Miller Inc. for help.

It turned out the TASKMASTER® Duplex sewage grinder could be retrofitted into the same channel application for a fraction of the cost of the other offers received for the replacement. According to Ernest West, plant supervisor “the TASKMASTER Duplex was very simple to install in the same channel as the Smith and Loveless. The unit has been great! It has easily handled all the debris, solids and what not that comes down the channel.” The City not only received a channel grinder with far greater capabilities than their previous comminutor, but its cost was only half what they would have had to spend with their other choice.

The TASKMASTER Duplex employs a twin shaft cutting mechanism that intensively grinds solids with counter-rotating cutters that intermesh at close clearance.

The DUPLEX has two sets of these cutter stacks providing the added advantage of higher flow and solids handling capability. As the unit is 100 percent cutting area, it has greatly extended cutter life.

The TASKMASTER also employs exclusive CUTTER CARTRIDGE® technology, the most advanced cutter design for twin shaft grinders available. This design eliminates countless individual cutter and spacer disks that tend to break down and cause excessive maintenance on competing units. Instead, each one-piece cartridge incorporates six cutters. The result is the unit has far fewer individual pieces, stronger cutting, and the elimination of cutter loosening problems.