Joe Flint, Sr. Maintenance Technician III

The procedures developed by Joe have maximized the utilization rate of UV lamps resulting in significant savings for OCWD and OCSD. The UV system consists of 54 reactors of 3,888 lamps. Replacing lamps is not a straightforward process. They expire by either reaching their regulatory defined maximum lifespan of 12,000 hours or by early burnout. These conditions, along with the wear and tear caused by fluctuation as the flow of the plant changes over a 24-hour cycle created a situation of individual lamps in a reactor expiring at different times. Because the reactors are configured in a series, to enter any of them requires taking six reactors temporarily out of service thereby reducing the overall plant production capacity. Because of this, it makes sense to change as many lamps within a reactor as possible with each event. Useful lamps are removed along with those about to expire so that the ages of lamps within a reactor are similar. Keeping track of these older, but still valuable lamps, and consolidating them into batches for reuse allows for maximum utilization of the assets and optimal UV performance. To keep track of thousands of lamps with different hours of operation and optimize their replacements required the development of a unique database, replacement schedules, and new inventory management practices. Joe took the lead in developing and administering the Excel database to track UV lamp replacement hours and warranties. Joe’s efforts to maintain an accurate record on the UV system has helped ensure regulatory compliance while allowing us to achieve full value in warranty lamp replacement. Trojan has also accepted these records to document lamp value. In addition, Joe has been instrumental working with his supervisor and management to develop the SOPs for UV lamp replacement strategies. UV lamps fail at various intervals during the 12,000 lamp life. At the time of a 12,000 lamp change-out there can be a number of UV lamps with less than 12,000 hours. During a full reactor change out, any UV lamps with 5,000 hours or less are pulled from the system, recorded and set aside for use in other UV reactors as lamps fail. His effort to manage used lamps has helped maintain costs while keeping the number of used lamps being stored to a minimum. Joe also manages the return of all the lamps being sent out for recycling. Joe is a valuable member of the Water Production Group assigned to the Maintenance Department. He is called upon to maintain and repair various pieces of equipment in the process plant. Joe’s computer skills and CMMS knowledge assists in maintaining records to meet California Title 22 regulations.