Established in 1971 as a manufacturer's representation agency, Redwood Controls is involved in the selection, sales and application of industrial instrumentation of all types with strong involvement with flow meters.

"Original Pumphlo Flowmeter"

In the early 1980s one of our industrial clients presented a challenge: Under pressure by the State of California to measure and report their waste water flow to evaporation ponds they had a problem. The two waste water pumps were installed below grade in a dry well and were so close to the sump wall there was no way a flow meter could be installed in the available space. The remainder of the piping run was underground to the distant ponds. What to do? The client's process engineer observed the gradual rise in the wet well as plant sewer lines drained into it followed by the relatively rapid drop when the pump turned ON and reasoned that there must be some way to use this change in displacement volume to report the flow.

Using old fashioned analog function modules (see photo above) and some discrete relay logic Redwood Controls was able to design and supply a system to solve this problem which worked very well. It compensated for the inflow occurring while the pump was ON and best of all involved no piping revisions and nothing in contact with the waste water. The installation was purely electrical and primarily involved wiring to auxiliary pump motor starter contacts.