@@FlesHBoX I enjoy the long form because I can always save and pause the video for viewing later. Short form, you always have the intro and exit added to them.
this long format was a delight to watch from start to end. one feedback would be to utilize more graphics to explain the plan first and then move onto construction.
These videos should be mandatory in schools across the world! I am shocked by how many people have no idea how the most basic systems in their city / society work. As always, you did a stellar job Grady. Salutations from Romania!
@mimaitm perhaps because they have not been to a university to learn Engineering? Our youth in the US have the opportunity more than I did 40 years ago. I took radio and TV repair VOpp in high-school because there was nothing else to introduce me. My own interest in electronics is what drove me. Today, anyone with an interest in Engineering can certainly test the waters on RUclips.
You missed the point my friend. You don't need to be an engineer to know how water flows through a pipe, or what a pump does etc. I was talking about BASIC sistems, the simple ones.
If there had been a choice between the 90 minute video and episodes in the first place I would've watched it over the episodes. But I've already seen the episodes, so I probably won't now.
The step-deck trailers in the video can legally haul around 48,000 lbs before needing an overweight permit. Most of the time, the load is between 43,000 and 47,000 lbs. Concrete is like a pour-able rock --- it's ridiculously heavy!
Goodness, that was really incredible to watch. Thanks for pulling it together and many thanks to the San Antonio River Authority for supporting you for letting it be filmed and made public. I never knew how much went into something like that. Stay safe.
As someone who worked waste water (summers a long time ago)... no, no it's not. The NC state lab says the discharge from the plant is "clean", but I'm not about to drink it. ('tho we are. the discharge is into a river used by other towns as the input to their water system.)
Normally, when I see a video that's over 1.5 hours, it's an automatic skip. But, I gave this one a shot....and, boy howdy, I'm glad I did!! It was so interesting that I got perturbed when a commercial would come on. PLEASE continue to do more just like this one!
Grady, hi from Calgary, Alberta , Canada. The perfect channel for us construction/civil engineering geeks. Although I work for civil engineering consultant and see work sites every day I still find the channel a must watch. Great series.
I’m a woman and I love these videos! I’m fascinated watching complex projects come together, whether it’s seeing the precision of heavy machinery, the problem-solving required in tricky situations, as in the backfill stage, or the transformation of raw materials into something new. These construction videos offer a mix of engineering, creativity, and teamwork in action, making them both educational and highly satisfying to watch.
This has been a great video, coming from a wastewater operator/plant manager of 24 years this is very informative. Choosing Flygt is a win for me. 4 pump stations, and another 9 pumps in my plant, I wouldn’t spec another centrifugal pump.
I’ve seen a lot of Grady’s videos and I find them all very interesting and informative. Being a plumber for the last 12 years plus my interest in seeing how things are built and operated makes this video even more captivating. RUclips auto played this from whatever I watched prior and I saw the run time of 1.5 hrs and thought initially kinda long but my new thoughts after watching it’s over already that felt like 20 mins. Anyways thanks Grady and Grady’s team for all your hard work and effort in making the videos you make especially this one. Thank you San Antonio River Authority, Utility Engineering Group, and MGC for your participation.
This just makes me appreciate construction so much more. I was completely ignorant to how many steps and complex it is…all the considerations. Just amazing
OMG.... I had one of the projects almost like this so I was super excited to watch it all. It's almost like soothing as Grady's voice is so calm... As I was heading this project and it was much more cahotic than this one (and because it was in China), I freaking enjoyed this video from beginning to end :D By the way, that hinges idea for the pumps, is a freaking brilliant idea. Only difference is that in my project, we had to precommission all pipes when delivered onsite because you could find lots of surprises in the pipes like gloves, safety hats, metal rods, cloth....
Fantastic! Its great to see all the steps of a large project like this. Great work capturing this!All the hard work that went into presentation, production and editing...Professional
The bag, string, and vaccum trick is a common thing to do when the conduit run is extremely long. We use the string to pull a very strong rope called "mule tape" through the conduit. We then attach the mule tape to the wires being pulled with a series of knots called "half-hitching." The really thick conductors are pulled using a very strong rope which is attached to a pulling machine. Right now, I'm in school and we are currently learning about motor control systems and how to read ladder diagrams. This was a great video and I hope you make more of these!
I'm one of those pensioners now - but with a slight difference in that l used to run construction sites even bigger than this one here in the U.K. This job is vastly superior to one of our similar projects - we're catching up - the major new sewer for London is equal but it took about the same time as the Pyramids to complete (if it actually is fully complete!) Every time it rains heavily here - and this is England I'm talking about - raw sewage flows straight into many of our rivers because it has nowhere else to go. I take my hat off to your planners - doing this job before it was needed.
Not gonna lie...I did doze off twice during this. But it was not by any fault by the filming, construction, or presentation. It's amazing to see all of this. It's amazing, just the sheer amount of concrete needed for a project such as this. Some questions: 1. How high does a lift station typically raise the sewage for the next leg of its trip to the processing plant? 2. How far can that sewage travel before it needs to be lifted again for another leg? 3. What is a typical slope in degrees and inches per lateral foot for sewer lines? And does this change depending on location on the globe or geographic/weather conditions? 4. Speaking of weather, what is done differently to keep sewer lines from freezing in very cold zones? Thank you very much for this; it was super interesting!
I worked as an engineer on many projects that required industrial construction methods like you've recorded on this project. I think this is an excellent visual documentation of a project from an engineering perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks! Well done. A super tiny annoying thing is when presenting a group of units is interleaving conversion between systems. For example, “50 kw to pump 800 per minute gallons up to 30 feet”, it is to follow I feel if they’re all narrated in one system at once and then narrating the equivalent values in another system. Enjoyed the video immensely.
Superb work on everyone's part. Really enyoyed this. I was surprised and amazed at just how well all the construction tasks were completed and that everyone got everything done. Well filmed, edited and voiced. All very professional and a lot of hard work. Many thanks for this!
This reminded me of what content was like when I was a kid watching Discovery and the History Channel. This is awesome. Really appreciate the work that went into a seemingly mundane construction project.
That was absolutely fantastic. I'm such an Umarell already, but mostdef in 2052 when i turn 72 for sure :D Many thanks to you and your team for make such a great dicumentry of all processes involved all the way down to the "mundane" or funny (pizza break) around that site. It is truly hi-tech engineering, planning und careful execution. Are more of these in the works? This is informative and relaxing alike. ♥
Totally worth ever min & sec of the entire 1:36:34. I soldiered through endless adverts thrown in by RUclips. Bravo 👏🏾 what a well put together video and narration.
Also a fitting name for someone in the Civil Engineering field considering how much grading has to be done. It's like having the surname Smith while having a job forging knives or something.
That was awesome! And no doubt a lot of work. I'd love to see more of these documenteries on civil projects ( the construction of a municipal water tower, for example, would be very interesting).
Very, very, very impressive. More of these please. This was rivetting to watch. The awesomeness of all the engineers and tradesmen. The test gauges, the seals. Just the best.
That vacuum trick with the string is absolutely witchcraft. I'm immediately looking around for a conduit to try it on. Possibly one of the best construction documentaries I've ever seen. The minimal abstractions like drawings and animations were perfect, just enough to clarify what we're looking at, while leaving the practical elements intact. The shoring panels being the prime example.
Retired environmental engineer after 40 years in this industry. You did an excellent job explaining how this lift station works and showing the important details. Congratulations to the entire project team. Job well done.
Dude, thanks for the movie. The lil ones made it all the way thru and loved it. 100s of questions flew .... Some answers were made up, most of them got rectified as the video went thru . Thanks, Brady
I first watched this in the episodic fashion when in was first uploaded. It was nice to see it again uninterrupted from start to finish. I look forward to viewing more construction videos like this.
17:07 "these trucks having to pull in is too inconvenient, let me just get a massive crane here real quick." Logistically, is that as awesome as I think it is?
As a retired nuclear pipe designer this video was refreshing. As the video progressed I talked to myself "I did that". Rarely did I see jobs start to finish as was shown here. Thanks for the reply of memories. 😅
Thanks to Grady and the PC team and all those involved in producing this entertaining and informative documentary. I also think that documentaries like this are not only necessary but essential for a well informed public. Not everyone would find this fascinating but it is brilliant to know there are people like Grady and the PC crew producing content like this so that the general public can get an insight into the essential services that are provided so that we can live in a functioning society relatively stress free. Cheers.
There all kinds of videos about construction projects available on the Internet, of course, but as an engineer, this is probably the best I have ever seen. It's all the detail that makes it so interesting - the details usually glossed over in the other videos. I know it was 1.5 hours long, but it certainly didn't seem like it. Well done, Grady. By the way, the book is great too!
Hi Mr. Hillhouse, fantastic series! But I wonder, what do you think if it is possible to make a small aeries about the sewage treatment facility of San Antonio?! It would be a logical follow-up to this series. Sure not everybody wants to see where their excretions finally end up. But modern sewage treatment plants are more sophisticated than those 30 years ago! I always wondered what happens to the stick of digested food after I push the flush button!? I don't see many reports about how a modern sewage treatment facility works! Can you help, please!?
Just finished watching, and have to say this was absolutely fantastic! I love these long format, detailed deep-dive videos, and would happily watch this kind of thing all the time. Practical Engineering has become one of my favorite YT channels 😁
I Worked on lots of these projects big and small all over Washington state in my 40 plus year pump repair and sales career. A great trip down memory lane.
17:51 Perfect representation of the damage urban sprawl causes. Farm ground is finite. Love the clown show McMansion right across the road. Guarantee they protested sewage handing in their purview.
I remember going on field trips from school, my absolute favorite was to the wastewater treatment plant in Carlsbad/ Oceanside...❤ the skimming ponds ..😮 the intake had 4 12' wide x 24' deep fast moving water. Scary how fast the flow was... A different area had aeration tanks... at the end the river of treated water went to the ocean where a little test sample retriving station was... for the laboratory on site. They had a system to collect sewer gas and generate electricity from generators run on it!
Having worked in construction much of my life, I can certainly attest to the great satisfaction of seeing a project come together. Thanks for piecing the previous videos into this documentary.
First class video, explanation and coverage of all the construction processes from breaking ground to the final commissioning, that goes into setting up a suburban sewage transfer system. Well done Grady Hillhouse from Western Australia
This was an awesome video that showed great detail and great explanation of each facet of a wastewater project and the role each piece of the project takes in the function of the pump station. I used to be a PM in the heavy civil/wastewater construction industry and have since switched to another industry but I have very fond memories of my experience in that sector. Most people would have never seen this type of work unless they have worked in it and you captured the complexity and process of this work, perfectly. This video made me miss it, thanks for sharing!
observe the concave excavator bucket shape at 9:30 , no doubt from bashing those corner rails into the ground. those mobile cranes are nothing short of miraculous. it's amazing how much weight they need to be stable. I have an electric articulated boom lift vehicle, that weighs 13,000 lbs. probably half of that weight is from 9" thick steel blocks welded to the frame in strategic places.
Two questions I still have in my head after this: I still don't understand how it takes 1.5 years to make this, it feels so slow, but maybe it's because it wasn't a priority and more an anticipation as it was said. I know you're not alone, but how did you manage to film, organise the schedule, edit with so much information in this series and keep up for 1.5 years? It's so much work, thank you!
It might be interesting for Grady to do a video on project management for large projects. Lots of interesting content to explore with respect to the challenges of handling delays, weather, scheduling personnel, and special purpose machinery.
almost certainly a "good, fast, cheap; pick 2" situation, no need for it to be done any faster, so they didn't waste the expense on it being done any faster
I can explain that. For reference, I'm a cement mason and I've applied Linabond to a wastewater treatment plant. At 1:20:48, he says "once the concrete cures, the coating crew comes back to apply the epoxy liner to the new concrete". Concrete takes 28 days to cure, before then it's very alkaline and gives off moisture. Most epoxies don't get along with water, this is especially true of the epoxy liners for sewage treatment plants. The liners need to be resistant to acids and impermeable to gases. The bacteria on the walls will convert any hydrogen sulfide gas into sulfuric acid, which reacts with cement creating gypsum. In laymans terms, if that epoxy liner isn't installed perfectly, bacteria will slowly turn your concrete into drywall. At 24:02, he says "Once the grout cures, it's painted with waterproof coating". That may have also required 28 days, though it might have used a less high-performance product that requires less cure time. still, that alone would require a week or two of waiting, if not an entire month. And again, there will be other segments of the project that require the waterproof testing to pass before they can proceed. Additionally, if the waterproofing isn't perfect, it can impart water into the surrounding soil. That doesn't sound too bad, but it will cause settling over time (ie the thing they spend months and millions of dollars trying to prevent prior to the wet-well install). In essence, the wet-well likely took 3 months or more to install, on top of the 2 to 3 months getting those pumps installed. At a minimum, that took at least 6 to 8 months. Additionally, any time they poured concrete, they likely had to wait at least a week before doing anything on it. You can walk on concrete the next day, but concrete needs to cure to gain it's full strength. Assuming they chemically cured the concrete, they'd need to wait 7 days before putting any loads on it. Add in design time, design corrections, weather issues, holidays, project complications, Utilities confirming utility locations, permitting issues, est and you have a project-time of a year or more for that segment alone. For the parts I have less expertise with I'll end with this: any skilled trades-worker will tell you prep is where most projects succeed or fail. Prep work like digging, compacting soil, setting forms, getting safety measures in place, getting equipment set up, setting up power, and communicating key information all take time. For concrete, we might spend months setting up for a pour, finish most of the pour in a single day, then spending another month or two doing the finishing touches (patching bug-holes, coatings, making space for wires and plumbing, fix any issues, prepping for the next step in the project). Every trade has some bottlenecks, and every project will encounter a handful of them. This project absolutely looks like it took a year and a half. If they wanted to bump it up to a 3-crew operation, they could have doubled the cost to reduce the project length by a few months.
Great episode. When I saw it’s more than an hour long I thought it will be boring but once I started watching I enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you for sharing.
Very cool, I was an apprentice rod buster on a big new build like this 20 years ago in south west Michigan. That shoring system is new to me and impressive. Nothing like repetitive hard work to perfect process. Thanks
This is exactly the kind of content I watched as a kid on VHS, Discovery and Science Channels. I loved watching shows of construction and how things were built. Thanks for this Grady, please please do another video like this of another project!
Incredible video, raising the seemingly mundane construction of a lift-station to an inspiring display of engineering and construction. I would never have thought such a video would capture my attention like this one did. It really makes me appreciate the hard work these guys do to put together society's critical infrastructure.
Thank you for the video. I enjoy watching stuff like this. I can see all the expertise needed in projects like this plus I like watching workers with tools and equipment making things work. Maybe you could do a future video on the engineering and designing of these projects on how they approach something like this and what kind of issues they have to take into consideration in the design process.
Thanks Grady. Excellent video- as always. You have the best engineering videos out there and you teach without making us knuckleheads feel ignorant. That's the icing on the cake. Thanks! Don't stop what you're doing!
That was really cool, thank you for the effort of following this construction for such a long time and then editing everything together. Really puts some light onto the hidden infrastructure we all use daily.
Fantastic production, great to have it all in one video! Thank you for providing this incredible content, free of charge, for all of us to enjoy. Many thanks from the UK!
Just wow! I can't believe how much planning, preparation and work goes into something as innocently sounding as a "sewage lift station". What a fantastic video, hope to see more of this kind in the future. 👍 Side note, I'm also surprised about the amount of rain. As an ignorant European, I always thought all of Texas was about as dry as a desert. 😉
I love your practical construction series, Grady! I've been putting it on in the background while I do things around the house, it's oddly relaxing. It feels like How It's Made!
Loved watching all the episodes together like this. I've always enjoyed watching construction and getting to see all of the details was a real treat for this old pensioner 😊
I have watched two of this type of lift built in NE Ohio over my career on my drive by to work each day but I never saw it all like you showed it. Thank you for filling in hundreds of the missing spots.
This was fascinating! I have a friend who does design for commercial projects and we were just talking about one of his lift stations yesterday. Great timing. This really helped give me a visual for what’s going on. Thank you so much.
This is an amazing video. Thank you everyone involved for moving the sewage. And thank you for taking so many precautions in ensuring a long lasting safe sawage system
Grady, I greatly enjoy your videos. Your enthusiasm is contagious, and this long video was a real eye-opening look at the huge amount of design and engineering that goes into infrastructure projects. Wow!
Top notch Grady! I enjoyed your presentation. I work for a potable water utility so I have not seen the sewer lift station side. I really enjoyed this.
Hi Grady! Thank you for a great and informative video! As the product architect for Flygt products (see our products 1:20:00 into the video), I am very thankful for bringing this to the world! Please let me know if there is anything I can help with in upcoming videos or personal interest and pay us a visit when you are in Sweden, you are so very welcome! Many thanks and we at Xylem (Flygt and Godwin amongst many other brands) are looking forward to upcoming content!
Congratulations, excellent work Grady and Team! I'm sure I am not the only one usually skipping 90m+ videos... But somehow I knew this will be worth watching; and I wasn't disappointed the least. Nice job!
Being a developer, I also cannot help myself admiring your excellent name choice. :-) Ps this stoobid app is rather buggy when it comes to addressing someone…
Thank you! I have been around industrial-level construction for almost 4 years, now, and it's amazing all the effort that goes into making large facilities, or even just many interconnected facilities (like a subdivision). One note: most of the concrete that gets poured needs a site-engineer or similar around to make sure the finishers don't keep asking for more water (especially after collecting the test-wheelbarrow). The truck drivers will do what they're told, so it's pretty frequent to see a tester get concrete to test, then the truck be released to a pump and ... immediately add 10-20 gallons of water. It's not great, but it makes the concrete more easily worked. Having someone to ride herd on the crew who cares about the finished work is important because concrete is frequently foundational (lol) to the stability of the structure(s).
Please please please 🙏 make content like this I know its a very long production production, but it's fantastic. I watched it start to finish without stopping
Totally worth re-watching all of this again, since having it all in one shot makes it a lot easier to connect previous details.
I'm pretty sure it's not all one *shot.* Grady did try, but the "Birdman" crew was busy. 😜
@RFC3514 agree, Very good document. I might enjoy watching it again 6 months from now. Depends on my memory?
@@FlesHBoX I enjoy the long form because I can always save and pause the video for viewing later. Short form, you always have the intro and exit added to them.
this long format was a delight to watch from start to end.
one feedback would be to utilize more graphics to explain the plan first and then move onto construction.
Same for me.
You've practically engineered one of the best educational channels on RUclips
I hope you do more content like this series in the future!
As as annual holiday special would be cool
IIRC they said it didn't get enough views to justify doing more, which is a shame.
These videos should be mandatory in schools across the world! I am shocked by how many people have no idea how the most basic systems in their city / society work.
As always, you did a stellar job Grady. Salutations from Romania!
@mimaitm perhaps because they have not been to a university to learn Engineering? Our youth in the US have the opportunity more than I did 40 years ago. I took radio and TV repair VOpp in high-school because there was nothing else to introduce me. My own interest in electronics is what drove me. Today, anyone with an interest in Engineering can certainly test the waters on RUclips.
You missed the point my friend.
You don't need to be an engineer to know how water flows through a pipe, or what a pump does etc.
I was talking about BASIC sistems, the simple ones.
I'm hoping enough viewers agree with me and give this a(nother) watch and we can see more of this in future!
If there had been a choice between the 90 minute video and episodes in the first place I would've watched it over the episodes. But I've already seen the episodes, so I probably won't now.
@@PrivateMemo The long format allows full picture that is getting rare nowadays
I enjoyed both the original episodes and this long form video.
I enjoy the long form because I can always save and pause the video for viewing later. Short form, you always have the intro and exit added to them.
He's got 3.97 million subscribers I think he's doing okay
Did I watch every episode of this series as they released? Yes.
Did I rewatch the entire project in a single video anyway? Also yes.
Did i drink vodka? Yea
What a fantastic documentary! Pure distilled civil engineering, non-stop. The fill _and_ the narrator's voice are hypnotic
Watching the suspension on the trucks when they take off each concrete well segment really conveys just how much weight they're handling.
The step-deck trailers in the video can legally haul around 48,000 lbs before needing an overweight permit. Most of the time, the load is between 43,000 and 47,000 lbs. Concrete is like a pour-able rock --- it's ridiculously heavy!
Goodness, that was really incredible to watch. Thanks for pulling it together and many thanks to the San Antonio River Authority for supporting you for letting it be filmed and made public. I never knew how much went into something like that. Stay safe.
@30:23 "it almost looks good enough to drink"
You're a sick man Grady.
i think it looks like a milkshake
As someone who worked waste water (summers a long time ago)... no, no it's not. The NC state lab says the discharge from the plant is "clean", but I'm not about to drink it. ('tho we are. the discharge is into a river used by other towns as the input to their water system.)
@@jfbeam the timestamp is for low strength fill, which is concrete not the output of the treatment plant
Thanks! Amazing work. Really enjoyed your high quality presentation. Have to ask for more!
Thanks Grady keep up the great videos!
Omg omg omg omg an hour of practical engineering!!!
Normally, when I see a video that's over 1.5 hours, it's an automatic skip. But, I gave this one a shot....and, boy howdy, I'm glad I did!! It was so interesting that I got perturbed when a commercial would come on. PLEASE continue to do more just like this one!
Grady, hi from Calgary, Alberta , Canada. The perfect channel for us construction/civil engineering geeks. Although I work for civil engineering consultant and see work sites every day I still find the channel a must watch. Great series.
I don't have any construction experience but after watching this video I have applied to several construction companies for a superintendent role
Average KPMG consultant behaviour
Lmao
One of the more fascinating videos you've posted.
I’m a woman and I love these videos! I’m fascinated watching complex projects come together, whether it’s seeing the precision of heavy machinery, the problem-solving required in tricky situations, as in the backfill stage, or the transformation of raw materials into something new. These construction videos offer a mix of engineering, creativity, and teamwork in action, making them both educational and highly satisfying to watch.
Cutie pie
This has been a great video, coming from a wastewater operator/plant manager of 24 years this is very informative. Choosing Flygt is a win for me. 4 pump stations, and another 9 pumps in my plant, I wouldn’t spec another centrifugal pump.
I’ve seen a lot of Grady’s videos and I find them all very interesting and informative. Being a plumber for the last 12 years plus my interest in seeing how things are built and operated makes this video even more captivating. RUclips auto played this from whatever I watched prior and I saw the run time of 1.5 hrs and thought initially kinda long but my new thoughts after watching it’s over already that felt like 20 mins. Anyways thanks Grady and Grady’s team for all your hard work and effort in making the videos you make especially this one. Thank you San Antonio River Authority, Utility Engineering Group, and MGC for your participation.
Happy to give this entire series a rewatch in one whole video!
On *hole* video
Agreed 😊
Excellent! Why am I excited about a re-run about sewage processing?!?!
Pumping. Processing is a different thing. :-) (See also: PBS Terra: Where Does the Poop Go? - waste water treatment at McMurdo.)
This just makes me appreciate construction so much more. I was completely ignorant to how many steps and complex it is…all the considerations. Just amazing
OMG.... I had one of the projects almost like this so I was super excited to watch it all. It's almost like soothing as Grady's voice is so calm... As I was heading this project and it was much more cahotic than this one (and because it was in China), I freaking enjoyed this video from beginning to end :D By the way, that hinges idea for the pumps, is a freaking brilliant idea.
Only difference is that in my project, we had to precommission all pipes when delivered onsite because you could find lots of surprises in the pipes like gloves, safety hats, metal rods, cloth....
Fantastic! Its great to see all the steps of a large project like this. Great work capturing this!All the hard work that went into presentation, production and editing...Professional
The bag, string, and vaccum trick is a common thing to do when the conduit run is extremely long. We use the string to pull a very strong rope called "mule tape" through the conduit. We then attach the mule tape to the wires being pulled with a series of knots called "half-hitching." The really thick conductors are pulled using a very strong rope which is attached to a pulling machine. Right now, I'm in school and we are currently learning about motor control systems and how to read ladder diagrams.
This was a great video and I hope you make more of these!
I am a car guy, but this civil engineering stuff is so cool, i am mindblown.
I'm one of those pensioners now - but with a slight difference in that l used to run construction sites even bigger than this one here in the U.K. This job is vastly superior to one of our similar projects - we're catching up - the major new sewer for London is equal but it took about the same time as the Pyramids to complete (if it actually is fully complete!)
Every time it rains heavily here - and this is England I'm talking about - raw sewage flows straight into many of our rivers because it has nowhere else to go. I take my hat off to your planners - doing this job before it was needed.
Not gonna lie...I did doze off twice during this. But it was not by any fault by the filming, construction, or presentation. It's amazing to see all of this. It's amazing, just the sheer amount of concrete needed for a project such as this. Some questions:
1. How high does a lift station typically raise the sewage for the next leg of its trip to the processing plant?
2. How far can that sewage travel before it needs to be lifted again for another leg?
3. What is a typical slope in degrees and inches per lateral foot for sewer lines? And does this change depending on location on the globe or geographic/weather conditions?
4. Speaking of weather, what is done differently to keep sewer lines from freezing in very cold zones?
Thank you very much for this; it was super interesting!
You have managed to educate and entertain at the same time. Thank you.
Please please please do more things like this, I had so much fun learning about this!
I worked as an engineer on many projects that required industrial construction methods like you've recorded on this project. I think this is an excellent visual documentation of a project from an engineering perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks! Well done.
A super tiny annoying thing is when presenting a group of units is interleaving conversion between systems. For example, “50 kw to pump 800 per minute gallons up to 30 feet”, it is to follow I feel if they’re all narrated in one system at once and then narrating the equivalent values in another system.
Enjoyed the video immensely.
Watching this from the beginning to the end felt so interesting and effortless. This is just amazing content I'd want to watch over and over again
Superb work on everyone's part. Really enyoyed this. I was surprised and amazed at just how well all the construction tasks were completed and that everyone got everything done. Well filmed, edited and voiced. All very professional and a lot of hard work. Many thanks for this!
This reminded me of what content was like when I was a kid watching Discovery and the History Channel. This is awesome. Really appreciate the work that went into a seemingly mundane construction project.
That was absolutely fantastic.
I'm such an Umarell already, but mostdef in 2052 when i turn 72 for sure :D
Many thanks to you and your team for make such a great dicumentry of all processes involved all the way down to the "mundane" or funny (pizza break) around that site.
It is truly hi-tech engineering, planning und careful execution.
Are more of these in the works? This is informative and relaxing alike.
♥
Thanks
Totally worth ever min & sec of the entire 1:36:34. I soldiered through endless adverts thrown in by RUclips. Bravo 👏🏾 what a well put together video and narration.
Never noticed that Grady has the perfect last name for school Textbooks books 😂
Also a fitting name for someone in the Civil Engineering field considering how much grading has to be done. It's like having the surname Smith while having a job forging knives or something.
That was awesome! And no doubt a lot of work. I'd love to see more of these documenteries on civil projects ( the construction of a municipal water tower, for example, would be very interesting).
Remind me of this in 4-5 years so I can let my future children watch it. Kids love wholesome construction videos.
Very, very, very impressive. More of these please. This was rivetting to watch. The awesomeness of all the engineers and tradesmen. The test gauges, the seals. Just the best.
The theme of the music combined with the time lapse reminds me of playing SimCity.
Bedankt
That vacuum trick with the string is absolutely witchcraft. I'm immediately looking around for a conduit to try it on.
Possibly one of the best construction documentaries I've ever seen. The minimal abstractions like drawings and animations were perfect, just enough to clarify what we're looking at, while leaving the practical elements intact. The shoring panels being the prime example.
The automated 'tube' the drive thru bank uses....
Retired environmental engineer after 40 years in this industry. You did an excellent job explaining how this lift station works and showing the important details. Congratulations to the entire project team. Job well done.
This was an awesome series! I hope to see more of these. I'm sure San Antonio likes the advertising and public relations part of these videos!
No sh.. Sherlock!
I've been watching each tid bit you've put out and good to see a culmination of it all here.
Dude, thanks for the movie. The lil ones made it all the way thru and loved it. 100s of questions flew .... Some answers were made up, most of them got rectified as the video went thru .
Thanks, Brady
I first watched this in the episodic fashion when in was first uploaded. It was nice to see it again uninterrupted from start to finish.
I look forward to viewing more construction videos like this.
This documentation deserves the utmost respect. Fabulous work! Thank you very much.
17:07 "these trucks having to pull in is too inconvenient, let me just get a massive crane here real quick."
Logistically, is that as awesome as I think it is?
Love the mega video. I loved watching the first time.
As a retired nuclear pipe designer this video was refreshing. As the video progressed I talked to myself "I did that". Rarely did I see jobs start to finish as was shown here. Thanks for the reply of memories. 😅
Thanks!
Thanks to Grady and the PC team and all those involved in producing this entertaining and informative documentary. I also think that documentaries like this are not only necessary but essential for a well informed public. Not everyone would find this fascinating but it is brilliant to know there are people like Grady and the PC crew producing content like this so that the general public can get an insight into the essential services that are provided so that we can live in a functioning society relatively stress free. Cheers.
There all kinds of videos about construction projects available on the Internet, of course, but as an engineer, this is probably the best I have ever seen. It's all the detail that makes it so interesting - the details usually glossed over in the other videos. I know it was 1.5 hours long, but it certainly didn't seem like it. Well done, Grady. By the way, the book is great too!
Hi Mr. Hillhouse, fantastic series! But I wonder, what do you think if it is possible to make a small aeries about the sewage treatment facility of San Antonio?! It would be a logical follow-up to this series. Sure not everybody wants to see where their excretions finally end up. But modern sewage treatment plants are more sophisticated than those 30 years ago! I always wondered what happens to the stick of digested food after I push the flush button!? I don't see many reports about how a modern sewage treatment facility works! Can you help, please!?
Just finished watching, and have to say this was absolutely fantastic! I love these long format, detailed deep-dive videos, and would happily watch this kind of thing all the time. Practical Engineering has become one of my favorite YT channels 😁
I Worked on lots of these projects big and small all over Washington state in my 40 plus year pump repair and sales career. A great trip down memory lane.
In water treatment 20 years. Been around many lift stations. This presentation was very well done. 👏👍
17:51 Perfect representation of the damage urban sprawl causes. Farm ground is finite. Love the clown show McMansion right across the road. Guarantee they protested sewage handing in their purview.
I remember going on field trips from school, my absolute favorite was to the wastewater treatment plant in Carlsbad/ Oceanside...❤ the skimming ponds ..😮 the intake had 4 12' wide x 24' deep fast moving water. Scary how fast the flow was... A different area had aeration tanks... at the end the river of treated water went to the ocean where a little test sample retriving station was... for the laboratory on site. They had a system to collect sewer gas and generate electricity from generators run on it!
Having worked in construction much of my life, I can certainly attest to the great satisfaction of seeing a project come together. Thanks for piecing the previous videos into this documentary.
First class video, explanation and coverage of all the construction processes from breaking ground to the final commissioning, that goes into setting up a suburban sewage transfer system. Well done Grady Hillhouse from Western Australia
This was an awesome video that showed great detail and great explanation of each facet of a wastewater project and the role each piece of the project takes in the function of the pump station. I used to be a PM in the heavy civil/wastewater construction industry and have since switched to another industry but I have very fond memories of my experience in that sector. Most people would have never seen this type of work unless they have worked in it and you captured the complexity and process of this work, perfectly. This video made me miss it, thanks for sharing!
observe the concave excavator bucket shape at 9:30 , no doubt from bashing those corner rails into the ground. those mobile cranes are nothing short of miraculous. it's amazing how much weight they need to be stable. I have an electric articulated boom lift vehicle, that weighs 13,000 lbs. probably half of that weight is from 9" thick steel blocks welded to the frame in strategic places.
I thought that too. That excavator got trashed, hammering with the soft part of the bucket, then later with the teeth, horrible operator.
Two questions I still have in my head after this:
I still don't understand how it takes 1.5 years to make this, it feels so slow, but maybe it's because it wasn't a priority and more an anticipation as it was said.
I know you're not alone, but how did you manage to film, organise the schedule, edit with so much information in this series and keep up for 1.5 years? It's so much work, thank you!
It might be interesting for Grady to do a video on project management for large projects. Lots of interesting content to explore with respect to the challenges of handling delays, weather, scheduling personnel, and special purpose machinery.
The crew probably works 10 to 20 jobs simultationsly. Also concrete need a lot of time to harden. Better slow and sure than doing a rush job.
almost certainly a "good, fast, cheap; pick 2" situation, no need for it to be done any faster, so they didn't waste the expense on it being done any faster
I can explain that. For reference, I'm a cement mason and I've applied Linabond to a wastewater treatment plant.
At 1:20:48, he says "once the concrete cures, the coating crew comes back to apply the epoxy liner to the new concrete". Concrete takes 28 days to cure, before then it's very alkaline and gives off moisture. Most epoxies don't get along with water, this is especially true of the epoxy liners for sewage treatment plants. The liners need to be resistant to acids and impermeable to gases. The bacteria on the walls will convert any hydrogen sulfide gas into sulfuric acid, which reacts with cement creating gypsum. In laymans terms, if that epoxy liner isn't installed perfectly, bacteria will slowly turn your concrete into drywall.
At 24:02, he says "Once the grout cures, it's painted with waterproof coating". That may have also required 28 days, though it might have used a less high-performance product that requires less cure time. still, that alone would require a week or two of waiting, if not an entire month. And again, there will be other segments of the project that require the waterproof testing to pass before they can proceed. Additionally, if the waterproofing isn't perfect, it can impart water into the surrounding soil. That doesn't sound too bad, but it will cause settling over time (ie the thing they spend months and millions of dollars trying to prevent prior to the wet-well install).
In essence, the wet-well likely took 3 months or more to install, on top of the 2 to 3 months getting those pumps installed. At a minimum, that took at least 6 to 8 months. Additionally, any time they poured concrete, they likely had to wait at least a week before doing anything on it. You can walk on concrete the next day, but concrete needs to cure to gain it's full strength. Assuming they chemically cured the concrete, they'd need to wait 7 days before putting any loads on it. Add in design time, design corrections, weather issues, holidays, project complications, Utilities confirming utility locations, permitting issues, est and you have a project-time of a year or more for that segment alone.
For the parts I have less expertise with I'll end with this: any skilled trades-worker will tell you prep is where most projects succeed or fail. Prep work like digging, compacting soil, setting forms, getting safety measures in place, getting equipment set up, setting up power, and communicating key information all take time. For concrete, we might spend months setting up for a pour, finish most of the pour in a single day, then spending another month or two doing the finishing touches (patching bug-holes, coatings, making space for wires and plumbing, fix any issues, prepping for the next step in the project). Every trade has some bottlenecks, and every project will encounter a handful of them. This project absolutely looks like it took a year and a half. If they wanted to bump it up to a 3-crew operation, they could have doubled the cost to reduce the project length by a few months.
@@crafterlula1328 thank you!
Great episode. When I saw it’s more than an hour long I thought it will be boring but once I started watching I enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you for sharing.
Very cool, I was an apprentice rod buster on a big new build like this 20 years ago in south west Michigan. That shoring system is new to me and impressive. Nothing like repetitive hard work to perfect process. Thanks
This is exactly the kind of content I watched as a kid on VHS, Discovery and Science Channels. I loved watching shows of construction and how things were built. Thanks for this Grady, please please do another video like this of another project!
Incredible video, raising the seemingly mundane construction of a lift-station to an inspiring display of engineering and construction. I would never have thought such a video would capture my attention like this one did. It really makes me appreciate the hard work these guys do to put together society's critical infrastructure.
Obrigado!
Great series!
Thank you for the video. I enjoy watching stuff like this. I can see all the expertise needed in projects like this plus I like watching workers with tools and equipment making things work. Maybe you could do a future video on the engineering and designing of these projects on how they approach something like this and what kind of issues they have to take into consideration in the design process.
Thanks Grady. Excellent video- as always. You have the best engineering videos out there and you teach without making us knuckleheads feel ignorant. That's the icing on the cake. Thanks! Don't stop what you're doing!
The attention to detail and mechanical engineering required for, such a seemingly innocuous civil engineering project is astounding!
So fascinating, I thought I would scan through for 2, 3 minutes and go on with my business. 1 and 1/2 hours later here I am. Thanks
That was really cool, thank you for the effort of following this construction for such a long time and then editing everything together. Really puts some light onto the hidden infrastructure we all use daily.
Fantastic production, great to have it all in one video! Thank you for providing this incredible content, free of charge, for all of us to enjoy. Many thanks from the UK!
Just wow! I can't believe how much planning, preparation and work goes into something as innocently sounding as a "sewage lift station". What a fantastic video, hope to see more of this kind in the future. 👍
Side note, I'm also surprised about the amount of rain. As an ignorant European, I always thought all of Texas was about as dry as a desert. 😉
Wow. Never realized how much work goes into such a project.
I absolutely LOVE these series!
I love your practical construction series, Grady! I've been putting it on in the background while I do things around the house, it's oddly relaxing. It feels like How It's Made!
Bringing back lots of memories to this retired Michigan civil engineer. Interesting to see the extra steps needed to deal with reactive Texas clay.
Loved watching all the episodes together like this. I've always enjoyed watching construction and getting to see all of the details was a real treat for this old pensioner 😊
GOD bless you Grady and the Practical Engineering crew.
I have watched two of this type of lift built in NE Ohio over my career on my drive by to work each day but I never saw it all like you showed it. Thank you for filling in hundreds of the missing spots.
I was just starting my career as a pump station mechanic when he did these videos and I watched them it helped me understand things a lot better
This was fascinating! I have a friend who does design for commercial projects and we were just talking about one of his lift stations yesterday. Great timing.
This really helped give me a visual for what’s going on. Thank you so much.
This is an amazing video. Thank you everyone involved for moving the sewage. And thank you for taking so many precautions in ensuring a long lasting safe sawage system
Grady, I greatly enjoy your videos. Your enthusiasm is contagious, and this long video was a real eye-opening look at the huge amount of design and engineering that goes into infrastructure projects. Wow!
Top notch Grady! I enjoyed your presentation. I work for a potable water utility so I have not seen the sewer lift station side. I really enjoyed this.
New video format. Great idea.
Hi Grady! Thank you for a great and informative video! As the product architect for Flygt products (see our products 1:20:00 into the video), I am very thankful for bringing this to the world! Please let me know if there is anything I can help with in upcoming videos or personal interest and pay us a visit when you are in Sweden, you are so very welcome! Many thanks and we at Xylem (Flygt and Godwin amongst many other brands) are looking forward to upcoming content!
Congratulations, excellent work Grady and Team! I'm sure I am not the only one usually skipping 90m+ videos...
But somehow I knew this will be worth watching; and I wasn't disappointed the least. Nice job!
You can't skip it when you know it's Practical Engineering.
Being a developer, I also cannot help myself admiring your excellent name choice. :-)
Ps this stoobid app is rather buggy when it comes to addressing someone…
Amazing work on this video! Whole new appreciation for construction and engineering.
Thank you! I have been around industrial-level construction for almost 4 years, now, and it's amazing all the effort that goes into making large facilities, or even just many interconnected facilities (like a subdivision). One note: most of the concrete that gets poured needs a site-engineer or similar around to make sure the finishers don't keep asking for more water (especially after collecting the test-wheelbarrow). The truck drivers will do what they're told, so it's pretty frequent to see a tester get concrete to test, then the truck be released to a pump and ... immediately add 10-20 gallons of water. It's not great, but it makes the concrete more easily worked. Having someone to ride herd on the crew who cares about the finished work is important because concrete is frequently foundational (lol) to the stability of the structure(s).
Please please please 🙏 make content like this I know its a very long production production, but it's fantastic.
I watched it start to finish without stopping