It has been 40 years since the gears at work daily on the gates at the Rice Lake Dam were installed, and the bearings in those gears are starting to show their age.
Barron County Dam Coordinator Tyler Gruetzmacher spilled news of his concern at both the Barron County Board's Executive and Property committees on Monday.
"One of the bearings is not doing too well," Gruetzmacher told members of the Executive Committee at its morning meeting. "The 40-year-old is equipment is starting to show its age."
He told the Property Committee on Monday afternoon that he thought it could be handled as a simple repair only to find out that the part is not readily available. Initially an individual from a bearing company felt that it could provide bearings to rebuild gearboxes, but when a manager happened to be in the area and took a look at it, he advised that the company only does work with plans from an engineer and later sent an email declining the work.
"This led me to doing my own research for replacement of the gearboxes," Gruetzmacher said. "They provided me a quote for new jack stands. However they don't do installation. Installation requires knowledge and expertise that is not locally available."
So the dam coordinator went back to its source. He reached out to the original designer of the dam, asking for a proposal review and installation plan. He was referred to Lemke Industries of Wausau, as it has the rights to the designs.
"The original manufacturer of the gates in Wausau is confident they can come up with a replacement plan," Gruetzmacher told the committee members.
He said the cost is variable, and he was advised by the county administrator that an amount more than $25,000 would require a bid proposal although he doesn't anticipate anyone other than the manufacturer would "bite on it."
As the dam repair could easily exceed $25,000, the Property Committee approved putting out a Request for Proposal.
"It's got to be fixed," said Committee Member Bob Rogers, who made the motion.
The dam operator said there are funds from the county and lake district set aside for emergencies and repairs such as this.
Information provided to both committees state that the Murco 10-ton roller gate hoist was installed in 1984. It is operated by a central motor with drive shafts connecting to screw jacks on each side of the gate. A coupler of the drive shaft is failing, the gear has play in it, and the seals are leaking.
"This is the system that is used daily for the operation of the dam," Gruetzmacher noted. "Should it fail in a down position, we would not be able to recover the water level on the lake. Should it fail in a high position, daily operation would have to be done at the Tainter gates."
County Administrator Jeff French commended him for his work in finding a solution.
"I think Tyler's right to get on top of this," French said.
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