Archive for category: Applications

A “Plug N Play” Temporary Solution.

Installing infrastructure at the early stages of a residential housing development can often disrupt the staging process and the cash flow of the project. Vacuum sewerage systems can make it easier.

At Flovac, our engineers have used deployable engineering solutions that will be incorporated into long term projects.

The town of Clevedon in Auckland New Zealand is finally beginning the process of eradicating septic tanks which have been causing environmental problems and will install a new Flovac vacuum sewerage system. Growth in the town had been on hold due to the lack of a proper municipal sewerage system. This has impacted on the restaurants and commercial premises and the increased demand on housing which is just a short drive to Auckland City.

Gravity sewers were looked at for the area, but a very high water table made that a very expensive and disruptive alternative. Low pressure Grinder pumps were also looked at but with an ultimate population of more than 6,000 people costs made that prohibitive. There were also other downsides with looking at grinder pumps where the local utility has had some terrible experiences. An increasing number of severe storms meant that power outages left communities with no access to sewer services. Also off sewage during low flow periods put added pressure onto Treatment Plants. The main issue was also the reluctance of the community in having sewerage infrastructure on their properties which would need to be accessed whenever problems arose.

The proposed vacuum sewer system will require only a single vacuum pump station and all sewage infrastructure will be outside the property boundaries. There will also be far less impact on residents as installation can be a lot faster than a gravity installation as all pipework will be shallow in the ground and so less de-watering will be required.

Watercare who are the water and wastewater service provider for the greater Auckland area is leading the project and has had a lot of experience with the successful Flovac vacuum sewerage system at the town of Kawakawa Bay which has won a number of engineering and environmental awards. members of the project team have also visited the successful projects that were installed in Christchurch NZ which replaced systems impacted by large earthquakes. Auckland is also in an earthquake zone, making vacuum systems an even better solution.

As the township of Clevedon connects up to the sewer network a number of new residential developments will also be built and will connect to the system. The vacuum sewerage system is versatile enough to cope with developers adding on new houses as they are built over the coming 10-15 years.

As there are multiple developers involved in the project, the timing of infrastructure installation can be difficult. What roads need to be built first, which group of houses need to be serviced first.

One well know developer with a small block of 26 houses positioned at the very end of the catchment wanted to develop their land well ahead of the infrastructure being ready for connection. As it is a major project it will take over two years to complete and possibly longer before the pipework reaches all the way to the end of the catchment. Working with Flovacs engineers an interim solution was proposed and Watercare was flexible enough to allow the developer the opportunity of utilising short term infrastructure.

Flovac’s deployable sewerage systems have been used in a variety of projects around the world, including at the London Olympics. You can see details of the projects here.

The developer installed the vacuum mains and house connections as well as the Flovac collection pits. A plug and play containerized vacuum pump station was positioned next to a temporary treatment plant and the system was connected up. Once houses are built, local plumbers can connect to the vacuum pits. The system will be operated and maintained by a local operator with support from Flovac. As the station and all of the collection pits have wireless monitoring, Flovac’s operations center in Sydney Australia can provide 24 hour support.

When the time comes, the deployable system can be moved on to the next project and the vacuum mains connected up to the main Clevedon project mains and vacuum pump station 4 km away. The developer has spent a minimal amount of money which allowed them to start selling houses significantly faster than traditional methods would have allowed for.

Flovac Wireless Monitoring Systems allow operators to pinpoint exactly what is going on in their vacuum sewerage network cutting down both time in the field and the risk of potential overflows. Many operators will tell you that it can take a very long time to find the source of a problem in a vacuum sewer system, but then take very little time to fix.

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The European standards for vacuum sewers have required for many years that all vacuum valves in a network have some form of monitoring. At its most basic, it should show a valve that is stuck open or a high-level alarm in a collection pit.

Flovac has always been at the leading edge of developments in cable monitoring systems which are used extensively around the world. However, when retrofitting older vacuum systems that do not have monitoring already installed then it is impractical to lay cable in the ground to connect each collection pit to your SCADA network. It is not only expensive but also inconvenient to homeowners.

Over the past ten years Flovac has pioneered the development of wireless monitoring systems trialing a variety of technologies. All have common requirements.

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As Flovac have also operated and maintained a number of vacuum sewerage systems, our German operations group currently maintains over 100 systems, we have a good idea about what is useful information for our operators, and what is useful information for our operations managers. Over time clients have added a number of items to the wish list which we have been able to accommodate.

Basically, our operators want to know where to go to if there is a fault, and what sort of problem they are likely to encounter.

1. If a valve is stuck open (where is the location exactly)
2. Is a valve pit about to overflow?
3. What is the vacuum pressure, at specific points within the vacuum system, and at the vacuum pump station?

Operations and Asset Managers often wanted more detailed information.

1. How many call-outs to the system and why?
2. Is Infiltration occurring in the system and where from?
3. Is anyone discharging high volumes into the system?
4. Is the air to sewage mix correct, can we save on energy costs?
5. When do parts need changing in the valves and controllers?
6. Is there a leak somewhere in the system?

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Two crucial developments that have made the Flovac Monitoring System very popular with clients are:

1. The ability to control vacuum valves within the network. Two-way communication. This allows clients to increase or decrease the amount of air in the system, this can avoid waterlogging and enable the systems to cope better through high load weekends and extreme wet weather events.
2. The use of IOT technology has meant that a single gateway can not only cover quite large areas, it can also cope with more than 20,000 devices sending information to it. This is allowing customers to receive not only information from the vacuum system, but also from low pressure grinder pumps, gravity pump stations and water meters. Bringing everything to a single platform.

If you would like a quote or more detailed information please contact your closest Flovac office Click Here

The Village of Muraste has replaced the aging septic tanks in the old part of the village which were causing environmental damage. Muraste is located 30 minutes drive north east of the capital of Estonia, Tallinn. Changing to a modern secure vacuum system will also improve the health of those in the town.

OÜ Flovac Nordic is based in the capital Tallinn and the Managing Director Georg Sarap has successfully installed a number of Flovac systems throughout Estonia.  (Read about one of the first vacuum systems in Estonia here) The success of these has  ensured that the townspeople, as well as the Harju County officials, were comfortable with the low costs of maintenance at the other towns.

All of the Flovac projects in Estonia use monitoring systems to allow for easy alerts as to any potential problems within the system. (see photo below)

The new sewerage system connects 316 houses to 79 Flovac PE Collection pits which were pre-tested before going to site.  One vacuum pump station easily services the whole village and is the only place where power is required.

A vacuum system was chosen in this area due to the difficult ground conditions. The local area is known for its limestone cliffs and limestone under the surface and has a very high water table being right on the coast. Muraste is often covered in snow and Flovac systems have proven themselves reliable in frozen conditions. You can read about Flovac’s abilities in the cold here.

It is the installation costs which make vacuum systems a much cheaper option in towns like this where ground conditions are very difficult.  Vacuum pipework is only laid between one and two metres of depth (photo below) As it is  shallow then all infrastructure can be installed much quicker than a gravity system and as a result will have much less impact on residents.

One unique aspect of this system is that the vacuum pump station includes the countries first vacuum toilet. It showcases how vacuum suction works and has a clear pipe running from the toilet back to the collection tank in the station. Vacuum toilets are often used as water saving devices. I am not sure how many people will actually want to use the toilet with the clear pipe, but its great for demonstration purposes.

 

 

 

Flovac provides for a safe easily deployable sewerage solutions with limited power requirements and is low maintenance.

“PLUG n PLAY”

1. VPS; 2. Vacuum Main; 3. Collection Pit; 4. Gravity Line; 5. Deployed Flovac System

The Flovac deployable Systems can be provided in conjunction with treatment or with camlock fittings to allow for easy access via sucker trucks.

Ideal for camps from 50 people to 5,000

• Mining camps and Fly Camps

• Refugee and Emergency Centers (incl Covid-19 Hospitals)

• Event Infrastructure

• Military Camps

• Staging of Residential Developments

Temporary Camps, whether emergency, workers accommodation, mining, military or refugee need to transport sewage from ablution blocks, kitchens and laundries. Installation of pipework can be time consuming, expensive and be damaging to the environment.

Flovac’s deployable vacuum system can be deployed to site and established within 24 hours. Upon redeployment can be packed and ready for transport within 24 hours, leaving the site as you found it.

All infrastructure delivered in re-deployable 20 ft containers, simply install the pipe network, power up the pump station and turn it on

The only power requirement is at the pump station

Collection pipe work can be laid above ground or buried at minimum depth and collects all wastewater within the camp.

All systems pre-tested and commissioned prior to delivery and suitable for all climates

Can be supplied with containerised treatment plants if required

Also available with pre-constructed ablution blocks containing vacuum toilets to reduce water use in remote camps

No leaks, overflows or odours and all fully automated and monitored.