Port Vell Barcelona Spain

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On April 27 2015, Flovac commissioned the vacuum system at the Marina Port Vell in Barcelona. Known as one of the finest new marinas for Super yachts in Europe, the owners saw the use of the Flovac system as essential.

The system designed and installed by FLOVAC includes the discharges from buildings in the Marina such as the restaurants, offices, locker rooms, gym, etc … and residences on the boats moored in the Marina.

Wastewater and Bilge Water

The vacuum system has two vacuum networks, one for wastewater generated in the Marina (waste water) and a parallel network where bilge water, which requires pre-treatment to collect the sewage discharged in port .The network of pipes, placed around

the perimeter of the marina, carrying the waste water has vacuum generated by a single vacuum station located in the Marina. It is the single point of electricity needed for the whole system. FLOVAC vacuum valves, which are located in different collection pits are pneumatically operated with this setup, FLOVAC has already installed four vacuum sewerage works in the area of the Port of Barcelona.

No Leaks from the Sewer System can occur

The vacuum system ensures the impossibility of discharges into the sea , is the most economical solution in terms of execution of work, since by its very nature design , the network of pipes need not be buried deep underground and no intermediate pumping. Moreover, in this case, the system is equipped with a remote control system that allows the owner to know exactly everything that happens anywhere in the sewer.

User Pay for Sewage Discharge

Flovac also designed software to control the discharge of sewage from yachts to the Marina and can accurately invoice by litres of discharge to the sewer. As a result, Marina Port Vell prevents sewage dumped at sea and in return gives them a MARPOL certificate.

MARPOL 73/78 is an international convention for the prevention of pollution at sea. The convention includes regulations aimed at preventing and minimising pollution at sea from ships, and this includes both, accidental pollution and pollution from routine operations.

Key Largo using monitoring for hurricane preparedness

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Key Largo, Florida to Install Large Scale Telemetry Monitoring System in its Sanitary Collection System

Installation of FLOVAC Americas radio-telemetry system technology to help prevent SSOs and warn collection system’s operations of potential issues to begin.

Flovac has been contracted by the Key Largo Wastewater Treatment District to install its wireless monitoring system (FMS). The project is partially funded thru a grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The driver of the project to assist the Key Largo’s sanitation system cope when hurricanes and large storms hit the Florida Keys. The monitoring technology is to provide the district with real-time alerts of system issues as a means of mitigating SSOs. The installation is expected to take approximately two years to complete and will utilize a basin-by-basin approach to make such a large-scale project manageable. The monitoring technology will be deployed throughout the district’s vacuum collection system, grinder pump collection systems and force mains. This includes nearly 3,000 collection pits.

Once online, the system will monitor levels and pressures continuously and if changes outside normal operating conditions are detected, alerts will be sent to the district’s staff through Gateway transmission. Changes to the system can be made remotely and this will give operations crews time to conduct a field response to address issues such as low pressure, high flow, or other system failures.

Key Largo’s vacuum sewer pits resemble manholes seen in traditional gravity sewer systems and the monitoring devices will be installed inside of the existing pits/pedestals and so will be hidden and undetectable by residents and will not impact the appearance of neighborhoods.

“We are excited to be working with Key Largo and incorporating our technology into their existing infrastructure. Similar implementations have provided our clients with the ability to see what is happening in their systems in real-time and get ahead of issues before they occur and we look forward to delivering those same benefits and operational cost savings to Key Largo,” shares Michael Pringle, Director of Operations at FLOVAC Americas.

For more information about Flovacs Wireless Monitoring Read Here

Key Largo, Hurricane Irma Devastation. photo by Contessa Brewer CNBC

The Most Difficult Install Ever, Eretrea Greece

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The city of Eretrea in Greece, one of the best known Archaeological sites in the world, has had a much needed upgrade. A Flovac vacuum system has been installed to replace old septic tanks that still serviced the houses in the town.

Two vacuum pump stations were required, as well as 414 collection pits, a cable monitoring system and 28,000 meters of pipework including the house connections. A
vacuum system was chosen due to the difficult ground conditions and the flexibility that the pipework allowed for. A gravity pipe system would require deep trenching and straight lengths of pipe.  Vacuum mains can be installed with full flexibility and can be rerouted around difficult areas.

Difficult Installation

The city was an important city in Ancient Greece beginning at the time of the Bronze Age in the 8th century BC and was a seat of trade,  commerce and education. As the site is still under archaeological excavation it is still common to find artifacts while digging into the ground. We often found evidence of graves, walls, bronze artifacts and perfume bottles. Some more than 2,000 years old. At all times during excavation we were accompanied by two archaeologists and no excavation could take place without them. Once something was found, we would have to stop pipelaying and wait until drawings were done. Permission would then needed be granted from the Central Archaeological Institute to continue, which often took a long time.

We also needed to deal with a water table at 60-70 cm (24 inches). You would think that this close to the sea that it would be salt water but no, it was clear sweet fresh water. At 90 cm (36 inches) there is a hard crust which when perforated allowed salt water to ingress.

A very difficult but a very rewarding project.

How do Variable Flow Rates Affect Your Design

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Vacuum Systems operate on a ratio between air and water, either too much air or too much water can negatively impact on the system which could lead to failures or higher operating costs.

Systems are designed and built for an average flow rate but in many of the communities where vacuum systems are built they never perform at the average flow.

To look at a couple of examples

  • A Coastal Holiday Town that during the winter has 500 people but in the height of summer has 5,000 people. During the winter more air is required to keep sewage flowing. Less air is required in summer when valves are all operating frequently.
  • A wealthy community where residents are building 10 bedroom mansions. For most of the year only 2 people live in the house, but at Thanksgiving and Christmas twenty people are living in the house. Can the system cope with a large increase in flows.
  • A community that has a section with a caravan park (RV Park) and a camping ground area. During certain holiday periods massive flows occur at these locations.
  • A system which on one line has a large secondary school and a primary school. During the summer holidays no flow enters the system along this stretch. Will that impact on collection pits further upstream?

One of the unique features of the Flovac Monitoring System (FMS) is its ability to communicate two ways. We have developed controllers for our valves that can receive messages to open for a period of time.

The smart controller can open for longer during extreme wet weather events or during quiet winter off season periods or less air during very busy periods. It can be programmed to only admit more air when it senses flooding is occurring in the vacuum main which more air would help.

If the client would like to, they can remotely fire the controller to assist the system.

One client is programming a number of valves to open at 5 am prior to peak so that the vacuum mains can be emptied prior to the large peak flows and this reduces the peak impact on the system. This system is also being operated prior to large wet weather events.

Imagine if the weather forecast suggested a large storm would occur in the afternoon. The operator could fire a few valves injecting air into the system which could empty the vacuum mains completely prior to the wet weather occurring. Not only would the vacuum system handle the storm better but so would the treatment plant which would have received excess flows prior to the start of the storm.

Eco Resort, affected by seasonal flows

To read more about this Click Here

Award Winning Vacuum Pump Station Design

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The Hunua Views Flovac vacuum pump station located between Drury and Ramarama south of Auckland in New Zealand has taken out the highly commended award in the 2021 ADNZ Resene Architectual Awards. The design was done by Madushin Amarasekera of Construkt Associated for Classic Homes, a major developer in New Zealand.

The Hunua Views residential development , is serviced by a vacuum sewer system after deep gravity sewers and low pressure pumps were rejected by Watercare, the main utility looking after the Auckland area. Up to 1,000 houses will be connected to the new vacuum pump station.

The comment at the awards

A beautifully bold and intriguingly sculptural project by Madushin Amarasekera of Construkt Associates NZ took out a Commercial/Industrial accolade in the 2021 ADNZ Resene Architectural Design Awards. With a need to accommodate very specific engineering functions, Madushin took the opportunity to create not only a functional home to the pump station, but also a building to act as a site marker within its residential context. We love the irregular roof geometry which perfectly accompanies the textured precast concrete panels.
🏆 2021 ADNZ Resene Architectural Design Highly Commended for Commercial/Industrial Award.
Watercare are naturally very proud of the new infrastructure and were very involved in the coordination of everyone involved. When designing and creating the structure, specific engineering functions needed to be met and there was a lot of coordination between the architect, civil, structural, services & acoustic engineers, precast fabricator and Flovac, the vacuum system specialist. In fact, it’s so detailed that all the vents were acoustic rated while the control room is positioned on the south side, providing an acoustic buffer for nearby residential dwellings.

Flovac is the largest vacuum system supplier in New Zealand and has established a production facility on the north island of NZ to handle the business growth within the country.

Photos by Calvin Hui

Club de Mar Mallorca. The largest Superyacht dock in the Mediterranean

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Flovac’s vacuum sanitation system is going to be included in the remodelling taking place at the marina Club de Mar Mallorca, which will include the fitting out of a new superyacht pier. The pier will be able to accommodate four yachts between 170 and 136 meters and up to 24 beam lengths. Therefore, the marina will commemorate its 50th anniversary with an innovative, reliable and green sanitation solution.

Flovac will supply and install all of the vacuum sewerage equipment. This will be used for both the vessels at berth and for the buildings in the marina as well. Flovac was chosen for this major project due to their detailed experience with major marinas around the world. Flovac valves and equipment is built under European standards and ISO codes.

Vacuum sanitation is preferred for marinas because all pipework can reach the collection pits with shallow trenches and will not leak.  For luxury marinas, Flovac designed a AISI316 stainless steel bollard. Flovac bollards have accessories to connect hoses that suck wastewater from vessels. For the superyachts that have discharge pumps, Flovac will supply connection points with diverse dimensions to adapt to the pier. Bollards with a hose connection under vacuum pressure is for yachts without discharge pumps.

The vacuum system has sensors that notifies the marina manager of the vacuum valve condition as well as the pump and tank status. We also provide software to calculate the flow from the megayachts.

If you would like more information about Flovacs other marina projects please Click here

Gold Coast Marina Vacuum Pump Station Upgrade – A Challenge

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The Gold Coast Marine Precinct is a dedicated industrial zone in Coomera, on the Gold Coast of Queensland Australia. The precinct supports marine manufacturing, servicing, repairs and refits of recreational boats. It is one of the most advanced and respected marine industry cluster developments in the Southern Hemisphere. It is the only purpose built marine precinct in Australia. Covering 250 hectares, it it is home to some of Australias most prestigious motor yacht builders and industry leaders.

It includes Riviera Australia a winner of Australian Maritime Industry Exporter of the year on multiple occasions.

Maritomo  Handcrafted Luxury Offshore Motor Yachts

The Boat Works – a boatyard, marina and superyacht facility

The Gold Coast City Marina & Shipyard   has over 90 expert businesses looking after a wide range of clients. They have won numerous awards for their facilities.

 

Related: Barcelona Port vacuum Sewerage System

The Challenge

All of the wastewater within the facility is collected via a vacuum sewerage system. Over the years the facility has grown and the requirements of what a sewerage needs to do has changed. How to handle the larger superyachts for example. How to reduce energy costs. And how to ensure that all equipment was the latest technology and would reduce any risks of sewage entering the waterways.

The hardest part of the challenge was to fit new vacuum pump station equipment into a very tight existing space. The upgrade needed to take place with minimal disruption to any of the businesses in the precinct.

Related: Sydney Superyacht Marina Upgrade

As the Vacuum Pump Station is located outside of the precinct’s grounds it is operated and maintained by Gold Coast Council.

Power Saving and Efficiency

The goal set by Council was to reduce the vacuum pump cycle time from around 6 minutes to less than 3 minutes. This would give a 50{f2ac4d1e1d40dc2e2d9280a1dfa90d854b2d8c80eba743affa37fc4ce2e16def} reduction in power usage throughout the day.

There was also a request to increase the discharged flow from the system by 15{f2ac4d1e1d40dc2e2d9280a1dfa90d854b2d8c80eba743affa37fc4ce2e16def} by using exactly the same specified discharge pumps that were currently installed. We managed to increase their flow from 18 L/S to 21 L/S.

Flovac’s engineers worked on the problem creating 3D modeling of the station to ensure that the equipment would fit the space. Then the operations group went over the plans to make sure that the operability of the system would not be compromised.

In the months after commissioning there has been a clear improvement and lowering of energy costs. Vacuum pump run times have decreased from 17 hours per day and are now running for only 6.7 hours per day. They previously had been running 3 x 500 m3/hr pumps most of the day with huge energy costs.

More information on Flovac’s Marina and Port Projects

EPA demands that vacuum technology to be used at Eco Resort

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The Couran Cove Eco Resort in Queensland Australia is an award winning environmental success story for Flovac and for our client.

Designing to best environmental practices which included refunds to staying guests if they used less than average electricity and water during their stay.  A vacuum collection system was a natural choice, chosen for its ease of installation and environmental credentials.

2,000 visitors plus staff with a swimming pool, function center, laundry facility, restaurant and marina.

The system at a glance

  • 1 Vacuum Pump Station
  • 2,000 Guests plus Staff
  • Villa’s, apartments and cabins along with a conference facility, restaurants, sporting areas, offices and marina pump out facility
  • 215 Collection Pits
  • Fibre Optic Monitoring System

System Benefits

The developer showed a strong preference for a vacuum sewerage system as he saw it offering significant benefits in this development over each of the alternatives. These benefits were identified as:-

  • Ability to handle low flush toilets thus reducing the ultimate treated water disposal problem
  • Minimal impact on the landscape during construction with shallow trenches
  • Maximum water recovery for reuse in the re-vegetation irrigation system
  • Construction route flexibility thus minimizing the damage to vegetation
  • Ability to transport grey and black water in the one small bore pipe
  • Ability to safely lay all services in the one trench with minimal spacing
  • Zero infiltration and exfiltration
  • Ability of the system to service the entire site with one centralized pump station
  • Ability of the scheme to service the Boardwalk accommodation and even the boat sullage

Couran Cove Web Page

If you would like more information about this project or would like a free concept and budget for your next project please contact Flovac Engineering by clicking here

Vacuum Valve and Collection Sumps were located under the walkways in stainless steel vessels.

 

 

Award winning project for Flovac as a Commerce by Design award in the annual Gold Coast Urban Design Awards

 

Able to handle seasonal flows from different areas within the resort. The remote beach restaurant is 3 km from the main resort

 

Vacuum Sewer Operations Manager Interview

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Alistair Read, Wastewater Utility Manager swapping old for new

Alistair Read, Wastewater Utility Manager swapping old for new

Interview with Alistair Read – Operations Manager Coorong Quays, South Australia.

Coorong Quays Project Link

1. What is your role at Coorong Quays?

I am the Manager of Operations of the Coorong Quays canal development in charge of the vacuum sewer system as well as the Treatment Plant. With the vacuum sewer system I am involved with the installation through to the tuning of each stage. I also review the specific design by Flovac and local engineer Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec (WGA). At this stage it is a private development and we have operated as a private utility.

2. How long has your vacuum sewerage system been in operation?

This vacuum system has been in operation since 1990 at Coorong Quays. It was originally known as Marina Hindmarsh and attracted a lot of holiday makers from Adelaide. It was the first vacuum system installed in South Australia. I have had 22 years of personal experience in operating this system. Starting out with Stage 2 with 36 Pits to Stage 8 with 276 Pits now servicing 845 homes. I have supervised seven stages, including the building of two of the three vacuum pumping stations. We also use the vacuum system to suck the wastewater off boats at the marina as well as many of the houseboats which travel up the Murray River.

Kangaroo Island bushfires

3. What do you do when not managing the system at Coorong Quays.

I am very active with the Army Reserve and often need to be away with the Reserve. Earlier this year I was tasked to bushfire assistance at Kangaroo Island. It was a devastating period. I also love camping in the northern part of the state. It is incredibly beautiful. When I am away for extended periods I know I can rely on Flovac helping out my team, and I can also keep in touch via the monitoring system if I have coverage.

4. What are some of the main benefits of the Flovac Vacuum Sewerage System in your view?

There are many benefits of the vacuum system. It has a number of environmental benefits: It’s ideal for high water tables with typical trenching of 0.9 to 1.2 to 1.5 range, for the main lines. It’s specifically suited to coastal tidal areas and environmentally sensitive areas. For example, if there is any third-party major breach, that line flow will stop due to a lack of vacuum. This means the spillage impact is minimal in the area as it is a gravity system with vacuum assisting. Far less than conventional Gravity/Pressure or LP system, where the environmental impact could be greater, so the Flovac Vacuum System is ideal for such locations.

It is also ideal as it has minimal environmental impact for sensitive areas like Coorong Quays where the development borders on the Coorong and the Murray River. It is also a very cost-effective system to operate. It takes a smaller team to run, without needing heavy specialized equipment. Thus, keeping maintenance asset costs down.

We operate everything at the development under ISO 14001, which is an environmental certification. This governs many aspects including health and safety. The vacuum system helped with the certification. That it cant leak, no infiltration, low power use and very good from a health and safety perspective was all very important.

5. Why did you choose this system over other possible options?

Manager Alistair Read at an old styled concrete chamber with Flovac valve

In comparison with Gravity and LP sewer systems we are very happy with this system, as it has the flexibility for ‘add-ons’ to initial plans. You can tune this system to work for your purposes. For example, until recently Coorong Quays had a low population in winter, with higher numbers in summer.

The system needed to be tuned to fit in with this and thus reducing operating cost it has been more energy efficient. This vacuum system has the ability to have an auto air injected system to assist with this over the ‘High season’. This system is highly flexible.

We have recently experienced some social changes from having a ‘transitional’ population to more permanent residents. This has occurred because of lifestyle changes and with the current COVID-19 situation people are now working from home at Coorong Quays coupled with increased domestic holidaying.

This system has worked well for us as it has allowed us to cope with this social change, and with changing housing designs now being built, that includes more bathrooms, bedrooms etc.

6. What do you think of FVS systems in general?

This system is a robust one that also has the ability to be flexible’ in coastal terrains. It can be designed to better fit in with the land contours.

For example, in the case of Coastal it can be designed with minimum disturbance, as opposed to conventional system installations. From an operations viewpoint it is also easy to maintain with a smaller crew.

Maintenance is recommended annually. With rebuilds 10 -15 years for internal components, depending on cycle usage.

From my experience with valves, it’s about 15 years with nominal use of 30,000 to 40,000 cycles per valve a year.

7. Would you recommend this particular system to other similar developments such as yours?

Flovac Monitoring System

I highly recommend this system for coastal environments. Used in conjunction with the wireless monitoring system (FMS) it is an even better way of monitoring this system and tuning it to run at its optimum. The benefit of this is that it can be done remotely, and tuned on site.

The FMS electronic monitoring system also records how the valve activity is performing and allows the operator to address any maintenance issues straight away.

8. Has Flovac provided good support to you and your team?

Flovac have been with us all the way through. New product developments like the monitoring system and PE collection pits. Improvements to their valve and controller and  their engineers and operators have been fantastic. They run 24-hour support, though we have never really needed it.

It’s important to recognise that a vacuum system is not just a single product, its a system. So we need to be on top of all aspects. I have plenty of other things to watch over in my life so its been great knowing that we can rely on the Flovac team. They are doing this day in, day out , all around the world. They know what they are doing and they have never let us down.

Coorong Quays residential canal development project in South Australia

Is Infiltration Causing Problems in Your Sewerage System?

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Not long after Miles Crossing Sanitary Sewer District in Oregon installed a new vacuum sewer system they realized they had an issue that needed an immediate fix. According to the superintendent, Carl Gifford, “Our flows exceed 180,000 gallons [on heavy rain days] due to a massive I/I issue that we grew to have”.  This excess can put a strain on the system which can increase utility bills, not to mention, Miles Crossing is a collection system only.  They have to work with a neighboring system for treatment and have a limit on max flow that can be sent.

Flovac and Miles Crossing were able to meet and come up with a  plan to utilize Flovac Monitoring System to overcome these issues.

“With this system, we can monitor the fires from each individual pit. During a rain event, it is really simple to tell which ones contribute to the massive I/I we are dealing with. During the last winter, we were able to identify 9 sources of I/I that we were able to repair”.

Gifford also mentions how the system allows for the sewer district to know about problems before customers do. “An additional benefit that we observed with this system is the alarms that it provided. Numerous times we were called out for a high-level at a residence and were able to make the repair and get it back online before the customer knew there was a problem. This helps greatly with the risk management of possible failures and the following lawsuits that have happened in the past”.

Due to less load on the system, Miles Crossing have been able to add residential connections creating revenue.

To find out more about the Flovac Monitoring System – Click Here

Image on Front Cover Torsten Blackwood—AFP/Getty Images