Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a Flout?
- What does the Flout do?
- How does the Flout work?
- Why is flooding and resting a leach field or sand
filter better than a distribution box?
- What happens in a standard trickling leach field
or sand filter?
- What makes the Flout better than a D-box alone?
- What makes
the Flout better than a Bell Siphon?
- How can the Flout be used to make a simpler
mounded system?
- Why should the Flout be used?
- How is the Flout adaptable?
The Flout by Rissy Plastics. It's not a siphon and beats bell siphons by being easier and faster to install. Flout stands for "Floating Outlet." More effective than dipping units because it floods the field with a tidal wave (not 5 gals. or less) of water, using the whole field or filter every time it activates, equalizing the amount of water seen across each foot of leach field, sand filter piping. Less expensive than a pressure dosing pump system both to install and maintain. It's even fun to watch as it works. Test units set-up to demonstrate the Flout operation always draws a crowd of spectators. In plant demos are a great way to introduce the Flout and your products to new customers. It a new way to flood
septic system effluent into the leach field or sand filters
It floods the distribution box with water well above the invert of the leach
pipes, and insures an equal, fast flow of water down all legs of the leach field.
It holds back the water coming from the septic tank until enough is collected to
flood the leach field or sand filter. When the discharge cycle starts, all the
stored water is fed to the D-box and flows out every leg of the leach field or
sand filter. After discharging is completed, the septic tank effluent is held
back until another full charge of water is collected. This gives the leach field
or sand filter time to rest and absorb the water that has flooded it. The
flooding action insures the entire leach field or sand filter sees water every
time the tank discharges, utilizing more surface area of the soil to treat the
septic effluent than that of a standard trickling leaching or filtering system.
If you have a 300-gal charge, 200' of 24' wide leach field, each square foot of trench bottom will average only .66 gallons of water per discharge. When dug up for evaluation, dosed leach fields show little if any biomat development, an indication of increasing leach field life.
Gravity powers the system so no pumps are required. The Flout body acts like a boat hull and floats up on the surface of the water as the dosing tank fills. It is attached to the tank discharge pipes by a durable acid and caustic resistant flexible coupling. The coupling allows the Flout to lift off the tank floor in an arc as the water level rises in the dosing tank. The rising of the Flout prevents any water from flowing out to the leach field. When the water level is high enough, and the coupling has reach the top of the arc, water over flows into the Flout body, causing the Flout to loose buoyancy and sink to the bottom of the tank. This action opens a direct path for the water to flow out of the tank and into the leach field or sand filter. The flow of water fills the distribution pipes at a high rate. A seventeen inch drawdown max flow rate is 112GPM and averages 78GPM for the discharge cycle. When the water level falls below the edge of the Flout body, the water remaining inside empties (self-bails) by draining into the leach field or sand filter, allowing the Flout to regain buoyancy and float up off the floor of the tank, once again blocking water from flowing out. The cycle now restarts as water trickles in from the septic tank and is held back from the leach field as the Flout floats up. The Flout never trickles or ever needs to be primed.
It encourages the soil microbes that clean the water by providing the best conditions for their growth. The soil/stone interface is flooded, and then will dry out as the water is held back, keeping soil oxygen levels very high. The increased soil oxygen causes a population explosion of hungry microbes. An example of how fast these microbes can work is the speed a piece of wood will rot when it is allowed to constantly become wet and then dry out. The same piece of wood at the bottom of Lake Champlain or covered in a house wall will last centuries. No area of soil is ever totally saturated by septic effluent because the water is distributed evenly through the entire leach field or sand filter. The volume of water per square foot of distribution system is less than a gallon. At the same time, the flood and rest cycle draws oxygen rich air into the leach field or sand filter, feeding aerobic soil bacteria. Leach Fields or Sand Filters last much longer operated in this way.
In a standard leach field or sand filter, the water rushes into the septic tank, slows down and trickles out the tank outlet to the d-box. The water flows through the lowest outlet of the d-box to the lowest point of that leg of leach field and into the soil or in the case of a sand filter the under drains. This area is constantly flooded by water until the soil is totally saturated and fails to absorb any more water. Anaerobic bacteria and fungus grow in the nutrient rich water around the distribution pipe, forming a biomat that seals off the soil from the water. The water then backs-up to the next lowest spot in that leg and floods the new area until it too, fails. This constant, over wet condition prevents any oxygen from reaching the soil or under drain, allowing only slow acting anaerobic bacteria to grow, and killing off the fast acting aerobic soil bacteria. This becomes a progression of failed areas. The old area is still too wet and never gets a chance to dry out. Eventually the entire leg fails and cannot accept any additional water. The water will fill that leg and then must back up to the d-box and flow from there out next lowest leach pipe opening.
Careful leveling of the d-box will help even out water distribution; at least until the first ground frost cycle occurs, changing the d-box position. This resettling of the d-box by frost heaves each year ruins the best of leveling jobs. Two examples of just how powerful frost heaves can be are the damage heaves do to highways every year and the large rocks that appear in farmers field each spring.
The Flout can resist the effect frost heaves better. It has a larger area and is heavier than a d-box. It also tolerates an out of level condition, yet still will function properly. The high level of water in the tank and the fact the outlets are completely submerged during the discharge cycle, insure the discharge pipes are fully flooded the whole time water is flowing from the dosing tank. All the outlets will see the same amount of water pass through them, every time. The basic design uses one or two outlets but up to eight (even or odd) may be installed in a tank. This allows every leg of the leach field to have its own outlet from the dosing tank if desired. The Flout design also allows the placement of the leach field laterals parallel to the side of a hill, making an easy, practical solution to one of the most difficult leach field or sand filter design problems. The overflow pipes act as a vent and will insure each outlet has an equal amount of water, no matter how far the leach field or sand filter piping extends from the tank. This arrangement works even if the distribution lines are lower or at a different levels from each other. This flow divider effect gives true parallel distribution of the effluent into all laterals of a leach field.
It's easier and faster to install than a bell siphon and requires no special forms to build. Handling and onsite installation is accomplished using the same equipment required to set a septic tank and all work done at the same time the septic tank is delivered. The Flout tank can be leveled quickly and accurately. Any precast septic tank supplier can easily modify tank forms they already own, build a few and then return to building the regular products, on short notice. A contractor can install the Flout tank in about an hour and wastes no time leveling the outlets of a d-box. The Flout is glued in place inside of the dosing tank (at the precast plant) and delivered on site, ready to install in the ground. The Flout tank can be assembled in advance and stacked in the yard as a stockpile. The excavated hole for the tank requires a simple flat bottom. The Outlet piping is 5" shallower than a bell siphon. 3" or 4" adapter connection pipes can be cast into the tank wall, as per your customer requirements and connection to the D-box is by the installation contractor. No more "grouting in" bell siphons on the job site. No priming water ever needs to be added to the Flout for correct operation. Connection to the D-box is just as easy as gluing PVC pipes together. For those big jobs, any number of outlets may be installed in the tank, even or odd number as required. For large dosing applications, additional holding tanks can be paralleled to the dosing tank increasing water volume per discharge.
This design uses a Flout tank instead of pumps to flood the leach field or sand filter. A smaller pump system can transfer the effluent from the septic tank outlet to a mounded system. The Flout tank replaces the pressure pumps. No pumps or wiring are required at the mounded system installation, saving time, expensive pressure dosing pumps and the energy to run them.
Anyone (contractors, engineers, homeowners and inspectors) can see how it works, understands why it works and is confident it will work every time. Pre-casters that formerly sold bell siphons, report selling 6 times as many Flouts the first year they offered them. The simplicity of the system means few call backs for maintenance problems, like blocked vent pipes, stuck float switches or burned out pumps. If anything does go wrong, replacement is as easy as loosening two hose clamps, doing a visual inspection, replacing the defective part and tightening the hose clamps. Overflow piping insures a blocked Flout will not cause water to back up into the home, business or facility. No voltmeters to use or electrical wires/pumps/connections to troubleshoot or diagnose. It's gravity powered (when was the last time we have a gravity outage?) and even works during electrical outages.
Pre-casters already own the needed forms and usually only need to cast a cover. By using a standard 1000 gal. tank bottom, you will get about a 300 gal. Dose. A 500 gal. tank bottom will yield a 175 gal dose. A 75 gal Low-Pro unit will fit inside a 48" well tile and yield a 65-gal dose. A 36" well tile used with a Low-Pro Flout will yield a 32-gallon dose. Exact discharge numbers for your forms can be determined by contacting L.I.Z Electric for engineering and design assistance.
*Floating Outlet and *Flout are trademarks of Rissy Plastics, LLC
US Pat No 5290434 © 2001 Rissy Plastics, LLC FLTS001 06-01
Copyright © Rissy Plastics, LLC 2005
developed by JDH Designs
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