AU718376B2 - Septic tank installation improvements - Google Patents

Description

45878 HKS:LL P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: GRANT ANDREW WRIDE Actual Inventor: GRANT ANDREW WRIDE Address for Service: COLLISON CO0.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: SEPTIC TANK INSTALLATION IMPROVEMENTS Details of Associated Provisional Applications: Patent Application No. PN6674 dated 20th November 1995 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 2 This invention relates to septic tank installation improvements and in particular to improvements relating to storage overflows.

It is conventional to use septic tanks as a means of treating effluent in many cases of domestic or industrial usages of water and it is also conventional in cases where outflow from septic tanks cannot be dealt with by soakage, that there is a storage tank which will be pumped out from time to time for treatment elsewhere.

The problem to which this invention relates is the current system by which storage tanks are dealt with in so far that there are means to warn users that 1 0 the storage tank has filled.

sCurrently, there is a fill level indicator which warns users that the storage tank has filled and requires attention.

The problem with the current arrangement is that there are no means by which users can make an assessment as to whether, upon receiving the warning, 1 5 that they should cease immediate use with any further water creating further effluent, or whether they have a limited period of time to do so or if they continue for a reasonable time, will they cause significant difficulty or even damage to the total installation.

It has been found that if a storage tank is allowed to overflow, this creates all sorts of problems including backing up including build up and potential "°isettling of otherwise suspended material in the feed lines to the septic tank.

This can cause a number of problems including putrefaction of materials contained within the feed lines and loss of efficiency in these because they have deposits build up around the inner sides and there is also the danger of 2 5 flooding back into the main supply location.

All of this of course can be avoided by prompt pump out as soon as the level indicator gives the fill warning but in practical terms, the availability of a contract to pump the storage tank out may be one or two days and herein lies the difficulty.

The object of this invention is to propose an arrangement which will reduce the difficulties thus far experienced with conventional existing septic tank installations where there is a storage tank receiving outflow from the septic tank.

According to this invention there is proposed a septic tank installation with an outflow storage including a septic tank, an outflow effluent storage tank downstream from the septic tank, and level detection means with the storage tank, characterised in that the level detection means includes a first level detector adapted to detect a first level of liquid in the storage tank and a 1 0 second level detector adapted to detect a second level of liquid in the storage tank which second level is above the level detectable by the first level detector.

:According to this invention then, there can be provided a first level warning by which a user can know that they still have time within which to continue using 1 5 the septic tank and storage tank system but they need to call a contractor for a pump out promptly so that their ability to continue using the system will not be impaired.

By having a second level indicator however ensures that if someone has forgotten to call the contractor pump out, there is a further warning available 20 which may mean immediate call out being required but nonetheless there is some expectation in preparation for this final step.

This contrast with a single level indicator which, even if it is placed substantially lower than a maximum level available from the storage tank, if this warning is overlooked or there is some undue delay, then there is nothing 2 5 to limit a damaging result such as an overflow or retention and fermentation in supply conduits preceding pump out.

In preference there are control means to switch a first visual indicator into an on mode upon liquid effluent reaching a first said level within the storage tank.

This then allows for a remote indicator for instance a light to continuously 3 0 shine within a domestic residence. This will continue to shine because it is in an on mode so that anybody within the residence, will know that pump out is required and yet there is still sometime before a final stage is reached.

In preference, there are provided in relation to the control means a means adapted to switch a first visual indicator into an on mode, and upon the second level of liquid effluent being detected to switch on an audio signal which will only be discontinued upon a manual switching action.

The advantage of this is that if there are a number of users for a particular installation, then whoever hears the signal, knows that they are the first to have heard this signal and acted upon this. They can therefore take the necessary steps of either directly phoning the contractor for pump out, or informing whoever is responsible to do so.

The advantage of this additional only manually releasable audio signal is that while the visual signal can be easily ignored, an audio signal continues unabated until some action is taken. An audio signal will continue to annoy those within the presence of the signal and therefore is highly significant and in a sense annoying to those who need to act and until they act.

In preference, the control means further are adapted to switch a second visual indicator into an on mode upon liquid effluent reaching the second level within the storage tank and in preference there is provided both an audio and visual signal upon such on mode being effected with respect to the second level detector.

The second level indicator in preference is connected also to a closure valve supplying water to functions draining to the septic tank and is connected such that upon a reaching of the second level in the storage tank or upon a given time thereafter the valve will be caused to close so that water supply will be thereafter stopped.

In preference, there is therefore provided as a further characteristic of the control means, upon the second level being detected, a selected period of time during which the audio signal will be effected, and upon a selected period of time after the second level has been detected, an effective stopping of the valve or valves controlling the water supply to functions draining to the septic tank.

In preference, such several times are the same so that coincidentally with a stopping of the audio signal, there is effected a signal to act upon a valve or valves to effect a stopping of water supply.

In preference, in conjunction with the audio signal, there is a visual signal which will remain on in preference while excess level at the second level is being detected.

If we incorporate all of the above features, we then have a very effective installation which has been found to be of significant assistance for management of storage tanks in respect of septic tank installations.

In a further form the invention can be said to reside in a septic tank assemblage including, as a kit of parts, a septic tank, a storage tank, a control 1 0 means and two liquid level detectors, one of which is adapted to be supported :with the storage tank to detect liquid at a first level, and a second of which is adapted to be supported with the storage tank to detect liquid at a second level, the control means being adapted to effect a signal upon each respect level detector detecting a liquid level.

1 5 For a better understanding of this invention it will now be described with respect to an embodiment which will be described with the assistance of drawings in which: FIG 1 is a plan view of the elements involved in the embodiment being shown in the schematic layout; FIG 2 is a side elevation of a storage tank in accord with the embodiment ~with respective first and second level of liquid effluent detectors; FIG 3 is a face of a control unit with FIG 3A a remote unit; and FIG 4 is a circuit layout for the control unit.

Referring in detail to the drawings, and in particular to FIG 1, there is shown a 2 5 building 1 which includes conventional water using facilities which are not specifically shown but can include in typical manner, a toilet or toilets, a shower and bath, kitchen sink and clothes washing facilities.

There is a single inlet for water at 2 which is controllable by an electrically operated valve 3.

Used water is collected from the various facilities and is gravity drained into septic tank 4.

Storage tank 5 is buried into the ground to such a depth that overflow from the septic tank 4 is directed downstream into the storage tank 5 from whence it can be pumped by separate means to remote disposal sites.

Thus far we have described simply a traditional installation.

The problem has been however that getting someone to pump a storage tank out can take some time such as several days or so. In the meantime, it 10 becomes increasingly difficult or even very expensive to continue to use the water using facilities. Water including its detritus will then have a significant possibility of depositing on the walls of the pipes that feed into the septic tank and cause either narrowing or eventually blocking of these with subsequent expensive steps necessary to clean these out.

1 5 Accordingly there are provided two level detectors a first shown at 6 in FIG 2 .and a second shown at 7 in FIG 2.

The second level detector 7 is above the level of the first detector 6 and in this way is set to detect a higher level of liquid effluent than the first detector 6.

Accordingly there will be a significant warning given prior to the storage tank S :2 0 being fully filled or overfilled.

0C With two level detectors, it then becomes possible to make the system much safer in operation than hitherto would be the case because people can then prepare themselves for the eventual stopping of the water supply if they go over the limit.

2 5 Systems may be modified voluntarily by the users and the difficulty has been to provide a system that will be firstly economic for the user but more to the point, enable the user to match their usage habits and timing as far as calling pump out contractors with the needs of the installation.

The problem is of course how do you best use the two level indicators so that it will be generally certain that the first warning will be noticed by users and at the very least, some action required so that the first warning cannot be comfortably ignored.

This is achieved by providing that when the first level detector 6 detects effluent to its first level, this activates a warning signal which firstly lights a light 8 and secondly activates an audible alarm which is issued through speaker 9 which will continue until it is deactivated by the manual pressing of a button on a control box 1 la.

Such an action in this embodiment will then stop the audible alarm but will not 1 0 extinguish the warning light.

Clearly, someone has to have noticed the warning because the manual step of pressing the button is required to stop the audible signal. It is expected that the audible signal will be at such a level of sound and of such a type that it will continue to be annoying unless it is switched off.

1 5 What then happens if the warning is ignored.

The second level indicator when this operates upon detecting a second level, firstly lights up the second light 11 which stays on until the effluent in the o*oo storage tank is pumped out to be below the said level and a timer is brought into operation which does two things. The first of these is that it brings into 2 0 operation again an audible alarm and at the end of a selected period which might be selected typically at a half hour, the audible alarm can be stopped and a solenoid valve allowing for water to pass into the building is operated to stop any such further water supply.

Such an arrangement allows for instance people who might be having a 2 5 shower, or people who might be washing clothes, to finish a particular cycle and there would be plenty of warning available for over a half hour knowing that at the end of the half hour, water supply will stop.

It is at this stage that the system is rendered substantially safe from breaking up through the septic tank.

3 0 If there is however a second water supply such as for instance a gravity fed hot water system, then there will need to be a second solenoid operated valve or the like to shut this off as well especially considering that if the cold water supply is shut down, it could be quite dangerous to suddenly have very hot water only which could injure someone within a shower.

Referring to FIG 4, this shows the circuit layout providing the control means including additional warning lights and the relay combinations to effect the logic which has been previously explained.

Accordingly a supply of 24 volt AC power through the 240 volt AC supply through transformer 12.

1 0 Float switch 13 shown as FS-1 is normally open and is closed upon a liquid level reaching a first level. This in turn lights lamps 8 shown as L3 and L4.

Latching relay R1 at 15 is also operated through push button P-B1 and self latching contactor R1-1 at 17 to operate the buzzer B shown at 9. This brings into operation through R1-2 the buzzer B at 21. The second level float switch 1 5 at 14 at FS-2 when closed operates both relay coil 16 at RS-2 and timer T1-1.

This in turn operates R2-2 at 20 which is a normally closed contactor which operates to keep solenoid S at 22 closed which in turn maintains water to the sources from which water will drain to the storage tank.

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Upon R2-2 being activated this will open R2-2 at 20 so that after a period of time set by the timer T1-1 the contactor T1-1 will open which will open supply S'o *to solenoid 22 which will close valve controlling a mains supply of water.

This will then also stop supply of current to buzzer 21.

Accordingly there will be seen that there is a convenient logic arrangement to control the various audio and visual warning devices and means to override 2 5 these as necessary.

What alternatives do we envisage.

It is envisaged that there could be various visual indicators although a light is the most easily effected and most obvious of these.

Also, in the case of a lamp failure, it is arranged that the audible alarm still comes on and as an additional feature, there can be a test circuit provided which can test these status of each of the lamps and the audible signal to ensure that these are in working order.

There can as an alternative be a change in the arrangement when the second level detector comes into operation where the audible indicator continues even after the water supply has been shut down so that the users who may be remote from the control box nonetheless will have a better chance of hearing this when they get close to it when they are looking for the reason that the 1 0 water has stopped.

Nonetheless there is significant advantage in having simply a single timer because of costs and simply having a time out so that when the buzzer or audible signal stops, this activates the solenoid valve or valves at that same time.

1 5 What happens if the power supply fails.

The operation of solenoid valves can be made so that they operate in a normally on or normally off manner and as an alternative, they can be selected to be normally off (that is closed) so that if there is no power supply, these will close and will only be held on when there is a power supply.

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2 0 This will assist the situation for instance if there is some component break down in the control box and in such a case, there is additionally provided a manual override by which each of the solenoid valves can be opened in an emergency.

In a typical arrangement, such a manual override includes a manually 2 5 operated bleed valve which has the result of some water spraying from this but at the same time release the valve from a closed position so that water can be caused to pass through the solenoid valve but with some disadvantage of the water.

Claims (14)

1. A septic tank installation with an outflow storage including a septic tank, an outflow effluent storage tank downstream from the septic tank, and level detection means with the storage tank, characterised in that the level detection means includes a first level detector adapted to detect a first level of liquid in the storage tank and a second level detector adapted to detect a second level of liquid in the storage tank which level is above the level detectable by the first level detector.

2. A septic tank installation as in claim 1 further characterised in that there are control means adapted to switch a first visual indicator into an on mode upon liquid effluent reaching the first level within the storage tank.

3. A septic tank installation as in the immediately preceding claim further characterised in that the first visual indicator is remotely located from the detector and is a light arranged to shine continuously while it is in the on mode.

4. A septic tank installation as in any one of the preceding claims 2 or 3 15 further characterised in that the control means are also adapted to switch on an audio signal generating device upon the second level detector detecting a liquid level that is at or above the second level and manual switch means adapted to enable the audio signal from the audio signal generating device to be switched off.

5. A septic tank installation as in any one of preceding claims 2, 3 or 4 further S 20 characterised in that the control means are adapted to switch a second visual :indicator into an on mode upon liquid effluent reaching the second level within the storage tank.

6. A septic tank assemblage as in any one of the preceding claims further characterised in that the control means are adapted to switch on both an audio and visual signal upon such on mode being effected with respect to the second level detector.

A septic tank installation as in any one of preceding claims 2, 3, 4, 11 or 6 further characterised in that the second level indicator is connected also to a water valve controlling supply of water to functions draining to the septic tank installation.

8. A septic tank installation as in claim 7 further characterised in that the control means are adapted, upon the second level of liquid in the storage tank being reached and detected by the second level detector, a first selected period of time during which the audio signal will be generated, and upon the expiry of the selected period of time after the second level has been detected, to close the water valve controlling supply of water to functions draining to the septic tank installation.

9. A septic tank installation as in any one of preceding claims 4 through to 8 o claims further characterised in that coincidentally with the stopping of the audio signal, there is effected a signal to act upon an appropriate valve or valves to effect a stopping of water supply. 15

10. A septic tank installation as in any one of preceding claims 4 through to 9 further characterised in that in conjunction with the audio signal, there is a visual signal which will remain on while excess level at the second level is being detected.

11. A septic tank assemblage with an outflow storage including a septic tank, an outflow effluent storage tank intended to be downstream from the septic tank, 20 and level detection means for use with the storage tank, characterised in that the 0 level detection means are adapted to provide for detection of liquid at a first level within the tank and a second level within the tank.

12. A septic tank assemblage including, as a kit of parts, a septic tank, a storage tank, a control means and two liquid level detectors, one of which is adapted to be supported with the storage tank to detect liquid at a first level, and a second of which is adapted to be supported with the storage tank to detect liquid at a second level, the control means being adapted to effect a signal upon each in respect of a level detector detecting a liquid level.

13. A septic tank installation substantially as described in the specification with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying 12 drawings.

14. A septic tank assemblage comprising the parts as a kit of parts where the parts are substantially as described in the specification with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings. Dated this 20th day of November 1996 GRANT ANDREW WRIDE By his Patent Attorneys, 1 0 COLLISON CO. S