In 1992, Andover Elementary School in Andover, Connecticut, had a serious problem with its septic system. The cast iron bell siphon rusted away. Rather than dosing, the chamber was passing effluent, only to have it trickle to the lowest lateral in one of two drainfields. Of course there was breakout, and it seemed a new system was in order.
Jim Richard of Rissy Plastics had recently invented a new non-siphon gravity-dosing device called the Flout. The device is a floating plastic box with a top opening, an attached weight and a protruding outlet pipe. The pipe connects to the outlet via a flexible rubber coupler that acts as a hinge. As effluent accumulates in the chamber, the box floats. At maximum depth, effluent spills into the box, sinking it and opening the outlet. The dose exits to the disposal system. When the chamber is emptied, the box refloats, shutting off the outlet until the chamber is full again. Arrangements are available with single and multiple outlets. Singles provide basic dosing. Multiples allow larger flows or precise equal or incremental flow splitting. Devices for the alternating or sequencing of two or more devices are available.
Richard was looking for a situation where the device could be tested and, with assistance from the state sanitarian, the Andover School was selected. Richard provided a 300-gallon precast concrete chamber and equipped it with a double-outlet Flout. The two outlets split the flow equally to the two disposal fields.
The chamber has been inspected annually, and the Flout was working perfectly when visited in August 2014. Twenty-two years later the fields show no evidence of breakout, and during dry spells, ideal distribution is evident from the greener strips of grass above the laterals. No maintenance has been required, and the town saved a considerable sum of money by fixing its disposal field problem with a Flout, rather than complete drainfield replacement, siphon replacement or installation of pumps and controls. 877/221-4426; www.flout.net.
