Filtered sanitation system

Details Filtered sanitation system Filtered sanitation system

2000-03-31

2001-05-29

Upton, Christopher (Department: 1724)

Liquid purification or separation

Processes

Treatment by living organism

C210S617000, C210S747300, C210S151000, C210S170050, C210S196000, C210S299000, C210S532200, C210S253000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06238563

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a filtered sanitation system using a septic tank and a drain field.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,589, in conventional sanitation systems using a septic tank, waste water from a home empties into the septic tank, solids accumulate and decompose on the bottom of the tank and an effluent flows from the top of the tank into a drain field. The drain field, located a few feet below ground level, is intended to diffuse the effluent into the soil, where suspended solids are filtered out and natural bacterial matter in the soils consumes the solids and other organisms as the effluent slowly leaches through the soil eventually reaching the ground water in a purified state. The typical drain field comprises of an effluent dispersal system of inclined conduits with holes at the bottom facing a stone bed, the stone providing a flow path to the surrounding soil from the holes and preventing the soil from filling the holes.
But drainfields can become contaminated over time. Even new drain fields can exhibit the problems of contaminated fields if the water table is too high, or the soil is too compacted or otherwise has poor filtering and leaching qualities. In fact, the reality is that a drain field begins to deteriorate from the moment it is covered up. After that, proper performance is “assumed”, but many factors not only shorten the useful life of drain field but reduce its ability to purify the effluent. The soil characteristics can change or might not be consistent. The water table may rise. Roots from trees interfere with the leaching action. Substances in the effluent can interfere with bacterial action in the soil and speed the growth to the biomat that eventually seals off the top of the field. (Biomat is the slimy biological material that accumulates at the soil interface.)
For the homeowner, the essential problem, when a drain field is contaminated, is that the effluent is not absorbed and backs up to the septic tank. For the environment, it means that the effluent is not being cleansed completely. When a drain field is clogged, the repair is drastic, complicated and expensive. The entire field must be dug up and a new trench of several hundred square feet minimum made. Often, trees and shrubbery have to removed. Drainfield repair assumes that there is adequate land to install a new drain field and that soil qualities provide adequate absorption. Smaller plots can make it extremely difficult to layout drainfields, with the separation to ground water mandated by local ordinances. If the ground water level is too high or the soil qualities are poor, the leach field may have to be elevated when a system is repaired or, in a new home, large volumes of top soil will be needed to achieve required ground water separation and drain field elevations.
Topographical conditions and new, more stringent governmental regulations can make it impossible to install an effective new drain field. Septic systems are used only where building plots are relatively large; that is, there is enough square footage to have the required drain field area for the expected effluent outflow from the home and maintain proper spacing between the drain field and a domestic water well. The alternative sewer systems are expensive to install and, generally speaking, do not return water in the effluent back to the surrounding environment. In any case, many suburban communities have no access to sewer systems. From an environment perspective a septic system makes sense, because water consumed by a household is recycled. A typical home can consume a considerable amount of water each day, all of it ultimately entering the drainfield, where most of it ideally eventually enters the water table, far below, filtered by the soil as it leaches down.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a superior septic sanitation system, so that a leach field is not required, with conceivably indefinite useful life and only occasional service; and the performance is unaffected by the surrounding conditions.
According to the invention, a trickle filter is installed in a water tight container that is placed in the ground. Effluent from the septic tank trickles through from the top of a trickle filter and collects in the bottom of the container. A pump recirculates the filtered effluent back to the top of the trickle filter and also directs a small amount of the filtered and refiltered effluent into an irrigation system with a drip line.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, one or more filter canisters with replaceable filter media are placed in a water tight container. The container is installed below ground. Its top is roughly flush with the ground surface, with an access port in a container lid that is bolted and sealed in place on the top of the container forming a water tight compartment housing the filter canisters. Effluent from a septic tank flows into the container at a point above one of the filter canisters and the effluent showers down on the filter media. As this effluent trickles through the canister, it is filtered. Particulate matter is trapped and organic matter is consumed. The thus cleansed/purified effluent collects in the bottom of the container, below the lowest point of the media, so that the media is not saturated by the cleansed effluent. A sump pump, located in a pump chamber inside the container, pumps the effluent from the bottom of the container through a pipe, when the effluent reaches a specified height. Some of this pumped effluent is reapplied to the first filter canister and also to a second adjacent filter canister, which can be stocked with different filter media. The pumped effluent is further cleansed by this repeated filtration through both of the canisters and collects at the bottom of the container. The line from the pump also contains a venturi to introduce aeration into the effluent flow.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3494463 (1970-02-01), Vermette
patent: 4011162 (1977-03-01), Oldham et al.
patent: 4895645 (1990-01-01), Zorich, Jr.
patent: 4925552 (1990-05-01), Pateson et al.
patent: 5609754 (1997-03-01), Stuth
patent: 5620602 (1997-04-01), Stuth

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