WATER SYSTEMS


directly from Jets just before launching my system, since in those days the company had no UK distributor for Land & Transport. This was around the time I met Nicky, who was working in aviation support, selling and maintaining aircraft spares to high profile customers in the Middle East. She and I now run Otter Vacuum Systems together.”


Put onto hire fleet


He continued: “I knew I needed to offer the Flexiloo system to my customers, so I put it onto my hire fleet. However, I never originally intended selling it as we now do. Indeed sales of the Flexiloo – principally to top-end events companies and mobile toilet operators – are still a major revenue earner today. We have, though, been a little slow to get into the ‘Buildings’ market with the Jets technology, as we are doing now. Alongside having supplied our first Jets vacuum drainage system to the Royal Cornwall Hospital last year, we were delighted to be able to provide 600 toilets, urinals, and grey water interfaces, for the UK’s largest vacuum installation yet, at Bloomberg’s new European headquarters in London, which opened last October. The Jets equipment supplied to UK customers is generally installed by mechanical and electrical contractors, such as TClarke, whose staff we can train. Jets technology – which we believe is field-leading – has played a major part in Otter Vacuum Systems’ success.”


How the system works


Andrew Hay went on to explain how the Jets vacuum drainage technology works. Drawing on a comprehensive Otter Vacuum Systems CPD presentation, he explained that the system sees differential atmospheric pressure, rather than the gravity of a ‘traditional’ WC, used to ‘draw in’ and then transport waste from toilets, and grey water from sinks and showers, along pipework to the company’s Vacuumarator device, which, in a large acute hospital, would typically be installed within a basement plant room ‘(a compact footprint affords considerable siting flexibility’). He said: “The common definition of atmospheric pressure is the pressure at sea level – expressed in various ways, but most commonly as 1 atmosphere, approximately 1 bar, or 1,000 millibars. Vacuum is any air pressure below atmospheric pressure, and, for simplicity, the vacuum level in a sanitary system is normally expressed as a percentage. With Jets’ technology, the pressure difference is created by the Vacuumarator, which creates the vacuum, and macerates and discharges the waste positively, all in one action. Pressure switches which control the stop and start of the vacuum generator maintain a constant vacuum of 35-55% within the pipes. When the toilet is flushed, the contents are transported


48 Health Estate Journal August 2018 Gravity always present


During the discharge period, the waste is carried 5-15 metres, depending on vacuum level, pipe dimensions, and the number of bends etc. With gravity always present, when the transport stops, the waste flows by gravity to the nearest ‘low point.’ Andrew Hay said: “The pipes should thus be installed with a water lock or transport pocket at this point; at the next discharging of the toilet or other outlets connected to the same side of the transport pocket, the pocket’s contents will be moved further along the pipes. In longer pipe runs, there will be simultaneous lines of transport from several pockets until the waste reaches the discharge plant or Vacuumarator.” Here he reiterated some of the practical, ‘in use’, and environmental advantages of a Jets vacuum drainage system for building designers, contactors, and engineers: “Installing a vacuum sanitation system can be an extremely effective way to achieve very high sustainability levels under a BREEAM or LEED assessment. With the small diameter pipework, and the system operating independently of gravity, pipes can rise vertically, and utilise ceiling voids and wall cavities. Designers are no longer limited to positioning toilets adjacent to vertical stacks, a significant


Jets Pearl is an award-winning, wall-mounted vacuum toilet. It can be supplied with a vacuum or electronically-operated mechanism.


along the pipes via the pressure difference; transport continues as long as the toilet valve is open, usually a period of about one and a half seconds.”


advantage, particularly in heritage buildings, where wall and floor penetrations need to be minimised.”


Pathogens ‘sucked’ into a sealed system


We had already discussed the hygiene / infection prevention benefits of a Jets system, but Andrew Hay was keen to revisit these. He said: “Unlike a gravity toilet, where significant atomisation into the surrounding atmosphere occurs on flushing, when someone flushes a vacuum toilet up to 60 litres of air is sucked in, ensuring that pathogens and odours are taken into a sealed system. The low volume of waste produced simplifies the process, while with the entire system under vacuum, any compromise in the pipework will result in air leaking in, rather than waste leaking out. Vacuum toilets draw air and bacteria into the system with every flush, and – as we believe our planned trials with Loughborough University will show – practically no aerosols are released into the room.” Andrew Hay and Nicky Brown were keen to stress, however, that for a vacuum drainage system to be effective, it must be correctly designed. Alongside the requirement for an interface valve between the atmospheric pressure outside, and the vacuum within the pipework, since the water supply connects directly – without a cistern or other air break – it must be Fluid Category 5, as defined in the Water Regulations.


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