Please visit our booth at stand A6 no. 415 at this year’s IFAT. The world’s leading trade fair for Water, Sewage, Waste and Raw Materials Management. A number of Flovac colleagues from around the world will be in attendance to answer any of your questions about vacuum sewerage systems. We look forward to seeing you there and discussing opportunities with you over a friendly beer.

Flovac International is pleased to announce its latest project has been the upgrade of the vacuum toilets and sewage collection system on the famous Bateaux Mouche which is the first of many of the boats owned and run by the Compagnie des Bateaux Mouches. This famous company has been running boats along the Seine in Paris for more than 60 years. A vacuum toilet system is used on board the boats as a way of reducing both the water being held on board the boats as well as reducing what is discharged. vacuum toilets use less than 1 litre of water per flush, much less than the traditional 6 litres or even 14 litres used in many standard toilets. Vacuum …
Read More →

Flovac has commenced work on an exciting project in the Caribbean island of Bonaire. All of our engineers and project managers are excited about being part of a project that will have a massive environmental impact in a paradise that is rated as one of the best diving locations in the world. Bonaire is a part of Netherlands although situated in the Caribbean and will soon be the first island in the Caribbean with a 100% sustainable energy supply. The government of Bonaire, who boasts on its island’s beauty and natural preservation, took a project of trashing its fossil fuel energy dependence and developing an energy system comprised of an 11MW wind farm, 14MW biodiesel plant, and a 3.5MW backup …
Read More →

The European Standard EN 12109 “Vacuum Drainage Systems inside Buildings” (also covering the use of vacuum toilets) was presented in 1999.  It has been out for over 10 years now and we thought that it would be a good time to have a look and see how this market was developing. Vacuum Systems are being used in a variety of interesting projects, and for a variety of reasons, not just water and energy saving or even the low costs. Vacuum toilets are also being used in many projects. and over the years they have improved both aesthetically, operationally and are much quieter than their forebears traditionally found on planes and boats. FloVac Vacuum Toilet Vacuum toilets use less than 1 …
Read More →

Next time you’re tempted to pour leftover cooking oil down the sink, think again. A team of British sewer flushers is up against what they describe as “solid wall of fat” under London’s Leicester square, the result of years of careless flushing by the city’s inhabitants. An article posted on the web this week at http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20100714-major-fat-cleanup-operation-london-sewers-fatbergs shows the difficulties encountered when maintaining gravity sewers. The velocity of 3-5 metres per second in a vacuum system enables grease and fats to enter the sewerage system, mixing with water and breaking down during its transport  to the treatment plant. Thames Water, the company responsible for London sewers, estimates that over 1,000 tonnes of fat and waste are being removed from under Leicester …
Read More →

The Downside of Saving Water In recent times severe water shortages in many parts of the world have led Water Authorities and consumers to rethink how water is used in households. Water restrictions in many areas have drastically cut the amount of potable water used, with car washing and garden watering severely restricted. Water savings devices have now been installed in many homes and many more products are now being developed. This is having a big impact on the way wastewater is taken from houses to be treated by municipal authorities. Many municipalities will soon adopt policies allowing greywater to be re-used within the house or on the garden. Products such as water efficient showerheads, washing machines, and flow inhibitors …
Read More →

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Hynds Environmental Systems Ltd as the representative for Flovac systems in both New Zealand and the PacificIslands. The Hynds Group was first established in 1973 as primarily a supplier of pipes to the rural and water industry in New Zealand. Over the years this business has expanded with the formation of Hynds Environmental in 2001, set up to specifically look at products that would meet the environmental challenges that General Manager, Peter Carroll could foresee. The business historically has focussed on solutions for wastewater and stormwater management and treatment. It was Peter Carroll who first saw the Flovac System and met Flovac’s Chairman, Willem Gooren at IFAT in Munich and realised the potential …
Read More →

One of the great myths about vacuum sewers is that they have more operational problems than traditional gravity networks. This is simply not the case. Certainly if something bad occurs in a vacuum system, like a blockage, the operator is notified quickly via alarms; he finds the problem quickly and solves it without the homeowners being adversely affected or overflows occurring. Gravity sewers though are prone to things going wrong for years and years without operators becoming fully aware until sewerage is flowing down the streets or onto the beach. Although the decision makers like to think that gravity sewers are easy to maintain and don’t have problems, we thought it worthwhile to explore some of the main problems that …
Read More →

Flovac today announces that to better serve clients in the region we have decided to establish a production company, in Puerto Rico, which will operate from early 2010. Mr Gooren who has had a close relationship with Puerto Rico for some time says that Puerto Rico is an ideal staging ground for many of the company’s activities in the America’s.

The Australian business was established on the 29 September 1984 by Pat and Geoff Radinoff. They were one of the first International licensee’s of Airvac an American company now owned by a German construction group. The early days were very difficult, as most in the industry would know, it often takes a while to get some authorities to understand the benefits of vacuum sewers. It is only once one is in the ground somewhere near them that it becomes an easy decision. The first project they installed was at the major police berths in beautiful Sydney Harbour. The first major project to be installed was not until 1989 at the historic site at Kurnell, where Captain Cook first arrived in …
Read More →