Patent Publication Number: US-2019186118-A1

Title: An arrangement for a sewerage system comprising a french drain

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     Generally, the invention relates to an arrangement for sewerage system comprising a French drain. More specifically, the invention relates to an arrangement for connecting sewerage system and a French drain. 
     BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY 
     French drains are commonly used to channel water away from a house and a garden in order to prevent ground water from penetrating or damaging building foundations. Digging an excavation and installing French drains has to be performed carefully, because malfunctions of the drains and repairing them might be laborious and can become expensive. Inspections wells are assembled in connection to the French drain system for inspecting the condition of the drains and purifying them. 
     In addition to ground water, also rainwater and meltwater (hereafter also referred as “rainwater”), for example, have to be guided away from roofs and yards. However, rainwater, as such, cannot be channeled to a French drain, but it needs its own drainage system, which is typically dug into the ground. 
     Naturally, suitable arrangement for both French drains and rainwater drains, as well as another sewerage, such as wastewater drain systems, has to be made in a building construction. Typically, trenches are dug in a building construction for sewerage systems; one for French drain and the other for rainwater drain. A French drain usually requires deeper trench than a rainwater drain. Afterwards, the trenches are filled with gravel. Naturally, digging trenches is a laborious procedure; it may require some suitable machine, like an excavator, a digger or a power shovel. Digging takes time and it may be a pricey project. 
     In addition, all trenches require space from the yard. So, the trenches cannot be dug wherever, but the places for different drains in the yard have to be considered while planning by taking into account the places for other drains. The result may not be the simplest drain, but a solution defined by an available space. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to implement such a solution, that previously mentioned drawbacks of the prior art could be diminished. In particular, the invention is implied to solve how to arrange a French drain and another drain, such as a rainwater drain, one upon each other. 
     The objective of the invention is met by the features disclosed in the independent patent claims. 
     An arrangement for a sewerage system comprising a French drain according to the present invention is characterized by the features of claim  1 . 
     According to an embodiment of the invention, arrangement for a sewerage system comprising a French drain comprises an inspection well device suitable to be connected between a first drain system and a French drain system for enabling installation of said French drain at least partly under of said first drain. 
     Using the inspection well device according to the present invention a French drain may be installed completely or partly under another drain. The other drain system can be e.g. a rainwater drain system or a wastewater drain system, for example. The invention is described by using a rainwater drain system as an example, but the person skilled in the art will understand that the invention in question is not limited to the rainwater drain system. 
     The present invention may enable that pipelines can be installed to the ground so that in suitable parts of the pipelines can be set one upon the other. Also, inspection wells of the rainwater drain and French drain systems may be able to combine with the inspection well device. However, the inspection well device may ensure that the rainwater drain and French drain systems remain as separate systems. 
     In an embodiment, the inspection well device comprises closing means, such as an openable cap, for preventing unwanted water from entering into the French drain. Using closing means is preferable, because in that way it can be possible to prevent rainwater and any dirties from entering into the French drain. However, the openable cap, for example, enables inspecting and purifying of the French drain. 
     In an embodiment, the arrangement can be connected to an inspection well of said first drain system, so that said inspection well device is arranged at least a partly inside to said inspection well of said first drain system. The embodiment in question may enable the inspection well device to be connected with some commercially available rainwater drain system comprising an inspection well, for example. The inspection well device for a French drain is advantageously set at least partially inside the rainwater drain inspection well in question, so that inspection and purification of the French drain can be performed through the rainwater drain inspection well, for example. 
     In another embodiment, the arrangement according to the present invention further comprises an inspection well of said first drain system, inside which said inspection well device is at least partially arranged. This embodiment enables manufacturing of a system, which can be ready to be installed with French and rainwater drain systems, for example. Yet, in another embodiment, the arrangement further comprises a French drain inspection well connectible to a French drain system. These embodiments together may be able to provide an arrangement that is ready to be installed to French drain pipelines and another drain pipelines, such as rainwater drain pipelines. 
     In an embodiment, the arrangement further comprises a number of outlets in connection of said drain inspection well of said first drain system for pipelines, and in another embodiment, the outlets in connection of said inspection well of said first drain system are arranged in different heights. This embodiment might enable more outlets to be arranged in the rainwater drain inspection well. 
     In an embodiment, a height of said inspection well device inside of said inspection well of said first drain system is selected in relation to said outlet(s) to be at least in the middle of a highest outlet. This may prevent unwanted water, such as rainwater, to flow into the French drain, when opening a possible cap at the top of the inspection well device or when arrange the inspection well device in connection with the rainwater drain without a closing means. 
     Yet, in another embodiment, the arrangement further comprises a French drain inspection well connectible to a French drain system. 
     Some preferable embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims. 
     Significant advantages can be achieved with the present invention when compared to the prior art solution. The arrangement according to the present invention can save money and time, because assembling both French drain and rainwater drain may be possible to perform at least partially to the same trench one upon the other, which may diminish work phases and reduce used materials. 
     In addition, the required space for assembling various drains may be diminished due to the present invention, which may ease the designing process of sewerage systems and simplify the drawing of drains. 
     The invention in question might also enable faster assembling in action comparing to digging and filling trenches both to a French drain and a rainwater drain. Time and money savings may be gained by preparing only one trench with freezing preventing system both drainage systems in the same trench. 
     The arrangement of the present invention may still enable inspection and cleaning of the French drain through the rainwater drain inspection well, which can make it easy to perform and save space in a yard by combining two inspection wells into a one. 
     In the present document, the term “sewerage” has been used widely comprising rainwater drains, French drains and several kinds of wastewater drains, with commonly used inspection wells and manholes, for example. Though the invention is described to be used to connect a rainwater drain system and a French drain system, it can be applied to other drain systems connecting a wastewater drain system and a French drain system, for example. 
     In the present document, the term “inspection well”, is used widely referring to inspection wells, manholes, septic tanks and other wells enabling maintenance, for example. 
     The expression “a number of” refers herein to any positive integer starting from one (1), e.g. to one, two, or three. 
     The terms “a” and “an”, as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. 
    
    
     
       SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Next, the invention is described in more detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view with a cut away portion of the side of an embodiment of the invention, 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the embodiment of the invention shown in  FIG. 1 , 
         FIG. 3  is perspective view of the embodiment of the invention shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     In  FIG. 1  it is shown a perspective view with a cut away portion of the side of an embodiment of the invention. An arrangement  100  for a sewerage system comprising a French drain according to the present invention comprises an inspection well device  102  suitable to be connected between a French drainage system and another drain system, such as a rainwater drain system, for enabling installation of said French drain at least partly under the another drain. 
     The inspection well device  102  comprises a bottom part  104 , which is closed preventing unwanted water and dirties, such as rainwater from entering into the French drain, and a tube part  106  protruding from the bottom part  104 . The top of the tube part  106  is open enabling inspection and purification of the French drain via the tube part  106 . 
     The size and material of the inspection well device  102  can vary widely. The diameter of the inspection well device is preferably e.g. about 100 mm-600 mm, more preferably e.g. about 250 mm-280 mm to be compatible for commonly used pipelines. The height of the inspection well device is preferably e.g. about 10 mm-250 mm, more preferably e.g. about 15 mm-200 mm, but if required, the tube part can be in the same level with the bottom part having no height at all, or the tube part can be as high as required. The skilled person however knows that the height as well as the diameter of inspection well device can easily be selected to be what is needed. 
     In an embodiment, the tube part is selected to protruding so high in a rainwater drain inspection well  112  that rainwater is not able to flow into the French drain. Advantageously, the tube part  106 , in the embodiment in question, reaches higher level than any outlets  114  for pipelines in the rainwater drain inspection well  112 . 
     In another embodiment, the inspection well device  102  comprises closing means, such as an openable cap  108 , for preventing unwanted water, such as rainwater, from entering into the French drain. The cap  108  as well as the corresponding top of the tube part can be threaded enabling easy opening and closing of the cap  108 . In connection of the cap  108  can also be arranged suitable insulation. In the embodiment in question, the height of the tube part  106  is selected so, that when cap  108  is opened, rainwater from the rainwater drain does not flow in, being higher than the middle part of the highest outlet, for example. 
     Depending on embodiment, the inspection well device  102  can be connected to a rainwater drain, a rainwater drain inspection well and/or French drain inspection well. In one embodiment, the bottom part  104  comprises sleeves  110 , which enables the connections of the inspection well device  102 . 
     In one embodiment, the arrangement according to the present invention further comprises a rainwater drain inspection well  112 . In the embodiment in question, the inspection well device  102  is arranged inside of the rainwater drain inspection well  112 , so that the bottom part  104  and the tube part  106  are inside of the rainwater drain inspection well  112 . The rainwater drain inspection well  112  is arranged to be formed to be continuing from the sleeves  110 , or to be connected to the sleeves  110 . 
     In the embodiment, wherein the inspection well device  102  according to the present invention is connected to a rainwater drain inspection well, the inspection well device  102  is arranged to be at least a partly inside to the rainwater drain inspection well. However, the sleeves  106  can also be arrange outside of the rainwater drain inspection well. 
     According to one embodiment, the rainwater drain inspection well  112  comprises a number of outlets  114  for rainwater pipelines. The number of outlets can vary, but preferably the number of the outlets is 1-4. However, more outlets can be formed to the rainwater drain inspection well  112  or the rainwater drain inspection well  112  can be formed without outlets. In an embodiment, the outlets  114  in the rainwater drain inspection well  112  are arranged in different heights. In this embodiment, the number of outlets can easily be higher than 4. 
     In an embodiment, the height of the inspection well device  102  inside of a rainwater drain inspection well  112  is selected so that the inspection well device  102 , i.e. the tube part  106 , inside the rainwater drain inspection well  112  is higher than the middle point of the a highest outlet. 
     In one embodiment, the arrangement according to the present invention further comprises a French drain inspection well  116  connectible to a French drain system. 
     The French drain inspection well  116  can be connected to the sleeves  110 , for example, or arrange to be in connection with the inspection well device  102  and/or the rainwater drain inspection well  116  by some other means. 
     The scope of the invention is determined by the attached claims together with the equivalents thereof. The skilled persons will again appreciate the fact that the explicitly disclosed embodiments were constructed for illustrative purposes only, and the scope will cover further embodiments, embodiment combinations and equivalents that better suit each particular use case of the invention.