Our Homeowner's Specification Sheet can be found HERE.
Find answers to some of our most frequently asked questions below:
Typically local regulations and soil conditions of your unique home site may dictate the need for a treatment (sometimes called "pretreatment") system. Your Fuji Clean treatment system accepts wastewater from your home, cleans it and sends clean water back to the environment (usually into a soil absorption system such as a leach field). The advantage of our process is that our systems do the purification work ordinarily accomplished by the soil, which therefore allows smaller, shallower and less obtrusive drain fields. (Exact field reductions allowed vary by state and region). Additionally, pretreatment greatly extends the life of a drain field since clean water deters solids and biological buildup (biomat) in your soil absorption system.
In some areas, treatment is required by rules and regulations to reduce nutrients such as nitrogen or phosphorus from your waste stream as protection against contamination of ground water and water bodies.
Fuji Clean treatment is powered by air pressure provided by a remote air blower designed to run continuously. The treatment process easily accommodates variable and intermittent flows, including only weekend use, However, for seasonal use properties, the air blower may be shut down if the system is not going to be used for an extended period of time. Ideally, the air blower should be re-started at least three days in advance of system use.
During a power outage, the air blower will cease operation and after about 24-48 hours, treatment quality will begin to slowly diminish (assuming uninterrupted waste stream flow from the house). However, the Fuji Clean system will still allow wastewater to pass through and will not create a backup in the house unless a separate pump station has been installed. Water quality will quickly rebound once power is restored.
Yes, although your Fuji Clean system is designed to require minimal service, it does require semi-annual inspection or service visits from a trained and certified service provider. (This schedule may be altered for seasonal and part-time use). Your certified service provider will review details of your initial service plan included as part of the system warranty (first two years) and extended service plans (after two years).
Like an ordinary septic tank, sludge must be removed from your system periodically (such as once every two years). Your service provider will measure sludge accumulation on each service visit and provide guidance to help arrange for a septic tank pumping company to provide this service when necessary. Pump-out frequency depends on waste stream strength and use. Please consult with your service provider to help determine the frequency that is best for you. Also, please note: use of a garbage disposal usually increases pump-out frequency.
Since your Fuji Clean USA system has been designed to operate continuously, it is easy to calculate power cost. Most standard residential sized units (e.g. CE5, CE7, CEN5) draw 1.2 kWh of power per day. Larger residential sized units, (e.g. CE10, CEN7 and CEN10) draw 1.7 kWh of power per day. Simply multiply your local cost of power by the draw per day to calculate daily power cost. FujiMAC RII blowers, manufactured by Fuji Clean Company power Fuji Clean treatment systems are best-in-class for efficiency and durability and draw minimal power.
Fuji Clean treatment systems will accommodate waste flow from garbage disposals. However, due to the increased organic load you will likely have to pump the sludge from your system on a more frequent basis and your system may require more frequent service visits.
Your service provider should be aware that a garbage disposal is in use and will help you determine the proper service and pump-out frequency.
Your Fuji Clean system is dependent on live bacterial microorganisms to clean wastewater. It is a living culture! Therefore, it is in your best interest to avoid the heavy use of bleach as much as possible. If you must use bleach, use it sparingly and spread out its use over time.
Since your treatment system is a living culture, you should avoid flushing or draining toxic materials into the system such as paint, household chemicals and antibiotic medicines as they can harm the natural bacterial action that is present. Other items to avoid flushing into the system include bulky or non-biodegradable materials in general such as sanitary napkins, paper towels and cigarette butts. Coffee grounds and excessive cooking grease are not helpful to efficient system processing and should be disposed of through your compost/recycle/solid waste stream instead of though your treatment system.
Also, please avoid use of quaternary ammonium-based cleaning products and do not use products that purport to increase septic system health such as Rid-X.
On occasion, a contaminated well may need to be disinfected (usually with Clorox bleach). If you need to do this, do not run the chlorinated water through your septic system. Instead, open the outside water faucets and let the water run for several hours or as long as necessary to flush the chlorine out of the well. Meanwhile, avoid using water inside the house.
No! Toilet tablets and drain-clean products will generally deplete necessary bacteria from the system. Products that advertise drain field health are typically unhelpful to the system and often temporarily emulsify fats, oils and greases, only to have them re-coagulate after they reach the drain field.
Absolutely. Be sure that plumbing fixtures such as toilet bowl fill valves and faucets are maintained and do not leak. You would be amazed at how much water passes through the system with a small leak or dripping faucet. Your system is sized to meet standard flows from your house and therefore any excess flows will not help water treatment. Remember that maintenance of these fixtures also conserves your water.
Your alarm/control panel monitors all important functions of your Fuji Clean system and an alarm (both audio and visual) will be triggered in the rare event of a problem, such as water is not being discharged from the system or your air blower is not operating properly. In the event of an alarm condition, go to the alarm panel, find the toggle switch on the outside right and push toward "silence." This will mute the audio alarm, although the visual alarm light will remain lit. Next, contact your service representative for assistance. The contact information for your service representative should be affixed to your alarm panel.
As a general rule, the more natural the cleaning product the better. Synthetic surfactants designed for toilet bowls for example, which often contain chemicals synthetic dyes, chlorine bleach, ammonia, petroleum-derived ingredients, and other harmful ingredients, such as Triclosan (prevents mold growth) are hazardous to a healthy bacterial eco-system living within your Fuji Clean system. Ideal choices might include white vinegar, Borax, or lemon, which contains citric acid.