The use of vacuum technology for handling waste water can often be the only practical and economic alternative for the conversion and renovation of much older property.
The old and famous department store PUB in Stockholm is now being transformed into a hotel, and a vacuum system is being installed to handle waste water from the 271 hotel rooms. This is saving the much more extensive operations that conversion using conventional waste removal technology would have needed.

Turning a fashionable old store into a hotel is not without its problems, especially since a modern hotel requires completely different sanitary arrangements. The solution for the former PUB store in Stockholm, originally built in 1916, was to install a vacuum waste-water system. This avoids the extensive structural alterations required by conventional gravity systems, due among other things to the large-bore downpipes which have to be laid at floor level.
In vacuum systems, only relatively small pipes are needed to handle all waste water from washbasins, showers, and WCs. They can be laid virtually any way, via a false ceiling for instance. Downpipes require smaller openings through floors, or can be run through existing ducting or ventilation shafts. The vacuum centre and collection tank is located at basement level.
In general, vacuum systems allow great freedom and flexibility in the location of wet rooms, as well as reducing water consumption. A vacuum toilet needs just over a litre of water per flush in comparison with 5-10 litres for a conventional toilet.
In the PUB building, ready-made wet-room modules have been installed in all 271 hotel rooms, as well as in the commercial areas on the lower floors. The hotel section is in the five upper residential floors, and, according to the owners, the alterations have been done with great care. Externally, much of the building's original character has been retained, and internally a huge skylight has been fitted to the store's typical central well, around which the hotel rooms are located.
Vacuum technology has long been used for waste handling in ships, aircraft and trains, and is now becoming more common in buildings such as hotels and commercial property. The equipment, including sanitary ware, has been supplied by Evac, widely regarded as the world's leading manufacturer of vacuum toilet systems for ships, aircraft, trains, and buildings. The company is part of the Sanitec Group of the Metra Company, with manufacturing operations in both Sweden and the USA.
The new building will be called the City Hotel Kungsgatan, and is expected to open in September 1995. As for the PUB store, it is about to reappear in the former Bohagshus building, right next door.


Caption:
The vacuum toilet system from Evac has the following features:
1 fewer vents give more effective use of loft space
2 no venting of downpipes required
3 fewer downcomers
4 only 1.2 litres of water per flush
5 all types of urinals, washbasins, showers, etc can be connected
6 sewerage
7 vertical risers up to 6 m
8 no pumps for outlets below sewer level
9 emptying to sewer system
10 vacuum equipment and collection tank
11 small-bore piping
12 reduced requirement for floor piercing
13 wet-room locations can vary from room to room
14 piping can be led over and round obstacles.


For further information please contact
Bengt Svensson
Evac AB
S-295 39 Bromölla, Sweden
Tel: +46 456 485 00
Fax: +46 456 279 72




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EJ ANVÄND BILDTEXT PGA BILDPROBLEM

309-008 EVAC

1 The famous old PUB store in Stockholm has been preserved for posterity after an extensive conversion to a hotel. Use of a vacuum waste-water handling system has saved a great deal of major alteration work.