Testing the feasibility of new business ventures has been a successful policy for Jace Ensor of Ruidoso, New Mexico, especially when opportunities lie outside his company’s expertise. Mountain Top Inc. focuses on residential onsite installations and maintenance in a resort community.

While looking for ways to expand the business, Ensor accepted subcontract work on a commercial property. The project allowed him to test a new treatment system he’s developing called the Tornado.

“I was certain my three-man crew could install a 5,000 gpd decentralized system for a 38-unit motor coach park,” he says. “The main component, a 7,000 gpd sequencing batch reactor, came in an 8-foot-diameter, 28-foot-long fiberglass Xerxes tank. We can excavate holes that size.”

Ensor’s precast branch poured three 1,250-gallon concrete tanks, and a distributor supplied 8,000 feet of Netafim tubing for the 10,000-square-foot dripfield. “The size of everything was challenging, but exciting,” says Ensor. The park was scheduled to open in four months.

Ensor’s crew set and plumbed all the tanks. Another contractor connected the lots’ 4-inch laterals to the 4-inch gravity main discharging to the flow equalization tank. Alternating duplex 1 hp Webtrol sewage pumps send liquid from the tank to the bioreactor.

“Sequencing batch reactor technology is among the simplest and most forgiving processes for treating wastewater,” says Ensor. “It’s versatile and doesn’t require a clarifier.”

After treatment, water decants to the dose tank, sent parallel to the equalization tank and sludge tank. Activated sludge at 1,500 to 2,500 parts per million is pumped to a holding tank and dewatered to 25,000 ppm. Mixed liquor recirculates to the equalization tank.

On-demand duplex alternating 1.5 hp Goulds pumps in the dose tank run for 14 minutes, sending 200 gallons 400 feet to an indexing valve feeding six zones in the dripfield. “The work was straightforward, except that the 1.5-inch force main rises 80 feet in elevation from the tank to the valve,” says Ensor.

The crew laid the dripfield in a raised terrace between two traffic lanes. Each zone has five 267-foot-long driplines on 24-inch centers to irrigate grass. Workers also constructed a 10- by 10-foot building and installed a SmartRelay programmable logic controller (Idec), Square D power distribution panel (Schneider Electric), DESGenset generator control panel (Deep Sea Electronics), Metasol motor contactors (LSIS Co.), circuit breakers (CHINT Electrics), control relays (Finder), and switches and indicating lamps (WEG Industries). All other components were furnished by Tornado. The park opened on schedule.

Check out a full profile on Jace Ensor and Mountain Top Inc. in a full profile in the June issues of Installer.