Arrangement in two units does not necessarily mean doubling the amount of tile and the area required in a single field. However desirable that may be, expense or lack of suitable ground will often prevent. With open sands and gravels and the assumed siphon dose of 20 gallons per person, 15 to 20 feet of 4-inch tile in each unit for each person will usually suffice. With more compact soil it is advisable to more nearly double the requirements previously described. Two simple types of switch are shown in Figure 31. The switch should be turned frequently, certainly as often as is necessary to prevent saturation or bogginess of either area.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.--Two simple types of sewage switch. _A_, Sewer from tank; _B_, switch box; _C_, cover; _D_, blade or stop board (in the left-hand box the direction of flow is controlled by placing the blade in alternate diagonal position; in the right-hand box the stop works in iron guides cast integral with a short piece of light-weight pipe set in the masonry; if desired the guides may be wood, fastened to the masonry with expansion bolts); _E_, sewer to distribution area; _F_ (right-hand box), alternate position of outlets or additional outlets if required]
=A complete installation.=--The general layout and working plans of a complete installation built in 1915-16 are shown in Figure 32. The plant is larger than those heretofore considered, and involves several additional features. The settling chamber below the flow line has a capacity of 1,000 gallons, and on a basis of 40 gallons per person per day would serve 25 people.
For many years sewage had been discharged through two 4-inch sewers to a cesspool in the rear of the house. The proximity of the well made it unsafe, and the overflow of the cesspool dribbled over the low portion of the garden and barnyard, cheating nuisance.
The first step was to make borings with a soil auger in the pasture 400 or 500 feet from the house. The borings showed a heavy clay soil to a depth of about 4 feet, underlaid with a sandy stratum only a few inches in thickness. It was decided to locate the distribution area in the pasture and to aid the seepage of sewage by digging numerous filter wells through the clay to the sandy stratum. Levels were taken and a contour plan prepared to serve for laying out the plant and establishing the grades.