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poop tank inspection


dave21478
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Just had a guy from Veolia turn up at my house as part of the inspections for the commune.

He spent about 8 seconds gazing disinterestedly at the square of yellow grass that marks the position of the fosse and a further 3 seconds looking at the access cover on the pipe leading to the soakaway, before declaring it all "ok".

Apparently it doesnt meet the new normes, but needs no further action due to it working properly.

Suits me just fine.

Up at the farm, He observed without comment as I pointed out the embankment in the distant field below the house with a bit of cement pipe sticking out of it and a just visible pile of turds and bog roll on the ground under it. Apparently this is "ok" too, but should really be upgraded before the place can be sold.

Farce.

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WOW!

Surely a properly working fosse septique will have no turds or toilet paper coming out the exit pipe, as far as I was aware, there should only be 'dirty water'. We never had a soak away, our 'dirty water' went into the communes drains.

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A farce indeed Dave.

Ours was done a couple of years ago and after a similarly brief inspection was declared non conforme because the tank wasn't big enough and I couldn't show the inspector where the filter bed was. Apparently, I've got 10 years to fix it !

Not having spent my life studying the subject of fosse septiques, I wasn't able to offer much help or challenge the findings at the time.

I now know that the inspector had been looking at the grey water bac and that had she looked at the correct tank, the siting of the filter bed would have been obvious! I paid E300 for that debacle.

Presumably you had to pay for this charade at your place?
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The house fosse works well, but up at the farm I doubt it even has a fosse, the plumbing is decidedly medieval and very probably is just a "straight through" system, maybe a holding tank at best.....apparently not uncommon for farms round here.

Cost me nowt - no mention of money at any moment and if they try to bill me later they can sing for it.

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Two friends I was talking to over dinner tonight had had second inspections recently, following the ones we all had about four years ago. This time the woman inspector said it was all fine. - though the previous inspector had been much more pernickety

This time they had had to pay for the inspection, whereas first time around they hadn't received a bill.

Mine was declared to be functioning very well last time, and I had luckily photographed the exposed filter bed during the installation process in around 1990. The only thing the inspector said was that if should have had an air INlet pipe, as well as the existing air outlet pipe, and said it had to finish higher than the roof ridge. I have done nothing about it, but subsequently realised that the builder had pointed out a pipe to me that let air INto the tank. It's just at ground level though, and would be a problem to extend upwards to ridge height as it would foul up a window shutter. So I have done nothing about it, and hope that a second inspection might ignore this minor requirement.

Angela
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All the fosses in our commune were inspected a few years ago apart from ours because is wasn't over 10 years old. We had it inspected last year because we'd put the house up for sale. The lady inspector( note all other posts mention a lady inspector) said all was fine apart from the big pipe = she said it wasn't tall enough.  I said it was the height which SAUR approved when we had the fosse put it, so we're not doing anything about it.  It took me over a year to get the report. I think we had to pay about 160euros for all this. 

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We had our first one done in 2011. We'd actually had a vidange a few months before they came. We've just had a letter to say that our next inspection is due next week. When I looked at all the paperwork I noticed it's 4 years and 1 month since the vidange so we're trying to get it done before the inspector arrives. I believe that the law says that the fosse should be emptied at least every 4 years. The appointment said that they inspect all documentation including receipts for previous vidanges. Hope we don't get into trouble for being 1 month over limit......
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Can anyone tell me 'why' a fosse septique needs emptying every four years. We were in our french house for 25 years, never had it emptied and never had a problem with it, ever. I thought that the waste just sort of ate itself up over time. We used to check what I have seen on here is called the grey water and that was always just water.

Incidentally, our fosse was linked to the main drain and only the waste from the toilet went into the fosse, the water from baths, showers, washing and washing up etc, went directly into the main drains.

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A properly working septic tank shouldnt need emptied. There will be a gradual build-up of stuff that cant be broken down, but that should take decades before it becomes a problem.

I have never heard of this four year law, and suspect its yet another cash-grab bullshit law the French are so keen on.

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I occasionally see a pump truck on the roads in this area for emptying these things. It has a Veolia logo on it which I am sure is merely a huge coincidence. The people telling you something has to be done -at a cost to you- more often than it needs to be, being the same people that provide this needless service? Yes, I am sure that is merely a coincidence.

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In our commune, we have to pay 150 euros every five years for the inspection of the fosse, but it is collected at 30 euros per year. We had our inspection and the lady inspector did a thorough job, taking off all the coverings, taking photographs, sticking in long poles and poking about, leaping over walls to find the outflow etc. It then took nearly two years for the report to arrive.

We also have to have the fosse emptied every four years and the documentation has to be available for inspection.
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Whenever I see threads about septic tanks I always have a bit of a panic.

Is there anyone else out there who has never had an inspection?

The only communication we have ever received was a letter about six or seven years ago asking if we had a fosse septique.

Should we make some enquiries and ask for an inspection or is it better to leave well alone.
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[quote user="dave21478"]I occasionally see a pump truck on the roads in this area for emptying these things. It has a Veolia logo on it which I am sure is merely a huge coincidence. The people telling you something has to be done -at a cost to you- more often than it needs to be, being the same people that provide this needless service? Yes, I am sure that is merely a coincidence.

[/quote]

I agree, there is no "law" saying you must empty your fosse in a certain period of time. In fact a leaflet received just last week from SPANC specifically states "The emptying of the fosse should be achieved when the height of the sludge reaches 50% of the volume, no mention of a time period.
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[quote user="Jay"][quote user="rowland"]Should we make some enquiries and ask for an inspection or is it better to leave well alone.[/quote]

Definitely not, leave well alone!

[/quote]

UNLESS you are thinking of selling in which case you might like to know about any adaptations or new installation that might be needed.

Don't forget that, in the case of a totally new installation, the achievement of the works could destroy large areas of established gardens and you want to have some time to reinstate grassed areas, etc before advertising the sale.

Sorry if you aren't thinking of selling in which case please totally ignore my comments.

I have selling on my mind because, firstly, I have fairly recently sold a house and, secondly, we might well have to sell up should the UK leave Europe and there is no health provisions in place for health tourists in France[:-))]

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[quote user="mint"].........we might well have to sell up should the UK leave Europe and there is no health provisions in place for health tourists in France.........[/quote]

In which case you would be one of thousands with a property you can't sell! Quite right - if you intend selling then you need to know if it passes otherwise you will have to reduce the price accordingly, which is what a lot of people seem to do.

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  • 2 months later...
Had a report done at one of the properties I maintain.

Main building and two separate houses on the same grounds - same owner of all three, all the same postal address etc. Apparently that requires three separate inspections, three separate reports and three separate bills.

Bills? Yeah - €50 a pop, apparently.

I asked the dude and told him the report for my own house had been free. He was kind of vague on the subject but reckoned its something to do with the mayors of each commune who set the price.

I doubt they "set" the price, but I imagine Veolia have a fixed charge and the communes decide if they will subsidise this or not and to what degree.

 But then again, the kid was so young I was surprised he wasnt writing his notes with a bowl of Alphabetti Spaghetti so who knows how much he really knew about it....

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