A grease separator.

[jo]

I know probably been done to death this subject!

But need help!

We have what seems like  a huge grease separator, 1000litre um... which nothing goes in. I know this is wrong and the sink waste should not be going into the surface water ditch outside the property, along with a lot of other washbasin water.This is how we bought the house, it had been surveyed and passed! Anyway we will put this right, of course. Anyway what size of grease separator should we need, one kitchen sink, probably one dish-washer in the distant future serving a family of four. If we move it, as is the plan, with all the correct waste being diverted to it we thought we could get a smaller one.

[Dave&Olive]

hi ok

                 you only need to fit a de-greaser if the fosse is more than 10 mtrs away from the house

           Dave

[Jonzjob]

Is that 10 meters away from the house or the kitchen Dave? Our fosse is easily within the 10 M but has a grease trap and I believe that is because the kitchen and laundry room are almost at the other end of the house and more than the required distance? This was how it was built, and I am assured by various tradesmen and friends well built, so I am led to believe this is the reason for the trap?

[Le Plombier]

Grease trap, normally 200 litre capacity

Should be fitted within 2 metres of the Kitchen and should take Kitchen, dishwasher and washing machine waste

Products such as fat dissloved in hot water distill out to solid matter very quickly as the water temperature drops, this is the purpose of the grease trap, to allow the fats to distill out in the trap and not the drain

Solid fat in drains is very difficult to remove as it forms a very hard plug

If you say you have a 1000 litre grease trap check that is actually a grease trap before you use it as one, it might be something like a buried tank for storing rainwater and have no drain outlet

Le Plombier

[jondeau]

I've sat back and watched this thread for a while, mainly because when I lived in France (not that many years ago) such things were unheard of . So I waited until somebody who actually works there posted..........thanks Le Plombier.

 

Bac a grasse I believe...........(may not be spelled correctly.)........ is a bit of an over reation domestically speaking , but in my view, the French having ignored plumbing systems for donkeys years are now rapidly trying to catch up with the rest of  Europe.

I do feel they are at last on the right track.......though it must be said overreacting and enacting ill thought out legislation.

hopefully eventually they will  sort out a decent plumbing/drainage system.

 

Not sure about about a 40 gallon grease trap though!!!!!!

 

 

 

[Jonzjob]

Ours is nowhere near 200 litres and god help us if it were!

It's bad enough clearing ours out at about 18 inches sq by 2 foot deep and I am wondering where I am going to get a replacement holy bucket that is tailor made to sit in it and collect the big bits!

It is a wonderful job down on yer knees with the funny holy ladle scooping the collected congealed grease out of that hole. Makes you want to have a pic-nic while you are doing it with some nice pink wine to wash it all down. About 3 bottles each should do it [+o(]

[Le Plombier]

Jonzsjob

Are you sure that you have a grease trap

What you describe sounds to me like the regard ( manhole ) normally installed after the fosse and filter bed just prior to the system finally discharging to a ditch or whatever. These normally are fitted with the arrangement you describe

A grease trap is a large 200 litre tank with a division in the middle, it is similar to a very small fosse septique in construction

However it seems to work which is better than the grease distilling out in your drain

Le Plombier

 

[Jonzjob]

It's definately a grease trap LP. It is the first thing, apart from the regard where the laundry room and the kitchen meet, on the line to the fosse. And looking at the amount of grease it traps it works quite well. Most of the dishes, pans , etc. are well cleaned if they have any fat in them before they are washed. They are washed by hand, our dishwasher was redundant and went down the tip, now there is something useful in it's place. A wine rack! S ther is not a lot of grease goes down the tubes, as it were.

The waste water then joins the foul drain rom the bathroom and loos and goes on to the fosse. According to the little man from the authorities that checked the system, that bit of it was fine and working well. He said that he thought that the actuall fosse looked slightly small, he didn't that the cement sealed lids off to check, but other than that all was OK for now. The fosse emptier, with his honey truck, agreed and said that the fosse was actually larger than the little man and therefore fine. We informed the mairie of the true size and OKed it too.

[jo]

Hello! me again!  Ok, The  1000 L tank in question has a label naming it a fosse liquifactotrise. It is definatly not rain water collector as it is in the house and collects nothing. But it is full of what looks like relativly clean water.It has an outlet joining the foul drain heading to the fosse it currently has no inlet, anyone any ideas?

Le Plombier? The fosse is next to the house in fact touching the house, but more than ten metres away from the sink... do we need a grease separator??

[Le Plombier]

Jo

I personally would install one but it really depends upon usage whether it is essential or not

I have to admit that although my grease trap is within 2 metres of the kitchen I have had to unblock the drain on one occaision

Says a lot about my diet, or that of the previous owners, time will tell

Le Plombier

[Dave&Olive]

[quote user="Jonzjob"]Is that 10 meters away from the house or the kitchen Dave? Our fosse is easily within the 10 M but has a grease trap and I believe that is because the kitchen and laundry room are almost at the other end of the house and more than the required distance? This was how it was built, and I am assured by various tradesmen and friends well built, so I am led to believe this is the reason for the trap?[/quote]

          hi ok

                  had a long talk with the inspector  from S.V.L. about this a few years ago .. He says  you only count the 110 mm underground soil  pipe  the 40mm from the sink to the soil pipe is not counted . Our sink was 6mtrs away from the soil pipe and then 6 mtrs to the fosse  he said it`s ok without one

                          Dave

[tonyv]

This has been an interesting thread, as I'm about to replace kitchen in my 40 year-old chalet, which has a fosse some way away from the building, but no grease trap that I'm aware of. Neither does my 20 year old house in UK have one, but I guess that's comparing apples with oranges.

So, from reading advice here, I thought it might be a good idea to fit one, and to get an idea of what might be involved I had a look at leroy-merlin's web site. Surprise: no bac dégriasseur to be found, nor anything resembling it. Not seen one at Mr Bricolage either, but perhaps that's no surprise.

Google turns up a few manufacturers, but no vendors. What is the cost of these things?

It appears that 200 liters is the minimum size; that's one hell of a lump; I take it it's suposed to be buried. Is the outlet at a high or low level? The grey water drain pipe disappears under the floor (which is coming up in any case), and I believe jouns the main foul-water pipe at the other end of the house. Could I bury the bac under the floor indoors, or does it have to go outside?

If any of the resident plumbing experts could give me some advice, it would be well appreciated.

[Dave&Olive]

hi ok

             The have 220 ltr  ones in brico depot for €170 ...you need to be able to clean them .... alot ... if you can get away without fitting one go for it , just put in a rodding eye

         Dave

[tonyv]

Thanks for that, Dave. I think I might just take that advice.

[Pierre ZFP]

Now I don't have a grease trap and sort of wondered why but kept quiet about it.  After a bit of measuring, the house (well outside wall) is exactly 10 metres from the fosse, if you stretch the tapemeasure a bit, squint your eyes and add 10% tolerance so I don't need one!!

Anyway it works fine so I ain't going to change anything now!

[jondeau]

Grease traps........which is what we are all talking about despite the variety of names, are designed to trap oil and grease in order to prevent blocked drains.

There is no doubt that drains clogged up by grease are a problem; in inner city areas where there are lots of restaurants and 'fast food' outlets.

Domestically there really is no problem worth speaking of due to grease.......and if you are on a fosse septic I really can't see what it has to do with anybody else what you put down your sink.

I have never found, (despite living and working in rural South Devon for the last thirty odd years, most houses on fosse)  any problem whatsoever with grease.

And as for a 200 litre/40 gallon grease trap ...........it is ludicrous 

 

 

[Dave&Olive]

[quote user="jondeau"]

Grease traps........which is what we are all talking about despite the variety of names, are designed to trap oil and grease in order to prevent blocked drains.

There is no doubt that drains clogged up by grease are a problem; in inner city areas where there are lots of restaurants and 'fast food' outlets.

Domestically there really is no problem worth speaking of due to grease.......and if you are on a fosse septic I really can't see what it has to do with anybody else what you put down your sink.

I have never found, (despite living and working in rural South Devon for the last thirty odd years, most houses on fosse)  any problem whatsoever with grease.

And as for a 200 litre/40 gallon grease trap ...........it is ludicrous 

 

 

   

 

 

[/quote]

but we are in France !!!!!

[jo]

But wher-ever we are... we are no deeper in Greece/Grease than any other nationality??? Surely we are all eating heathier and not eating or cooking with solidifying fat as we were?  We have sat and thought about this, we do not put down the drain any fat that could solidify, oilve oil flows freely at any temperature. Anyway at the price of it here in France we put olive oil down our gullets.... not our sinks!!

[Le Plombier]

Jondeau

Not a problem and ludicrous eh ?

Maybe you should come and work with me for a while

I will show you blocked drains you won't believe, the vast majority blocked solid with grease

By the way I don't clear them, I leave that to DynoRod

Le Plombier

[jo]

AArrgghhhh!!! It turned out to be an old septic tank of considerable age, with human excrement, also of considerable age in it!! Using a one tonne hoist and some reinforced rigging to the floor above we have hauled this out and disposed of it!! We spent the afternoon shovelling  you know what!! an afternoon I wish to forget as quickly as possible.

[jo]

forgot!!

[Le Plombier]

Did say it was a bit big for a grease trap

You got a taste of my job now

Le Plombier

[dave21478]

Roughly how often should these hellish devices need emptied?

There is me living here full time, and two busy gites for up to a max of 11 people - all baths, sinks, showers, wachine machines and dishwashers empty though it. Its maybe a foot deep, 3 feet long by two wide, divided into three sections. It needs done every 4 months or so, and I wondered if that was about average or not?

Also, whats the "done thing" for disposing of the grease? I have a big hole at the bottom of the garden that I am slowly filling up with building rubble etc etc and I just tip it in there.

 

I love doing it too...hands and knees infront of it with an old ladle, a wee bucket and rubber gloves....scooping the grease into a plastic bin...then delving deeper and getting the black sediment out too....the smell making me gag....then the dog ambles over and starts happily munching on the grease in the bin....[+o(]

[Jonzjob]

Drill lots of holes in yer ladle Dave. That way the water draind out and you only have the lumpy bits! That's what we have and it works a treat. Still a 'b' awful job though...

Why they are need here and not in the U.K. I will never know? I had 23 years in a Cotswold stone cottage with a sess pit and it had all sorts thrown at it and it worked perfectly. And we had the most wonderfull rhubarb that grew on the outflow from it. No huge sand filter, only about 6 feet to the 6 foot high dry stone retaining wall and absolutely no problems. we had never heard of the likes of Eparcel or any fosse feeders. Please! Cane someone tell me what the hell the difference is between the bullet proof tank we had there and this thing here that needs careful molly coddling?

[Jay]

We just had our fosse inspected. "When did you last clean out the grease?", the little girl inspector asked. "Only last year", I lied. "You really need to do it more often!", she scolded. Next inspection is in 4 years, must get round to it by then I suppose.