How to identify a fosse type?

[Uffcat]

Can someone please help me identify what sort of fosse system we have?

The house was built in the 80s and we have no paperwork or information from the previous owners.  We have not yet had our fosse inspection and just want an idea of what we may be up against when we do.  The (apparently) separate tanks have a year of manufacture (1987) and capacities stamped on a metal plate.  We have no idea when it was last emptied and plan on having this done shortly.

The grey water goes into a concrete tank with two paving slabs on tap and appears to be divided into two chambers, with one being roughly twice the size of the other (smaller one first).  I can't see how the water gets from one to the other, no visible pipework.  Could this first chamber be the grease trap?  There is no other place one could be situated.  The loos discharge into a larger concrete tank with two inspection covers.  The first is over a large tank which contains the loo waste and the second seems to have a basket with rocks in it.  It appears quite dry.  Surely this can´t be a grease trap on the far side of the black water disposal?  There is then a further inspection cover about 3 yards further away where there another drainage pipe, presumably going into a soakaway of some sort.  I can see no signs of any vent pipes between the house and the first chambers.  Is this likely?  One bathroom is on that far side of the house about six feet from the first point of entry so I would have imagined any venting pipes would be pretty obvious!  A new bathroom was installed about 5 years ago and there is a slimmish pipe from pipes from the shower and basin in the garage with a plastic cover but grillwork underneath.  Could this be a vent for this new part?

 

Thanks for any help in advance!

[Uffcat]

Further to the question above, we have now had another look (we seem to spend all our time with our heads in this fosse system!) and suspect that the first "grey water" tank joins the "black water" one at some point.  The grey water one is quite smelly although the main one is fine.  Should we be removing the greasy scum from the top of the first one?  We are having a problem with smells getting back into the shower nearest this system and had assumed it was a problem with the trap not being deep enough.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Uffcat,

Check your private messages.

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

And then...............?

[Ron Avery]

[quote user="Nearly Retired"]And then...............?[/quote] 

You will have a PM that says you have not said how big your fosse is which is quite important as it must be at least 3000 litres.  Not sure why that needs a PM, the OP's fosse sounds fine to me and as long as above minimum should pass muster.  Albert you are not after his tomato fertilizer are you??

[Uffcat]

The fosse stamp says 2250 litres, so it's probably undersized.  I'm interested to see what we might be made to do as I'm sure we will not be alone in not complying with the rules.  Other than that it seems to be working well enough.  I thought we had missed the visit although we had been in all day.  I've checked with a neighbour and they DID have a visit and had not made any prior arrangement.  The letter was a little ambiguous and I had not been sure we should have telephoned to confirm we would be there.  Apparently not so they have presumably just not managed to find us!

[Dave&Olive]

hi ok

   First how many bedrooms has your property ?  3 or less you might get away with the tank size because you probably got a 750 ltr bac tank. They will of course make you put in a vent for the tank .

 Can you find another inspection cover ( manhole ) down the garden somewhere ? should be one there somewhere , the lava rocks are a pre -filter for the drainage field ,shows it`s a pretty modern system

hope this helps

     dave

ps the bac needs empty ing every 3 months

[Uffcat]

Thanks for that, you have begun to save us from feeling completely horrified about what is happening here!  The house has three bedrooms.  So perhaps the first grey water set up is potentially a bac you think?  If it needs emptying every three months is this something we should have professionals to deal with?  The only possibility for the vent pipe is into the loft - it's a complex arrangement to get up there but we will do it tomorrow and see what is happening up there, if anything. 

After the inspection cover over the laval rocks there is another manhole about 12-15ft away, a square concrete cover over a small pit with one pipe entering and presumably draining away into the ground.  The water coming out of this pipe is grubby looking.  Should this be clear?  I think we should get the whole system cleaned/emptied and start afresh, even if we only have a partial emptying to allow us to start the system up easily.  We have already had to pay to have some of the pipes unblocked before they even get to the fosse thanks to the previous owners emptying white spirit and paint into the garage sink so heaven knows what else they did to clog up the system or when they last had it emptied.  Their only comment to us was that we should toss some Eparcyl down every so often - something which is obviously not a solution in itself!

[mint]

Grasp the nettle and have a new fosse installed.  I assure you it will not be "money down the drain" (sorry don't mean to make a joke of it).

If your fosse is more than a few years old, it is unlikely to meet current regs anyway.

Should you want to sell your property, it will help greatly to be able to advertise the fact that you have a fully conforming fosse.

Added to all that, you will not have the hassle of having to have anything emptied more frequently than every 4 years and you will have the comfort of knowing that all the waste material you produced as a household will be hygienically disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

Forgo the champagne and the canapes by the pool; get a new fosse instead.

[Uffcat]

Thanks for everyone's input on this question.  We had a vidange today and, other than suggesting we bought some new rocks for the pre-filter, the two guys who did it said our fosse set-up is working fine, just needed emptying.  As I suspect the Brit dodos who lived here before for four years had not bothered with such things I suppose I am not in the least bit surprised.  Having already had to spend €800 having all the pipework cleared because it was totally gunged up with paint and white spirit they poureed down the garage sink I suppose we should have known this would happen.  Imagine all the stuff which managed to get into the fosse BEFORE it clogged up!

It seems the lady from SPANC was in the village last Thursday and despite sending a letter to say we were on her list we didn't see her and have heard no more.  As I assume it is up to them to arrange another visit (we were in all day so nothing we could do about it), I suppose we just sit tight and wait to hear?

The only concern we have now is that I cannot see a vent pipe between the house and the fosse anywhere.  What is the likelihood that one is just not fitted?

[Dave&Olive]

The only concern we have now is that I cannot see a vent pipe between the house and the fosse anywhere.  What is the likelihood that one is just not fitted?

 hi ok

        about  99%   but it`s not a €+  job

 Dave