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Smelly Fosse Question


Ann
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Hi, my fosse is only two years old and is very smelly.  I have heard that one can get some sort of  filter to go on the top of the stink pipe which allows the air to get out but stops the smell.  Does anyone know if this is so and where I could get one from, what it is called and  also are there different sizes and would it be OK to be outside all the time or whether they need to be fitted inside.

I would be grateful if someone could help.  Thank you.

Ann

 

 

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Ann,

I suspect you are referring to a 'clapet aerateur'(accent) to fit to the wc waste pipe vent extention pipe. I dont know if this is the answer but my first thought is that your fosse septic ventilation stack pipe is terminated much too low. It is not normal to smell the vent at ground level as it normally extends beyond the eaves level by a reasonable amount (say one metre) into 'free' air where the smell (a natural function) is dissipated. How tall is your vent pipe? This is not such a silly question as it may appear as my fosse vent was about two feet from ground level until I extended it in the conventional manner.

Regards

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Steve,

Thank you for taking the trouble to answer my question.  I think the pipe is high enough as it extends above the roof of a double story barn.  I will look in the Brico's for the vent and see if I can find one.

Thanks again.

Ann

 

 

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Ann

I think that you may have misunderstood what Steve was saying. The vent pipe needs to extend beyond the eaves / roof line significantly - if it just pops up past the gutter, say, you may get what is known as inversion - this is where the wind blowing over the roof forces the smell back down to the ground. Without getting too technical, as wind passes over your roof, it creates high and low pressure zones. A high pressure zone will force the smell down to the ground (this wind effect is basically a crude version of wind passing over an aeroplane wing - depending on the wing angle determines whether the plane goes up or down).

A good sign as to whether this is indeed the problem is whether the smell is more noticeable when the wind blows from a certain direction.

Extending the pipe by 50 to 100cm will take the top of the pipe out of the pressure zone and should eradicate the problem.

You could also try fitting one of those whirly things that acts like a fan and sucks the smell out of the fosse - about €100 at our local brico.

Warren

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Hi Ann

If you have a smelly fosse then you need to feed it some more enzymes you can buy these in sachets from the supermarkets etc - look for brand names Eparcyl or Septifoss. If you havent been feeding your foss I would bung in a couple of sachets, then follow this with at least one a week (perhaps more if you have a larger foss). This stops fosses from smelling in the 1st place.

A 'clapet aerateur' or air admittance valve is used to stop (smelly) air escaping from your soil pipe inside a house and is used above the highest sink/toilet, in a situation where the soil stack is not vented through the roof. It is a one way valve that is opened by the partial vacuum created when you flush the tiolet etc, and is designed to stop sinks gurgling, pipes rattling etc.

The vent pipe for your foss is normally another thing altogether, this is there to allow the gasses that build up in your foss to escape, thus caping it with a one way valve would not be a good idea[;-)]

You can get active carbon filters to fit on top of vent pipes which are very effective at stopping the smell, but you shouldn't need one and I haven't seen them available in France.

HTH

 

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Hi David,

Thank you for the useful information.  I have been putting down the powers, but only one a week, so I will give it a go with two or three.

I will also look for some sort of vent/cowl to fit on the top as am sure it is a wind problem too.

 

Thanks again.

 

Ann.

 

 

 

 

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hi

           ok if your fosse do`nt stink it`s not workin` sorry , the bugs you put in digest your waste and make methane gas ,and we all know how that smells . your only option is to put the vent from the tank at least 1mt above the roof line ,if you fit a clapet aerature or english term " air admitance valve " you will blow up the system , these let air in and nowt owt!!!!!!!!

                     dave

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Unfortunately, methane is heavier than air, so there can be some weather conditions which encourage the gas to settle back to earth rather than get dispersed in the atmosphere above the roof. It has everything to do with the air streams around the top of the pipe.

In our current house, the vent pipe is only a couple of feet higher than the gutter of a pitched roof, with windows nearby. We never smell a thing. Our previous house has a vent pipe which runs up to the ridge of a 2-storey barn, and sometimes you can smell the methane all over the garden !  Go figure !

(and, yes, before the chemists write to point out that  methane is actually odourless , I know. But it's the methane which makes up the bulk of the bunch of  organic chemicals and gasses which are the by-product of fermentation which hitch along for the ride and which we can smell.)

p

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