cleaning products

[londoneye]

honestly i have searched site for names of products suitable for cleaning shower/sink etc which are fosse friendly.   i have also asked at my local supermarket but was advised by employee that they dont do such products, only those suitable for cleaning the toilet.

i thought of all the people who are probably most fanatical about their fosses it would be you guys !   does anyone have a brand name i can look for in another supermarket please ?

also, out of interest, do you supply the cleaning products in your gites or do you trust your guests to use the correct product ?

thanks for any responses - i have posted something similar on general but cant find it now, so apologies (again!) if anyone has read something similar elsewhere - bathroom is looking a little grubby now (yuk!)

[Blanche Neige]

also, out of interest, do you supply the cleaning products in your gites or do you trust your guests to use the correct product ?

Yes, we leave loads, (but then it is our second home that we let and not strictly speaking, a Gite) if the correct stuff is provided hopefully people will be encouraged to use it 

Londoneye, if you read the labels on the cleaning products they will usually say if they are suitable for fosse septiques.

bathroom is looking a little grubby now (yuk!)

Try using cheap white vinegar for cleaning tiles, glass and sinks, also bicarbonate of soda for stubborn stains.

[londoneye]

thanks will try vinegar - i actually stood in intermarche and read back of every single cleaning product (boy did i look a sad cow!) but not one of them, with the exception of toilet cleaners, which i knew about anyway, said it was suitable - hence resorting to asking supermarket employee, who said they didnt stock any of them.    

its all very strange, because i dont live in paris after all, i live in extremely rural limousin; all my neighbours have fosses (most of which dont work too well from smell); i think they all have soakaways - no thats not true - they all have a pipe which comes out of house into a gulley and probably into my garden at some point, but hey ho !

i will have to try another supermarket, clearly my local intermarche is just a bit strange on this one, and believes all its customers actually live in paris !

[Kas33]

I would not trust Intermarché with a query - they have terrible customer service.

We use jif or vinegar (and bleach on the floors between guests, but we tip it on the grass afterwards not down the drain). I reckon that as long as it doesn't have 'javel' written on it, it's ok.

We do supply cleaning products, it is more likely that the guests will do a little light housework, if they feel inclined.

[Cassis]

Karen, does the bleach not kill the grass?  Mind, in the current weather I don't suppose anyone would notice the difference!

[londoneye]

thanks for this - is jif the same as cif please ?

 

 

[Blanche Neige]

thanks for this - is jif the same as cif please ?

 

Yes it is.

[Zippy]

Good old fashioned bleach! How I miss it! Can anyone please give me the name of a comparable product they use (especially for cleaning toilets / soaking dishclothes etc...) that is equally as good and doesn't destroy the bacteria in my toute eaux? I have tried many products and none quite works! I regularly use Epercyl so no probs with how the fose is working. Thanks.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="Zippy"]Good old fashioned bleach! How I miss it! Can

anyone please give me the name of a comparable product they use

(especially for cleaning toilets / soaking dishclothes etc...) that is

equally as good and doesn't destroy the bacteria in my toute eaux? I

have tried many products and none quite works! I regularly use

Epercyl so no probs with how the fose is working. Thanks.[/quote]

This might sound a little odd, but bleach, in moderation, will not kill a well-functioning, regularly "fed" fosse.

By moderation, I mean a little used to soak dishcloths, remove stubbon

marks from sinks, etc. I would hesitate to use large quantities down

the loo.

A good way to remove stained tartre (sp?) from the thunderbox is to put

a couple of tablespoons of swimming pH moins powder into the loo

overnight. A quick twizzle with the brush in the a.m. and it magically

disappears. The powder will do no harm to the fosse...hydrochloric acid

(also good for this purpose) will.

We leave cleaning products in the gites. People seldom use them, but it makes us feel like good hosts.

[Zippy]

Thanks Jon D! Will give it a whirl tonight!

[mitsi]

I use La Croix which is a cleaning gel ' avec javel' . (found with Cif

and other similar products in most supermarkets). On the back it says

without danger to Fosse septic, but only once or twice a week. (no

comment). Like the previous post I wash floors with it and thow the

water outside.

 I do leave cleaning products for the guests - if it's there

they'll use it. If it's not they may not want to buy it just for one

weeks stay.

[Gunner]

Hurrah, we've just moved house and now have mains drainage. I had a bleaching frenzy to make up for lost time. Ah, bliss.

[Maddie]

I use a small amount of bleach (in a regularly fed fosse!!) and also a product called ambisan.

[Eslier]

Tarax now make a fosse treatment which will continue to be effective even if bleach and antibiotics are used. It is a once every six months treatment.  I must admit I was sceptical about it but our French plumber thoroughly recommended it to us. He claims that if this is used you can put almost anything down the sink and won't need anything more than a litre of beer poured down every now and then to keep it healthy.  Have just used it in our FS (cost about 7€ per treatment for a 3000 litre fosse) so we'll see how it goes.

[mitsi]

Thanks Jon D , used some PH moins in the loo and it has worked a treat.

I'd tried most things without success but that worked overnight just as

you said. Now the loo looks brand new and I'm no longer embarrassed!!!!

Thanks again.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="mitsi"]Thanks Jon D , used some PH moins in the loo and it has worked a treat.

I'd tried most things without success but that worked overnight just as

you said. Now the loo looks brand new and I'm no longer embarrassed!!!!

Thanks again.

[/quote]

I endevour to give satisfaction. [geek]

I haven't yet finished experimenting with all the chemicals in the pool

house and garage (there are people who say you shouldn't do this, but I

am always careful to hold things at arms length and hold my breath) and

I hope to find "off label" uses for some more of them in due course.

[Cassis]

So if anyone notices a mushroom cloud of green gas on the far horizon, fear not: it's just Jon D trying to cure someone else's difficult toilet cleaning problems!

[mitsi]

I know a good one for burnt saucepans if that's any good! Use Viacal

(Antical here I think - liquid form) Leave to soak over night, works a

treat!