fosse septique

[cassie]

we are about to buy a property with fosse septique. Do we need to use "special" washing-up liquids, shampoo, washing powder etc and,if so, how do we recognise these in the supermarket? Do they cost a lot?

what happens if we use our  "normal" stuff?

 

Dennis

[giantpanda]

Hi!

If you buy a house with a "fosse septique", do ask the owner ( immobilier ) if the fosse has been controlled by the local authorities.

If not, when this will take place.

Namely all fosses have to be controlled, and most updated. That can cost, if the local authorities do not help ( it can vary between 0% and 100ù, depending on how rich the Commune is).

Practically it has to be kept alive - there are special products ( basically a pill or little bag ) a month, and has to be emptied in future at least every 3 years

If locally they change to mains, you are compelled to connect, whereby you will have to carry the costs till the outside of your land.

Yours,

giantpanda

[PaulT]

In my experience, having bought in an area where there are predominantely houses with fosses all the products in the shops seem to be fosse friendly.

Paul

[cassie]

Thanks

What exactly do you mean "controlled by the local authorities" ?

Unfortunately I will not ask our estate agent as I do not trust what she says

 While I am at it : I am new to this forum game and I just want to say "thanks" to people but when I do this it emerges as another "post"

How can i say "thanks" without this happening or is the thanks taken as read and nobody bothers to say it?

Cheers

dennis

cheers

 

[Pierre ZFP]

Hi

Basic rules for a fosse are

NO bleach (Javel)

NO disinfectant

NOTHING like white spirit/turps

Minimal solid matter (eg wash the earth off your spuds/boots/small children in a bowl and chuck in the garden, the earth that is, not the small chidren, but there again.....) , get your (usually pink) loo paper from a local supermarket rather than bringing it from UK as the local stuff is designed to disintigrate quicker.

I contacted the likes of Unilever/Tesco/Sainsburys some time ago about 'fosse friendly' products and they were all incredibly helpful. The best advise is as stated above, buy stuff locally and check the labels until you are familier with the products you use.  I've found that things will state quite clearly if they are not fosse friendly.

Emptying every 3 years may be necessary if you are there full time (even that seems a bit excessive).  It took me more than 9 years as a holiday home to fill my fosse! and its used quite a lot.   Make sure you know where the cap for the fosse is or like me, you will be digging up a large chunk of lawn when you really need to empty it (and you will know when, believe me!) 

As for forum ettiquette, saying thanks to a  post that has helped you out is always appreciated and yes, it does come out as a separate post, no harm in that.  Often done at the 'end' of a thread rather than to each individual post or it gets a bit messey.

[gosub]

"What exactly do you mean "controlled by the local authorities" ?

The term "contrôle" in this context, in French means an inspection/check up.

[ams]

We put a product called eparcyl into the toilet once every week. This product can be bought in most supermarkets at a cost of about €16+ for a years supply.

 

Take the opportunity of asking when the FC was last emptied and how many m3 is it. How old is it and does it comply with current standards.

 

ams

[Patf]

I thought the seller has to provide a copy of the report of any inspection by the SPANC authorities (fosse police), if such exists. Most people's systems will have been inspected by now.

To be handed over at the time of signing the Acte de Vente, or before.

[suein56]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

Basic rules for a fosse are

NO bleach (Javel)

NO disinfectant [/quote]

IMHO a lot will depend on the state and age of your fosse. Ours is a fosse à toutes eaux, it was installed in 1995 and has been emptied twice since then: the second time was in 2004 because the children of the renters at that time blocked it up with things you really shouldn't put down a loo wherever you live! The house has always been lived in full-time.

You can use bleach but sparingly ie not copious amounts every day, we regularly bleach the drainhole in our shower without problem. 

As to disinfectants I buy those which say 'sans danger pour fosses septiques' on them.

And our loo paper is not tragically thin or pink but just like loo paper in the UK and they all say on them 'sans danger ...' etc.

Sue

[Benjamin]

[quote user="spg"]

 we regularly bleach the drainhole in our shower without problem. 

Sue

[/quote]

There are fosse friendly products for cleaning/clearing plugholes.

[suein56]

[quote user="Benjamin"][quote user="spg"]

 we regularly bleach the drainhole in our shower without problem. 

Sue [/quote]

There are fosse friendly products for cleaning/clearing plugholes. [/quote]

OK, thanks for that. I will look out some fosse friendly products asap. 

Sue 

[cassie]

Thanks to everybody for their replies

This "forum thing " is fab innit?.....showing my age....should`ve said "wicked" or "cool"... but only cool dudes or hippies said "cool" in my youth...which, malheureusement wa  "before the war"!!!

Cheers

dennis

[goose]

I found this subject very interesting as we have just come back from Charente Maritime and seen 21 properties [8-)]. Out of these only 2 were on mains drainage and the others were a mix of the very old, old and then new Fosse. We were told by all the agents that the owners who were selling had to have the fosse emptied before they moved out so that should be some help!!! I did find this website to be helpful though http://www.brittany-internet.com/BrittanyNews/SepticTanks/tabid/174/Default.aspx

It clearly is a minefield out there [:D]

[woody234]

a fosse septique is a "stand alone" system that houses in the countryside will use, ie the sewage goes in 1 end and is broken down into bacteria and then blends back into the land after 6 weeks so I dont no what the local authourities have to do with it

[Rob Roy]

[quote user="goose"]

I found this subject very interesting as we have just come back from Charente Maritime and seen 21 properties [8-)]. Out of these only 2 were on mains drainage and the others were a mix of the very old, old and then new Fosse. We were told by all the agents that the owners who were selling had to have the fosse emptied before they moved out so that should be some help!!! I did find this website to be helpful though http://www.brittany-internet.com/BrittanyNews/SepticTanks/tabid/174/Default.aspx

It clearly is a minefield out there [:D]

[/quote]

Like many things French it must be a regional thing - we have recently sold and didn't have to empty the fosse. We had never had to do so in the 7 years we lived there. If they are working properly they should rarely need attention, just chucking the activator down the toilet whenever it was due - the last product I found only had to be done every three months.

[Boxmaker]

Having an old farm where we have just installed 2 new fosses and replaced another I am beginning to be competent in the septic tank area.

Everything in the supermarkets which will subsequently go down the drains has an indicator for fosses septiques and normally says something like' Sans danger pour les fosses septiques' including bleach. 

The 'Controle periodique de fonctionnement de l'installation d'assainissment non collectif' is essentially the periodic inspection of private drainage systems which includes cesspits and septic tanks.  This inspection is a legal requirement which comes out of the  CODE GENERAL DES COLLECTIVITES TERRITORIALES (Partie Législative)   http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRL.html.  In the main the mairies should add the cost of it to some kind of tax d'habitation facture (in our case it is 15.83 euros per year) and you should then have an inspector available to advise you on any problems associated with your installation.  Ours is particularly helpful in that he has advised that we didn't need planning permision to install a second toutes eaux, he gave us a full plan for the builder and then checked that the builder had followed the rules properly all at no extra cost. So now we know that we are not killing the environment and we won't suffer from the wastes.  Be careful we have a lot of land so its not a problem and we can go out flat, if you have little land or are on Granite or clay then different rules apply and you may have to dig a deep pit and install a filter bed etc, so each geographical area is different.  I found out yesterday from afriend that if your waste water goes out into the roadside ditch beside the house then you should have a volcanic rock filter system which need changing every 3 years.

There are 2 types of Fosses Septiques, the first is a straight single chamber container into which everything goes bar grease, which is collected by a 'Bac a graisse' (Grease trap) basically all the kitchen waters go through this, then into the container and all the toilet flush bypasses it and goes straight into the fosse septique.  These types need to have the grease trap (bac a graisse) cleaned out about once per year depending on usage (ie is it a full time house once per year or a holiday home once every 2-3 years) and the fosse should be checked to see if it needs emptying every 3 years if you use the bacterial products properly and in our case it was emptied every 6 years anyway.  The second type is a 'toutes eaux' which does not need a bac a graisses and has 2-3 chambers which ultimately produces water good enough for the garden  but which in definitely not potable and which if the bacterial products are used properly then should not need emptying for about 10 years.

You can get products now which you use either weekly or even those which will last for up to 6 months, these latter are useful for holiday homes.

Hope this helps

[Jo]

We recently had a loo replaced and I was delighted when the plumber complimented me on the health ( no smell ) of my Fosse[:$] How sad is that?...[blink]

[BJSLIV]

I dont no what the local authourities have to do with it

By law they have the duty to regularly inspect privately owned drainage systems, including Fosses, and will oblige the owner to rectify any deficiencies.

That's all they have to do with it!

[Dave&Olive]

 

 

There are 2 types of Fosses Septiques, the first is a straight single chamber container into which everything goes bar grease, which is collected by a 'Bac a graisse' (Grease trap) basically all the kitchen waters go through this, then into the container and all the toilet flush bypasses it and goes straight into the fosse septique.  These types need to have the grease trap (bac a graisse) cleaned out about once per year depending on usage (ie is it a full time house once per year or a holiday home once every 2-3 years) and the fosse should be checked to see if it needs emptying every 3 years if you use the bacterial products properly and in our case it was emptied every 6 years anyway.  The second type is a 'toutes eaux' which does not need a bac a graisses and has 2-3 chambers which ultimately produces water good enough for the garden  but which in definitely not potable and which if the bacterial products are used properly then should not need emptying for about 10 years

biggest load of Cr*p I have ever read

             Dave

[Simon]

[quote user="woody234"]a fosse septique is a "stand alone" system that houses in the countryside will use, ie the sewage goes in 1 end and is broken down into bacteria and then blends back into the land after 6 weeks so I dont no what the local authourities have to do with it[/quote]

I thought this was a lot of c**p too.

[seb47]

The fosses in Lot et Garonne are in the process of being inspected - supposedly in preparation for mains drainage (but don't hold your breath).

Our friends who've had a visit/check have been told that the 'Eparcyl' etc products etc are a waste of money and you are just as well putting a pot of live yoghurt either down the toilet or directly into the fosse every few weeks or so. We do this and ours appears to be 'impeccable'! We have ours emptied every 5 years on the recommendation of the vidangeurs (private residence, no gites etc.) The separate bac a graisses is emptied at the same time.