Penners
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If they've got to sail for six days to muck out the world's most northerly septic tank, that seems pretty reasonable to me.worms said:
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Septic tank emptying ...
- Thread starter Nemesis
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Nemesis
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Septic tanks in France:
http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-property/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=8707
http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-property/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=8707
Holly Anne
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You will, no doubt have had many responses - but here is my four penny worth
My septic tank on chalk with all storm water from the road draining into it
£60 ish per quarter. 3 people in house with 'all mod cons'
Location of your tank is all important - I knew as soon as we had water running down the road it would seep into my tank. If you do not have this problem - great but look at your soak away system.
Holly Anne
My septic tank on chalk with all storm water from the road draining into it
£60 ish per quarter. 3 people in house with 'all mod cons'
Location of your tank is all important - I knew as soon as we had water running down the road it would seep into my tank. If you do not have this problem - great but look at your soak away system.
Holly Anne
Nemesis
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I don't have any problems with ours - just wondered what costs others were paying. I think round here it's a bit on the rip off side.
But storm water shouldn't be going into a septic tank! It should be watertight apart from the in and out pipes. And quarterly emptying sounds a bit staggering?
But storm water shouldn't be going into a septic tank! It should be watertight apart from the in and out pipes. And quarterly emptying sounds a bit staggering?
Geoffrey
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At my last house the tank needed emptying twice a year and was about £100 each time. Our worst expense was when the (very long) drains blocked and we had to call someone out with extra long rods etc. - the emergency callout fee was highway robbery. Am happily on mains drainage now for the first time since leaving London 11 years ago. I don't know if my "dumping fees" have gone up or down.
Penners
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Storm water entry doesn't mean it can't be watertight, surely? Just more water the go straight through into the soakaways (in theory, anyway!).Nemesis said:But storm water shouldn't be going into a septic tank! It should be watertight apart from the in and out pipes.
Nemesis
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It's a very bad idea - too much water throughput prevents proper bacterial action. There are facts and figures about all this buried in the links I've provided.
Penners
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For future reference, the words "septic tank" and "buried in" should never appear in the same thread.
Kindly take note. :wink:
Kindly take note. :wink:
Nemesis
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Oh, but the subject is fascinating... don't poo-poo it.
Penners
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It sounds like a load of cr@p to me.
Nemesis
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Interesting though that the French have legislation in place to ensure that all septic tanks are legal. Wonder what qualifications you need to be an inspector?
biffvernon
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So it would be illegal to have an illegal one?Nemesis said:the French have legislation in place to ensure that all septic tanks are legal.
C'est interdit!
Just to return to the original question, it cost us about £180 to have ours emptied last year. I've now re-routed the storm drains so that they don't flow into it. Hopefully it will work better and have less non-decomposable stuff going into it, so that I don't have to get it emptied every year.
Nemesis
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Thanks for that. So ours is still a little pricey but not too much so.
Yes, some of the water from our roof used to go through ours, and we get a great deal of rain. We altered that also.
Yes, some of the water from our roof used to go through ours, and we get a great deal of rain. We altered that also.
Penners
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Sorry, Biff. That English translation of the verb "interdire" is way off the mark.biffvernon said:C'est interdit!
"C'est interdit" can be broadly translated as follows:-
"Buried somewhere in an imprenetrable law book there is some kind of regulation forbidding you from doing this. However, we don't want to get too worked up about this, do we? Just go ahead quietly and do it. If anyone complains, we'll pretend we knew nothing about it. Oh, thank you - a pastis for me."
Nemesis
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If you read the link - which has some good stuff about septic tanks, design etc - you will see the time lag between when the law was passed and when anyone began to consider maybe they should possibly consider doing something about it!
I wonder if there is an official badge of office.
However, there is behind it the desire to prevent fouling of wells and water supplies, which did in this country in the 19th century kill off many people when leaching cesspits contaminated drinking supplies - entire families wiped out!
I can actually see some point in knowing where septic tanks are, and that they aren't a health hazard.
I wonder if there is an official badge of office.
However, there is behind it the desire to prevent fouling of wells and water supplies, which did in this country in the 19th century kill off many people when leaching cesspits contaminated drinking supplies - entire families wiped out!
I can actually see some point in knowing where septic tanks are, and that they aren't a health hazard.