Oh DEAR!

[Marigold]

It is going to be very IRISH here in the near future...came home after a long day shopping etc to realise the outside drain at the back is blocked and all kinds of nasties are bursting forth. Private well and private septic tank up here and the landlord is of the if it don't break don't fix it brigade and it is very hard and wearing to get anything done. The washing machine died many weeks ago and he promised the plumber/handyman would be round with another one. So when I called him re the drain I reminded him. Anyways at least the problem is outside and I will improvise until it is sorted. Hopefully it will get sorted but Ireland is justly renowned for its laid back attitudes..

[peter]

Not quite what you had in mind when you said you'd get your own back on the slurry spreaders.

I'll get me coat.......

[Marigold]

Not quite what you had in mind when you said you'd get your own back on the slurry spreaders.

I'll get me coat.......

Funny guy! They live many miles away .... nothing too terrible out there and I am not using water etc.. occurs to me that the plumber way well be away for Easter already. And the only other one drowned recently under rather unusual circumstances... The slurry folk got their commeupance last year when they dumped atop the well as they got heavily fined and they took the fine from their Farm Payment. I confess to being totally ignorant re the inner working of septic tanks. Do they have to be emptied sometimes? Meanwhile I am back to where I was when I first came to Ireland; woods here I come!

[peter]

Septic tanks need the solids removing periodically, they are designed so bacteria can work on everything and liqued passes onwards into a soakaway or drainage bed leaving any solid material to settle in the bottom of the tank.

A Cesspit or tank is a different animal, no outlet, has to be drained regularly before it overflows.

The two classic, "failure to maintain" issues with septic tanks both relate to solids, either the soakaway is no longer working as it has become clogged up or the inlet has become blocked. The 1950s one at my parents bungalow was about fifty yards on clay pipe with open joints land in a bed of gravel. More modern one go big on a drainage field or bed, an area is dug out, lined with membrane, part filled with gravel or crushed rock, a feeder pipe run across one end and many pipes run from it along the length. These pipes are perforated on the bottom and covered over with more stone and a membrane cover before topsoil is laid over. These modern ones can cope with 21st century western water use as the easily permeable stone can hold a large amount of water, it can cope with a family in the evening and the content will drain away overnight and during the day.

[Marigold]

Oh GEE! I have been here nearly 4 years and the house was empty some while before that and then there were the renovations....Skating on thin ice these people. New regs came in a short while ago re rural septic tanks and many have been faced with replacing and/or huge fines so my dear landlord will be sweating cobs now. It is strange; I noticed the raw sewage around a metal hatch at the back and tried flushing the upstairs toilet and it bubbled out and the same with the kitchen sink.. BUT the extension toilet and outside tap on that side seem to have a different drain as there is no effect when I try them. I think the septic tank is over the fence in the field; the ground is sodden and no tanker etc will be able to access anything in there. Ah well, thankfully not my problem, which is the main reason I sold up and went into renting many years ago. So I am organised with buckets etc. If he has to replace the tank, will cost him dear. This house has been here around 200 years.I am sure they did not deal with the septic after the old man died etc . We will see.... I caught him out re the washing machine too! he will be scrabbling round finding one etc. I have no sympathy.. Excellent explanation by the way; family in rural Canada explained it to me too. I had system put in when I was first in Ireland; a figure 8 I think they called it? Two huge concrete cylinders. They call the bottom area the percolation area here. If there is one here it is thick with vegetation on the edge of his cattle field..

[Marigold]

Wise one! Am i right in thinking that by spotting the trouble and stopping using water indoors I may have avoided the dreaded back up of sewage?

[peter]

If you've stopped putting stuff into the system, then, stuff should stop coming out of it, but, that isn't a fix, it will only stop your locale bring contaminated.

How well forested is your area?
Do you have a bear costume?

[Marigold]

If you've stopped putting stuff into the system, then, stuff should stop coming out of it, but, that isn't a fix, it will only stop your locale bring contaminated.

How well forested is your area?
Do you have a bear costume?

lol.... I am very isolated and on a rise. The only " fallout" would be onto the landlords land which is of course justice! It is not severe thankfully; I am on my own here so that helps. But windy out there for outdoor ..peregrinations.. Puzzled that the drain at the side where the new build is is not affecting the main drain at the back but hey! Heath Robinson was surely Irish.. knew there would be nothing done today being Good Friday but maybe tomorrow..

[peter]

Could be the pipes are separate and the one is blocked before it reaches the tank and the other isn't?

[Marigold]

Sorted; the cavalry arrived around 4 pm ie my landlord. Weary man as he had been up half the night with a calving cow with the baby the wrong way round. Nevertheless we waded in. And when he hopped over the fence and opened the cap, all was well there. So it was the pipe from the house that was well and truly blocked as we saw and smelled when he took the hatch off. Something bizarre about being faced with several weeks worth of your ***** He said it ha happened at home when one of the kids dropped a toilet roll down the toilet but I have no idea what did this here. Anyways, he cleared it with a sturdy pipe and we washed the ink area out and all is flowing again. Amazed at how simple the system is. I asked him when it was last emptied and he said a year and a half ago. I said no as I have been here nearly 4 years.. then he realised that was the one at home. So he "says" he will sort it but he is Irish. You get used to this facet. If an Irishman offers or promises anything, GET IT THEN as else you will never see it again. Washing machine will be coming; told him how little they cost and had he baulked I would have reminded him how much we have paid him in rent and how little we have ever asked of him. So all is OK thankfully and i now understand the system. And will check from time to time!

[Pa Snip]

So glad that story is over and it didn't even have a crappy ending.

[Geoff]

Congratulations to Peter for his spot on remote diagnosis, might be a job opportunity there.

[Marigold]

So glad that story is over and it didn't even have a crappy ending.

lol.... we cleaned it all up too with a whole bottle of tesco toilet gel.. and knew the heavy rain was on the way..I will never take the flush for granted any more.

[peter]

Marigold, don't be putting too many chemicals down there, it can kill off the bugs, beasties and fungi that digest the effluent and keep it smelling sweet rather than rank. The old cure of a rank septic tank was to obtain a cowpat, one that holds together like an upside down flan, with a moist and crumbly underneath, and float it in the tank., same way up it was sat in the field The tiny residents think they've arrived in the promised land.

It's safe to go play in the woods now kids.

[JohnN]

Can't resist telling the tale of the Spanish waiter working in an Irish hotel. He kept using the term 'manana' and when the owner asked him what it meant he just shrugged, replied "tomorrow", and then asked the Irishman if they had a word in gaelic which meant the same? Yes, the owner replied - but it hasn't got the same sense of urgency.