[Touchwood]

 :-[I apologise in advance for the grossness of this post and recommend those of a delicate constitution read no further.
We have just got the keys for our new place and made the mistake of lifting the loo seats. Not good, there is definately fungi but what else is anybodies guess. We're meeting the plumber there tomorrow to get the water going and was hoping if anyone could offer advice on what to use to clean the loos. I've never had a cesspit before and from what I understand I need to be careful what I use. Any general tips would also be appreciated.

[Gordon M]

Cesspit? Are your loos (Cludgies) connected to a septic tank?

[aparker155]

Hi - you can use most cleaning products and they're normally quite good with labelling them (in the small print on the back label) with 'suitable for use with septic tanks'.

One thing to avoid is bleach although the citrus one is okay for some reason and I do use that on my toilets - best thing to do (once you have water) is give them a good coating of citrus toilet bleach, get yourself new toilet seats, and get your septic tank emptied at least you know where you are then!

Oh yes and obviously avoid putting things down the toilet such as sanitary waste, cleaning wipes (even though they say it's okay) etc as the more 'solid' you put down it the more often it'll need emptying and therefore the more expensive!!

[Touchwood]

Hi Gordan,
to be honest I don't know what they are. The back is so overgrown we haven't found any manhole covers or anything at the moment. All we've been told is that we're not connected to main sewer. I think this is going to be more of a learning curve than we anticipated!!

[Gordon M]

I really hope that after you get the area cleaned up you can find the tank, we were on a septic tank for a long time but neither ourselves or our neighbours who were also on it knew where it was. It turned out that previous owners had tarmaced over it and that it was badly damaged into the bargain. It cost a fortune to get someone in with a machine to get us connected to the mains, thankfully we were close enough to new services that were put in for a housing development close by.
You may have to dig just outside the toilet and trace the waste pipe to the tank, hopefully you wont need to do this though if you can find the tank first.
Good advice from aparker, it pays to read the small print at times! (something I've yet to learn). Old dogs and new tricks comes to mind........

Gordon.

[dixie]

Is it definatley a cesspit or septic tank? If septic tank then you need to use products that state on the label safe to use in a septic tank, if its a cesspit then I dont think it matters, agreed dont put sanitary products, wipes etc down the loo, ask the company that empties it for advice on exactly what it its and whats best to use! Good luck!

[gavo]

If you have a septic tank you should have a man hole cover to allow access.Septic tanks usually have a type of soak away so that after a period of time the liquid element of your waste once relatively clean ebbs away leaving you with the solid waste therefore taking up much less space. Generally a tank only needs emptying once every 12-18 months. We are not on the main drains and we use all sorts of cleaners for the loo although bleach only once a week. Main thing is NEVER get your tank completely emptied or you lose all the micro organisms that break down the waste and then life gets smelly and difficult.

[welshboy]

Bleach kills the bacteria which break down and digest the solids in a septic tank. I know someone who has never emptied their tank !

[carl]

Good luck with your problem. we have a shared septic tank with 3 other neighbours. The inspection and the soakaway for the runoff are on my property. On a regular basis the soakaway is blocked by textile waste relating to the bathroom etc. this causes the lid of the inspection hatch to be pushed up and all sorts of nasty stuff to flow across my property. all my neighbours deny all such misuse, but I know it's not us. A truly disgusting situation which I need to spend a lot of money to sort out. I know of many similar situations where legal battles have ensued causing the properties to be virually unsaleable.

[Roxy]

Carl, I have a similar problem here ....in the middle of the field, there is an old fashioned septic tank for the cottages.  Our house has its own septic tank, so one in the field is not ours.  Sometimes it overflows, and  there is a right mess in the field.  The two occupants are not bothered as its not on their garden, and seem to begrudge having it emptied. When it gets blocked they seem to expect us to deal with it!!

Our septic tank is in the garden, and too close to the house in my opinion. It needs moving to a more accessable location for empting. Thats another thing. My uncle who lived here, never had the tank emptied.  To my knowledge its been there  30 years and not been emptied. It can't have been as there is no way to it. Never overfills or anything!  He never put detergents down it though, and neither do we if we can avoid it.

The older ones should be emptied every 12 months, although the latest models are meant not to need emptying I believe.

[Touchwood]

Thank you for all your input, this is certainly not going to be a piece of p*** if you'll excuse the pun 

From reading your replies it would seem if nothing else we're lucky in not having a shared what ever it turns out to be. Looks like I'll be going on a hunt the manhole cover tomorrow and see what delights lay beneath.

[doganjo]

Your legal papers on purchasing should say what type of drainage you have.  If it is a septic tank it has now to be registered on the grid. So you should have received a registration number - mind you that depends on your lawyer having known his stuff!  Your Council tax listing will show that too.

[kaz]

I know when I was a child the house we lived in had a cesspit, basically a large tank,  not a septic tank.
That was emptied every few weeks as the waste had no where to go. here we have an older type brick built septic tank that has to be empited every two years. Bleach can be used, but only the ones labelled o.k. with septic tanks. Hope that helps.

[doganjo]

The older ones should be emptied every 12 months, although the latest models are meant not to need emptying I believe.

It's actually the other way round.  The newer ones are big plastic onion shaped things and the instructions that come with them say they should be emptied and serviced annually.  The same applies to the Bio Discs.  The old brick/concrete ones that were put in up to a hundred years ago were built to, last.  Ours wasn't emptied in 10 years but we were careful what was used for cleaning adn what was put down there.  Occasionally a dead rabbit was put down to keep it working.

[Snoopy]

Agree with Annie above - we never emptied our tank at our previous house, and a dead cat
or chicken was periodically thrown in to keep the bacteria working.

We do not use bleach or harsh detergents ( they do leak into the planet somewhere) and we
do not put down baby wipes or other sanitary wares that will take longer than paper to break down.

In contrast, our neighbour who had three teenage girls, was always having problems with his tank
and having to pay to get it emptied - worrying thing is - where do they empty it    surely it is
better not to use harsh detergents and to only put down paper and keep the natural bacteria working.

Lemon Juice, Bi Carbonate of Soda and other natural cleaners work in the loo as well as eco safe products.