Our new home has a non-conforming Fosse, because of the requirement:
Mettre un coude plongeant en sortie de bac a graisse / Put a plunging elbow at the grease trap outlet
Anyone have experience of having this done?
and a recommendation:-
Faire attention au niveau d’eau anormalement eleve de las fosse / Pay attention to the abnormally high water level in the pit
Is that likely to be a major issue?
Thanks in advance for advice
Graeme
No idea which system you have,
but this sounds like the water is not passing correctly from the fosse to the dispersal/drainage and contaminated water is rising too high and risks overflowing/flooding…
Might be that the exit pipe is blocked… needs checking to find out why the water is not moving on…
re the Bac à Graisse
Sounds as if you have only a straight piece of pipe exiting the Bac à Graisse and you need the exit pipe to bend and descend… look at the picture and see the exit pipe… then check your own and I think you’ll see the difference.
Or non performing? We’ve had a non conforming fosse for eighteen years, all local advice (including from our GP 
) has been to keep a low profile and carry on. However, last year it become IMO non performing. Nothing too offensive, but on a hot day after heavy rain with the wind in the wrong direction… noticeable. We got an acceptable quote to replace it in November but with Covid etc. etc. work is only starting next week.
Sounds like the outlet pipe is either obstructed or sited to high up relative to the inlet. A high water level risks contaminated water backing up along the inlet pipe and causing the system to fail to function correctly. Probably good to monitor the water level to see if it is rising higher over time.
I’ve just remembered… your water supply comes from your Well…
so it will be important to have the non-confirming-fosse conforming and performing correctly ASAP to avoid any possibilty of contamination.
You’ve said the Well has been tested and is OK, so let’s keep it that way 
Good luck.
Thank you all. (Well (!) remembered Stella)
We too (like probably many others) have a non conforming fosse (‘grey’ water goes straight into fields). All our artisans (builders, gardeners etc) without exception said they would do nothing, and wait for SPANC/SIAEPA (relevant agencies) to catch up with you. That didn’t sound either sensible or the right thing to do to our ears. We are putting in an approved model of MicroStation at considerable expense (€13k).
Interestingly we have just received notification of a proposed contrôle of the existing fosse sceptique by SPANC/SIAEPA giving us a time, date and requiring sight of a plan/diagram, invoices for emptying/maintenance, and telling us to ensure removal of any soil, lawn or flower pots preventing access to the fosse for inspection. What is slightly bizarre is that the contrôle letter is actually signed by the very person we’ve involved from SPANC/SIAEPA to approve our plans for the replacement MicroStation! She has agreed to cancel the contrôle on the basis that the fosse won’t actually exist in a few weeks, so a sensible conclusion so far.
Yes @George1 we are of the same opinion, we do want our fosse to conform, particularly as the issue seems to be the collection of ‘grease’ before it has either a chance to cause a blockage or to end up in the field/garden.
So we are asking about what the usual way to deal with this is (and some other matters that are recommended for attention) in France. In the UK we might ask the seller to rectify or reduce the selling price. But in France?
We were told by our notaire the usual practice in France is to agree with the sellers to reduce the purchase price by 50% of the estimated cost of a replacement fosse. That worked as advice - that approach was accepted by the sellers in our case. We unfortunately underestimated the ultimate replacement costs 4 years later, but c’est la vie…most importantly we now have a lovely house!
That was the advice we got too. But since we’re not planning to sell we prefer to pay 100% of the replacement cost now and get the benefit while we’re living here.
That is standard procedure here in France… sometimes the price already includes “a sum” for doing the necessary (whatever), but it’s worth speaking with the Sellers about this…
A Devis from someone experienced in Fosse/SPANC works will be a good thing to have for both the Sellers and Buyers.
If the Sellers say “oh it’s nothing major, won’t cost much”… it would be nice to have confirmation from the Expert before signing to Buy… and you also need to understand just what you might be letting yourself in for if you do Buy and pay for it yourself.
@George1 We are in between the compromise de vente and closing in July. Before we continued with the compromise, we got a quote for a fosse septique fix. Also, a MicroStation (for those interested - WPL Diamond DMS - compact wastewater treatment plant - small sewage treatment plant) for €13K. Though it includes some extra work to close the tank currently in the cave and other stuff! No leach field. I figured it would be between €10-15K and we compensated in our offer. It will be one of the first things we do after the closing. My questions for the contractor will be why he selected that product (he has several others on his web site). BTW, I worked out the cost to run the bubbler 24 x 365 and it came out to about €150 per year and I don’t think it will run that much. Please let us know how it goes.
We did get agreement to reduce the selling price as the Fosse was non conforming. The reduction in the region of 12K was quite good - the replacement Microstation is coming in at about 10K.
Some people will do anything to be able to play with a digger! 
I’d love a little digger.
And I’d call it Kylie 
Now now don’t be racist
