Ours is a fosse septique. No way would I put anything like that down it. Now I know I need to clean out the trap it isn’t an issue.
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Again, my grateful thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread. Finally, late this afternoon I have managed to get the trap I bought this morning to fit properly and to tighten it to the point where it doesn’t leak.
Especial thanks to @Corona for his suggestion re heating the pipe with a hairdryer. I felt the pipe coming from the basin was too vulnerable to bend but the outlet pipe from the wall is plastic and long enough that I felt I could get some “give” in it.
Like @Stella the task is not made easy by the reality of the plumbing and the set-up of the basin. Years ago we bought one of these “all in one” offers of basin/taps/cupboard/lighting/mirror. Including the plumbing fitments. Unfortunately the cupboard under the sink has a shelf which is “welded in”, so cannot be moved. The trap literally rests on the shelf. When it was originally installed by our plumber it would have been good if he’d cut a circular hole in the shelf so that the trap could have been got at and opened and cleaned from underneath.
Learnt a lot today. I will now be checking the trap in the downstairs bathroom, with some trepidation. I will post a picture of the newly installed trap later after I’ve done some strimming and sorted out the loose cover from the sofa bed in the lounge. All go!
Thanks again, one and all.
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In the same way some places charge a supplement for dogs, we have considered a teenager’s supplement. There is something particularly indestructible about it - maybe the litres of conditioner that make it impervious to all known cleaning products, or the hours spent combing it out. Over the sink of course! I quiver when I see a car door open and a bevy of glossy haired youngsters emerge.
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don’t forget the packets of rolls of triple ply toilet paper just waiting to be rammed down the Gite loo to block your fosse up 
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Good point - got me thinking - how do you prevent folks flushing all sorts down the loo e.g. wet wipes etc etc, as I also have a fosse and don’t fancy any shocks 
You tell them before hand in your literature and remind them on arrival. Include in your contract the need to pay if they block the loo. Simple.
It worked that way when we were gardiens.
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But minimal notices if possible. One place I stayed near Nantes I was scared of my own shadow by the time I left. There were so many notes and cards and notices around telling me do this, don’t do that, do this this way, this is like this, that I ended up never using the shower and only eating restaurant/ take away hot food as I didn’t dare use the oven. Sounds ridiculous, and was ridiculous, I was a paying customer so should have used whatever I wanted, but it was all so brash and in your face that it made me feel so uncomfortable I thought it was for the best. Being a gite host is such an art and it sounds like everyone here has got it down to a t, but it only takes one experience like that to make you realise how skilful it is getting the right balance between being proactive enough that people look after your place like it’s their own, and being subtle enough that they don’t feel uncomfortable.
On the shelf beside each toilet I have a small and pretty box of sanitary towel bags, with a neat notice on the side in French, English and German that nothing must go down the toilet apart from toilet paper. Seems to work (fingers crossed!).
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We too, have a small notice beside each toilet, small white bags and a pedal bin by the loo itself. I also do a small (I hope light-hearted) “chat” when they first arrive - like please do not feed our dogs and the fact that they are thieves and will steal food/shoes and the noises in the roof are sparrows and please don’t take glassware up to the swimming pool. Included in the chat is that we have a fosse septique and please don’t put anything down the loo - usually there is a mutual nodding about the problem of wet wipes - there’s been lots on TV about fatbergs in sewers for people to know about this. I hope we aren’t too heavy-handed, but they do need to know. A blocked drain can ruin their holiday as well as cause us problems.
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Eeeeeewww.
We’ve had our gites since 2003, always been very easy on the rules and very few labels or notices(there are some that people need to be aware of, especially regarding the fosse, drains, safety stuff and smoking), but you have no idea or control over what they do in the confines of the gite. Once, during a fosse vidange the vacuum hose got blocked with what turned out to be a whole bundle of tea towels! Seen and dealt with everything over the years.
The mind boggles
Help please! New problem.
In trying to get the pipes aligned to fit the new syphon, what I feared would happen has. There is now a leak from where the outlet pipe goes into the sink.
This really needs to be a bodger’s solution please.
What can I use to seal round the sink/pipe?
There is already gunge there which is slightly soft/flexible.
As always, grateful for suggestions, thanks.
(I would be grateful if those of you who think I should replumb the whole unit would refrain. The less time I can spend on this the better. I need to start cleaning the kitchen. 
)
Best is a modified polymer sealant like sika EBT or equvalent. Silicon would need the area to be completely dry before application polymer can work underwater.
Youll have to slacken the screw in the middle of the sink waste (inside the basin) to allow you to apply the sealant.then re tighten.
The pipe still looks misaligned which is the cause of most leaks. A bit more hair dryer heat to soften that pipe out of the wall.
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Thank you Corona. The EBT version seems to be a UK product. Sikaflex is here in France. Would you happen to know what the French equivalent would be please?
Guessing a bit but sikaflex?? Anyone else? Been a few years since I bought some in france.
Yep thats them, main difference is colour in that line up. Any with what looks like a penknife image on it in the pictures.
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Thanks.
A little light entertainment to divert you as you seal
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