France in Focus

Yesterday it started, flushed the upstairs tilet and had one of those moments where you see the water coming quickly up the bowl and hoping that it stops before it comes over. A sure sign that a blockage is somewhere in the discharge pipework, so I have kept on flushing as nothing untoward has been deposited in the toilet. It seems to be showing some signs of improvement, however occasionally the water does rise up a bit before it suddenly disappears, now though it seems to be dragging most of the last pool from the bowl, down the waste pipe, leaving a very meagre amount for you know what to fall into. Any ideas?, no rodding points or any access to the pipework for drain rods etc.

Are you on a fosse or mains drains?

Is the breather/vent pipe clear? No birds nests?

Fosse, only vent pipe is the one on the fosse which has one of those carbon filters on it, however it seems as though it has, for the moment, sorted itself, no build up of water on flush and it is now leaving sufficient water in the bowl.

Fingers crossed.

Hotrodder wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2024 6:12 pm Fingers crossed.

Better than legs crossed

Changed the filter on the outlet / vent pipe on the fosse, apart from that no other vent pipes visible, I have used 2 x 5l containers of vinegar plus 2 packets of bicarb of soda, plenty of fizz but no a lot of action, albeit it does seem to be draining a bit quicker, but you couldn't have a number 2 in there, for want of blocking it up. I pull the chain with a plunger in place and then vigorously push that up and down, when finished the water level in the bowl is ok then half of it disappears and it starts burping for a couple of minutes, wonder if a container of acid might shift it.

Using too-thick loo paper can block up a fosse in no time. Don't use acid - a fosse reliezs on biotic action. Try yoghurt (preferably out-of-date) directly into the fosse. We used to keep a pack of 4 cheap natural yoghurts in a cupboard all the time.

Good shout MAD87.......I use out of date faisselle in mine.

Unless you use the Daily Mail for bog paper, it should break down eventually and clear the pipe. I would recommend installing bidet loo seats (€200 each) and use bog paper to dry off and dump in a bin next to the pan. Our motto…It doesn’t go down the pan if you did not eat it first.

Another possibility for blockage is the fat. Your fat trap should handle the kitchen waste, but the use of bar soaps can also build fat lumps in shower and bath drains. We only use liquid soaps which have less or no fats. Clearing a fat blockage is done (by the professionals, a pal in the business) with loads and loads of hot water.