It's official! The Old Bakery is NOT connected to the Mains Sewerage which is quite contrary to our understanding at the time we bought the place. No one was really sure where our sewerage actually went but the general consensus was that it flowed into a redundant cesspit and out to the mains sewerage that was built in 1984.
However it is now quite clear that it all flows right through our garden into a next door neighbours garden where it enters a small, and I mean small, Septic tank. Remember a septic tank allows the solids to fall into it and the liquids come to the top and then seep out of the tank via an exit pipe. From there the liquids filter out, probably through small holes, into the earth below the next house to his. Gosh I bet they grow big parsnips there!
THERE IS, HOWEVER, A PROBLEM. Once the tank was emptied it became very apparent that it is far too small for the job. It is built from brick and measures just 5' deep, and about 30" square totalling just 31 cubic foot. This has to process several dishwasher loads, showers, clothes washing machine loads, the odd bath full and of course many toilet flushes in any one day. The tank can barely hold two and a half bath fulls!
So where does all that liquid go to? Well that is the big question of course. It is clear that the waste does get to the tank, but only just because the pipes 'fall' is no more than about 3' in 100'. No wonder I've had a few blockages!
It does appear that the Land drainage allows the residue liquid to drain away, but there is also the possibility that the brick work is allowing it to seep out of the tank (my neighbour is concerned at how much moss is growing in his lawn).
Now all we have to do is to monitor the now empty tank and see how it copes with our waste quantities, because if it does not perform we may have to replace it with a normal size tank which is about 5 times bigger, although that only does an average house and in reality for the B&B and the Cottage use we would probably have to think about a lot bigger than that, more like ten times the size. This plus the cost of the extensive earth works and pipe laying could cost in excess of £4k!
So at the moment we are 'monitoring' the situation. I predicted in my blog back in mid-November that this drain issue would turn out to be a bigger problem than it initially seemed. If there is one thing that I have learnt it is that when you buy a 260 year old property there will be problems, the only variable being just how far up the creak it takes you whilst leaving your paddle way back in Timbuktu.
The driver of the tanker that took all my slurry away helped to clarify the situation and unblock the drains and was generally very helpful. I have always considered that all of us give an equal contribution to our society no matter what job we do and so go out of my way to treat everyone with the same respect. In the light of this I thanked him for his trouble and shook him firmly by the hand, the hand that had just loaded all of his dirty pipes onto his wagon after they had been pumping out all of that poo. It didn't matter, I had made my point, I respect you and I respect what you do. I am not too proud to shake your hand after you have done it.
That was yesterday and today I feel like crap! I have got a bug and whilst I'm not naming names or blaming anyone, lets just say that is the last time that I shake a commoners hand!
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