washing machine water can really play havoc with your pozo as well as lots of grease and fat from cooking, if you need to do some groundwork on the place its best to do it before lanscaping as the digging will be a mess however you do it.

there is nothing worse than a backed up sewer apart from a leaking roof maybe!

I use a product from Mercadona, it comes in a green box and has Forza Septica on the side, cost 6.50. It contains sachets of 'Hubble-bubbler' a dry sort of natural biological agent which seems to eat anything and turn it into carbon dioxide and water, which seeps away. Drop one in the toilet every couple of weeks and it keeps the pipes clear and stops smells. Never had the pozo emptied in 9 years, although I do check.

Only drawback is that you can't use bleach in the house, only oxyaction products.

sounds like good stuff !

OOps I didn't know that, bleached the toilet out when we moved in.

I hope just the once wont hurt

Suzi

I had a problem for a few years with smell from the drains whenever the washing machine was running, more recently the drain blocked up completely.

After trying various ways and means I eventually resorted to pouring a full 5 ltrs of aguafuerte, strong bleach, down the pipe rinsing it through with a little water.

It not only did the trick and cleared the drain but got rid of the smell when the washer is used as well.

It will not!

I stand open to correction, but I think you'll find aguafuete is acid.

I used a little bit of it when all else had failed on a sink outlet blockage. I don't know what happened but it seems to have burped overnight and took the shine off my stainless steel sink. Permanently.

Use sparingly, and use A LOT of water to flush it.

5 Litres ? Christ.

Yeh,big blockage !

Hydrochloric acid at a guess,.... makes Domestos seem like tap water.

Not touched any metalwork with it apart from the outlet which I rinsed straight away.
Just hope the plastic drainpipes haven't gone into meltdown.

Its lethal stuff.
Once used some to get stains out of old fashioned non ceramic tiles.
Burned a bloody great hole in the tile itself !

Yes Agua fuerte is good stuff, I have used it several times to unblock my gas boiler heat exchanger, it dissolves all the calcium and increases the flow rate.

Caustic soda is good for drains !

We replaced an ancient concrete "hole in the ground" septic tank a few years ago. We were required by law to install a new fiberglass 4-stage septic tank with proper bleed tubes. Inspectors were here to verify compliance as the tank was installed. Apparently this is the law here. Don't know about anywhere else in Spain.

Except that caustic soda will kill all the friendly bacteria that you need to degrade the organic matter in your septic tank or pozzo negro. Don't use it, or maybe I should say "USE IT" as my job is replacing failed sewage systems!

I have built septic tanks too,

I only suggest caustic soda if all else fails, easier than digging up yer patio !

Cheers Tony

Tried Caustic Soda on several different occasions with no success at all.

The old Aguafuerte cuts a way through, like a knife through hot butter.

As for the bacteria, I presume it wipes them all out, friend or foe and gets rid of the smelly drain stink for quite a while afterwards in the process.

I imagine it also degrades the organic material in the tank, after all there's even been cases of murderers using it to get rid of whole bodies !

Yes its good stuff

I use it to clean my building tools, the cement fizzes away .

But you need to rinse them quickly !!

I think AGUA FUERTE is the Spanish for Aqua Fortis which is this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_fortis

You need to check your dictionaries for Caustic Soda and Hydrochloric Acid. I just did but I have forgeotten what it said !