URGENT - WHERE IS POZO NEGRO?

[Jool]

Does anyone know how you can reliably find a pozo negro from the INSIDE of a house. The original owner of our house does not have a clue where it is and we have a serious problem with smells suggesting it is full. It is apparently very deep down and the old style one.......they say they never ever emptied it in 20 years but it was mainly used a holiday home.

We have contacted plumbers who tell us that cameras will not locate it as there are too many bends in the pipes etc and to just dig up the garden but this is impossible as we have a huge garden and have tried the logical places with no joy. There are adverts saying they will locate a cess pit but this seems to be via cameras only which is very expensive, minimum quote was over 200 euros with no guarantee.

Ultra sound with water going down? Other kinds of recording equipment?

Please help

[chrissiehope]

Do you know anyone who can divine water ...? Proper diviners should be able to indicate a large area of water so you can then check more closely. I know this because hubby can do it (very useful in the property business ), but we're in UK

[julian]

yes, water divining is your best bet, and it´s for free as you can actually do it yourself !!

[Jool]

Thank you - what kind of sticks should I use and any hints on holding them correctly?

[chrissiehope]

Get a couple of metal coat hangers and 'unravel' them.
Cut off the hooks.
Bend the metal 'rods' into an 'L' shape, each with a short arm & a long arm.
Hold the short arms loosely in your hands, with the long arms sticking out at the top and pointing away from you.
Walk slowly across the ground, and see if the long arms swivel at any point.

Reactions vary from person to person - hubbys are:
long arms swing out to left & right = a run of water (in the direction indicated by the arms);
long arms swing in to cross over each other = either a cross of water runs or a collection of water.

Your best bet is to practice where you know there is underground water (such as a pipe or drain run) and note the reactions you get - you can then start hunting your pozo in earnest !!

Good luck, and let us know how you get on

[julian]

take a the straight bit of a metal coathanger and bend it into an "L" shape, one bit about 10cm long and the other about 25cm long..(make 2 of them)

take just the clear hard plastic part of a biro(take out the ink bit) and slide it onto the 10cm part of the metal "L"
one onto each of your metal sticks

now you can hold one stick in each hand , only holding the plastic, so your hand doesn´t touch the metal, and the metal sticks can swivel freely inside the plastic..that way it is impossible for you to deliberatly make the metal sticks swivel around.

point the sticks forward in front of you and walk around the garden
it is important that you only have fixed in your mind the pozo negro while you are doing it,as the sticks will find anything you want them to pinpoint, so don´t think of anything else except the pozo negro.
it is also important that you know the sticks will work, if you walk around telling yourself it´s ridiculous and won´t work, then it won´t (as with most things in life).

when the sticks suddenly swivel, then you are over the pozo negro, put a stone there on the floor, do it several times from several directions to pinpoint the cente
total cost 2 coathangers..you can put the biros back together afterwards !!

[julian]

at least I won´t the only one who is going to be called a nutter today ...we´ll be sharing the "you´re a nutter posts" chrissie!!

[chrissiehope]

Nah - "Great minds think alike"

Like the idea of the biro casing tho

[Jool]

Thank you both fellow nutters, I have dowsed with a pendulum and had a very clear answer but want to check it with sticks too.....before more digging

Will keep you posted.

[country boy]

You don't actually empty pozo negros, you just build another nearby and divert your soil pipe to it, so I am told.

[oliveview01]

We noticed a very damp patch of soil indicating our pozo was full- difficult in this wet weather I know! Our neighbour then came and bashed a hole through the top of the concrete seal. Now every year he empties it for us into his olive grove. We need to dig out an ´overflow´ pit- once the rain stops (if it ever stops)

What also made us suspicious the pozo was full was the fact the rest of the garden was dying but there was a nice green patch of grass/weed growing around the pozo

[pete_l]

A couple of things. If it's a true poz. then it may simply have filled up with all the rain that's been falling recently - they're not very high-tech, just a soakaway really. Next up, are the bad smells just due to "gas" coming up the pipe and out through a plug-hole that doesn't have a U trap fitted. My bathroom had a bidet that just wenth straight through to the sewer pipe to the poz. and it ronked! All the basin/sink/bath pipes had traps installed and didn't smell at all.

If you do want to find where your poz. is (always a good idea in case you walk over it and fall in - or worse, drive onto it and the car falls in, you could try running a tap and listening for the flow of water through the pipe to the poz. You'll need a plastic tube (like 38mm PVC pipe) and a funnel! (seriously) Attach the funnel to one end of the pipe and place this against the ground, listen to the other end of the pipe for the sound of running water. That way you can track the pipe and also hear any leaks - that's how out fontanero discovered the leak in our incoming water pipe.

[pete_l]

Should also add, it might just have got blocked, rather than filled

[Pauly]

Pretty extreme advice from most posters for how to deal with a negro, whether a pozo or not... is it coz I is black

[Jool]

WARNING ALERT - possible troll invasion.....................

Smelly pozos are serious matter, can be very offensive...............

[Pauly]

WARNING ALERT - possible troll invasion.....................

Smelly pozos are serious matter, can be very offensive...............

I don't know if you are serious but it was just an of-the-cuff 'humourous' remark which obviously failed to hit the mark.....

[Jool]

I know who you are now - you are really Richard Madeley aren´t you?

[Pauly]

I'm Judy actually - haven't you noticed he won't take me with him anymore?

[janda_grant2]

Do you hvae a prickly pear growing? Seriously, a lot are planted by the pozo negro (which incidentally are illegal now!)

[Jool]

No prickly pears, nothing, we have had a diviner our but its been too wet to dig where he says, I know new pn´s are illegal now but our house is 20 years old and there is no alternative........

I will try the funnel thing when no chance of getting wet......

THank you for helpful replies