Hi,
I had a hard turnover. There were many troublemakers in the park. We evicted most of them. Before they left they flushed tampons, sanitary pads, and diapers down the toilet just to mess with me and get their revenge. Now I have to get the sanitation sewer company to my park 1-2 times a month. I am sure there are still people in the park doing this. Does anyone have any solution to stop people from flushing these things down the toilet? It’s causing problems in the main septic system and plugging up tenants’ toilets.
Good Luck!
Everyone will deny they are the ones doing it.
As you get rid of bad tenants, the problem may slowly go away.
Take note where the blockage occurs. It is possible that you have a bow in the pipe or a pipe that has collapsed. If you are clearing the pipe at the same exact spot, you might consider camera inspection, or dig up that area.
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Maybe I’m just a jerk but if they aren’t paying the water sewer for their unit, it’s time to convert them per legal statute to paying if this is possible in your municipality. If they are TOH, they are responsible to manage their lines to the street and there should be verbiage in the contract to reflect this. And immediate legal consequences when they don’t.
In my experience, parks own the lines once the waste line enters the “honey pot” (where it goes into the ground). It may vary depending on the state, and who handles the septic. One park i lived in the septic went into main tanks, which were pumped. The park we owned had septic tanks with leech lines and a septic lagoon as well. In both of those situations, the park owned the lines. One NJ, one OK.
I would send a note to all residents that due to people flushing “unflushables” you suggest they verify their insurance (which they probably do not have) will cover sewage backups in their homes. I would include color pictures of feces that backed up into homes which is a real possibility if the line gets clogged by “unflushables” and they back up enough. I would also point out that by flushing items that tax the system, they are increasing park costs which in turn will result in rent increases. Good luck!
Suggestion… we would periodically spot inspect sewer lines to verify flow and would use a sewer bladder on a hose to clear them from time to time.
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No real good solutions for this.
You are on the tail end of a turnaround. It always gets worse before it gets better.
Document everything, for your own protection. Sabotage is a crime.
I can just see some of the tenants saying you failed to maintain the septic system and suing you for their backups.
Hand out something like this.
homeowner_guide_short.pdf (709.4 KB)
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Sewar repairs can get expensive and I’ve been dealing with some of the same types of issues in my park recently, I’m not sure if it’s revenge for a recent eviction or just carelessness. I have come up with a few solutions that appear to be working as of right now, first I installed a wire basket on the end of the sewar pipe coming into the lift station to catch any feminine hygiene products or those dang “flushable wipes” and twice a week I have one of the tenants empty the basket. Also I have been handing out flyers to the tenants every month to remind them of the 3 P’s for toilet use and I plan on installing a small “Do not flush” placard by the toilets. Hope this helps give you some ideas on how to mitigate your sewar problems, good luck!
This is a great suggestion. I’ll talk to my maintenance guy and see if we can install a trap of some sort. He just installed some new clean-outs. It usually happens in one particular area. But there are 15 tenants upstream so I can’t pinpoint where the problem is.
*I am seeing what was written up there, I meant from the house down in to the ground, some places go to the underground elbow in the line for tenant responsibility, some, as you say below in the thread go to the the tank, some are from the lot perimeter into the house.