DIY plumbing advice...
 

  You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more

[Closed] DIY plumbing advice - ensuite and macerator

21 Posts
18 Users
0 Reactions
132 Views
Posts: 41395
Free Member
Topic starter
 

I'm planning an ensuite, macerator required, seems even a £200 one will pump the poo etc the 2.5m up into the loft and 15m across to the opposite gable wall with the soil.

Is it as simple as it seems? Presume it would need to come out the wall and be piped into the soil down-pipe?


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 12:52 pm
Posts: 5559
Free Member
 

FFS al always talking shit on here


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 12:57 pm
Posts: 41395
Free Member
Topic starter
 

😛


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 1:04 pm
Posts: 2586
Free Member
 

Try not to do a dump in it. If you do use paper, use the flimsiest paper available , or it will jam.
Try to make the fittings easy to get at - behind a large panel is best. It will need servicing/cleaning once in a while. They are horrible things to work on in-situ.
Use 25mm or larger flexible plastic pipe from the unit to the soil pipe, preferably in one run, with no joints. Try not to have any sharp bends. If there are sharp bends, think about putting an inspection joint there, as that is where it will jam.

Most of all, think about doing it a different way. Macerators are rubbish, and will jam eventually.

Alan.


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 1:29 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Horrible, horrible, horrible things.

If you can avoid having a macerator, at any cost, do. We have 3 in our house, the n suite one makes some terrible noises, is very loud and smells funny from time to time... the downstairs toilet one works ok, but as installed before the toilet, so when it breaks down the whole toilet pan will need to come out (or more likely I'll take the back wall out!) the basement one for pumping washing machine waste out broke, flooded the basement and shorted out the washing machine.

It'll be less stressful to tear down your house and rebuild it with everything where you want it. by hand. whilst being poked with a stick.

Hateful machines.


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 1:29 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

saniflo do a briefcase size job that fits behind the loo will take a shower and basin waste as well will shift tthe muck anywhere, try to use as large bore pipe as poss to get the stuff away and you ll be okay.
not cheap though about 345 + fitting, guarentee requires you to pay them 170 to come out though which is refunded if the unit is at fault ( its never at fault i've pulled everything from nappies to an action man out of them..)


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 2:42 pm
Posts: 1693
Free Member
 

Don't Don't Don't.
They are the devil's spawn, difficult to fix when they inevitably block up and grubbing through other people's poo is not nice as well. Just remember the immortal League Of Gentlemen line,"INTO WHICH WE DON'T PASS SOLIDS"
If you do fit one, best to invest in a dry suit, armpit length rubber gloves and have your gag reflex removed.


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 2:54 pm
Posts: 10567
Full Member
 

We've had a Saniflo Saniplus in the bathroom that Mrs BigJohn and I use for over 20 years. It takes bog basin and shower and is remarkably good.

Granted, the exit pipe does not have to rise (it goes out under the floorboards via 22mm copper pipe to join the soil pipe with a simple flange) and in that time it has needed removing and fixing maybe 4 times. 2 with minor faults to the machine (the switch membrane hardens over time and the on/off becomes a bit erratic) and 2 because something indigestible got dropped in the bog (a child's toy and a cleaning cloth). I'm sure many "ladies items" have been deposited by guests but there's been no problem there.

Spend a bit more than you need to make sure you get a good one and you'll be fine.

Never got ill through removing and stripping it down. Not too bad a job and it stops you biting your fingernails for a day or two.

EDIT - it's not smelly at all and not too noisy.


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 3:04 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

That's what i think too[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 3:32 pm
Posts: 4
Free Member
 

Just shit in a bucket. Just as civilised, but in easier to manage installments.


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 3:37 pm
Posts: 41395
Free Member
Topic starter
 

Some shite experiences 😎

It'd only be my jobbies. Only other option is to run into rainwater waste drain which is nearer and would require no rise and a run of only a few feet.

My last builder thought this would be ok...sounds like a safer option?


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 8:29 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Surely you can bodge together a shit shredder al?

After some of your other efforts it shouldn't be too much of a challenge! 🙂


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 9:20 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

You must not put it into a rainwater waste - bang out of order and quite possibly a criminal offence


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 9:23 pm
Posts: 4
Free Member
 

Run a soil pipe round the house! As long as it's a 1in3 drop you should be ok. Lol


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 9:29 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

There's a few on ebay at the moment...I check from time to time, it always picks me up knowing however bad life gets, at least i'm not having to buy / sell a second hand macerator.


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 9:31 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

If installed properly with the right size pipes/falls etc then you should have no problems.
Never put ANYTHING down them apart from wee, poo and paper.


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 9:35 pm
Posts: 40
Free Member
 

Saniflows and their ilk are the devils own poo shredding devices.

Going into the roof water pipe is probably a non-starter as it should be going straight to a soakaway. If, however, it is going to the sewer/septic tank/treatment plant (which is shouldn't be... but they do with remarkable regularity) then I suppose you could use it (and possibly put a new downpipe on for the rainwater that does go to a soakaway.

You don't need a 1 in 3 fall on a sewage pipe, it is a good bit less than that, especially if installed "with care".

Personally if I had to pump the waste I would be digging a wee hole outside the house wall, dropping a soil pipe into it, putting a small submersible pump into the hole in a pre-formed polythene tank and pumping it around to your usual disposal point (sewer/septic tank/treatment plant etc). It would cost more, but result in much easier maintenance and if it does go wrong it is doing so on the outside of your house, not your bedroom!


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 10:06 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Such a great invention. We can always hear when our friends who live over the road have had a dump. Except when they jam it.


 
Posted : 02/10/2011 10:08 pm
Posts: 41395
Free Member
Topic starter
 


TandemJeremy -
Member
You must not put it into a rainwater waste - bang out of order and quite possibly a criminal offence

It was the builder's idea...said building warrant would be ok.


 
Posted : 03/10/2011 12:53 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Depends on the age of your house Al. Once upon a time, rainwater was fed into the foul water waste. Tends to go to a soakaway nowadays. Your builder might well have had a look and been able to comment based upon what he saw rather than uninformed speculation. You might be able to spot if the rainwater drain has a trap?


 
Posted : 03/10/2011 1:12 am
Posts: 41395
Free Member
Topic starter
 

That's what I think is the case, like kronos said - 1923 built.

"uninformed speculation" you say? 😉


 
Posted : 03/10/2011 6:47 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Agrees with everything said here. When we had an extension done recently I happily paid the extra money to have proper foul pipes fitted. Hateful things.


 
Posted : 03/10/2011 8:21 am

6 DAYS LEFT
We are currently at 95% of our target!