Any knowledgeable types on here? Will the more robust commercial models handle plastic bags being flushed without blocking?

We have a service user who likes to stuff things down his loo, we cannot restrict his movements to stop him getting hold of bags and stuff.

Any other reasonable suggestions would be considered!

Not much help to you, but you might struggle to find one that copes with that sort of thing. We got a Saniflo which are supposed to be very reliable, but I wouldn’t put anything other than toilet paper down it, and I do that sparingly. They even tell you not to use bleach.

I think most of them have an impeller where anything that it can’t cut up, just gets wrapped around the blade, and then eventually just trips the electric or burns out.

They are a bit of a nightmare to be honest, and would never really work as a main toilet. For us it’s just a light use toilet to save walking up the stairs. No solids if you know what I mean. Not a pleasant job if it even needs to be changed or unblocked.

Agree with above – I would never have one but my BIL used to have one at an old house and when we babysat one night and he’d forgotten to tell us it was broken things didn’t end well 😯

Saniflo – If ever a product was poorly named.

Should really be called a MankyBroke

How did things end?

How did things end?

One turd evacuated, toilet flushed then the whole lot, rather than go down through the system simply overflowed all over the floor and into their hall.

How often does your service user get visited?

They do a more commercial one, and there is one that is more of a pumping station type arrangement which I imagine would cope better, but I can’t imagine them dealing with plastic bags very well.

Most of the problems with macerators comes from poor installation and people putting things down the toilet they shouldn’t!

Even toilet paper has issues.

Had a lodger with a cold, off for the day.

Basically an entire roll of toilet paper in the bowl and then flushed ‘to save water’. Meant it wedged around the impeller and wouldn’t actually get mashed.

Had to pop the unit open and give it a clear out. Not the most pleasant of jobs… Just lucky it was just toilet paper really. Though there was still ‘debris’ in there…

One turd evacuated, toilet flushed then the whole lot, rather than go down through the system simply overflowed all over the floor and into their hall.

The trouble is, that the macerator is also a pump which pumps the liquefied waste along a narrow pipe to the soil pipe (up 8 foot, then along about 20 foot in our case). So there’s no flushing it down with a bucket of water if things go wrong. Strictly a #1 rule in our house.

They sounds pointless then! I was thinking I’d need one for a room I’m converting to run it about 30ft flat to where the drains are out the back… might see if I can find some other method thats less shity to fix…

Thanks everyone. It’s a nghtmare to be honest. They have their own bedrooms with enuite and one to one staffing but even so the idea is to let them live as independent a life as possible. He’s managed to block the manhole four times in the past ten days and there doesnt seem to be much we can do to prevent it.

Nightmare. Return to slops bucket or in-line a wood chipper? Sewage cutter with 4″ outlet

Mine in my ensuite has been fine for 4 years.

No plastic bags tho…Mental health?

Never trust a macerator – they’re always full of sh*t

I would give Lowara and probably Grundfos technical dept a call. Helpful people who know more about pumping than most of us building services guys (and so they should!)

Cynic-al – yes.

If he’s getting visited once a day or more, could you disable his cistern and flush it for him? Or does that contravene some regulation or other?

Its a shared house with on site 24 hour a day one to one supervision. They have to be free to live as normal a life as possible which restricts what we can do somewhat!

got one in our basement, in a secluded room for my morning retreat from the pressures of the world. Over ten years no problems – couple of services is all. Fine with paper and bleach. Only downside is my occasional desire to sing the macerator song:

Macerator macerator macerator macerator
Macerator macerator macerator macerator
Macerator macerator macerator macerator
Heeeey macerator!

You probably know the tune, but trust me you don’t want to see the dance.

A combination lock on the door is your only answer.

Saniflow type solutions won’t handle it – to be fair submersible pumps in pumping stations quite often struggle with plastic bags, particularly if they shut off pumping when the bag is in the cutters…. Grundfoss and Lowara may tell you differently, but whilst they are pretty good at selling stuff they aren’t the ones in the sh*t 😉

Anything can be blocked up if subject to abuse – I don’t like macerators and use them only when there is a really good and compelling reason to do so! That is usually long rising mains in narrow pipework. If I get to put in the rising main it is of a sensible size so I can throw solids handling equipment at it – which avoids me having to go back too often!

So I am with Big John on this one 😉 I think putting a macerator inline will give you a short term solution, but one that will give you even bigger headaches further down the road. It will also add a nice big chunk of expense!

The pump people came back to me said they couldn’t help which is to be expected really as they can’t be seen to condone putting plastic into the drains.

I think its just going to be down to managing him as best as possible.

Thanks for all the info and advice anyhow 🙂

How different are grinders from macerators?

My Googling hasn’t given me a clear answer, and there seems to be some overlap in suppliers’/manufacturers’ terminology.

For example this one claims better performance on fibrous materials than a macerator, and then describes “blades.”

saniflow guarenttes are s~~t.. you have to pay a 175 deposit before they come out in case its your fault.. its always your fault..last one i pulled apart had never had anything put down it according to tenant… so wonder where all those toy soldiers came from.. bit sureal opeing it up to see mangled toy soldiers but hey thats plumbing for ya