Macerator Waste Sizes Confusing

annieigma | 11:03 Mon 09th Oct 2017 | How it Works

1 Answers

Hi Chaps
Son moved into new property ( new to him) there is a saniflo macerator thats having problems.
It was just buzzing, would not pump etc. called a plumber, who spent a couple of hours getting it working, said it was wet wipes been flushed down the loo had blocked the pump. charged £500.
Anyway, it worked for a few weeks but now if you let any water into the system from the sink,toilet or shower, it sounds like its pumping, but the shower waste has dirty water backing up into it, going level with the shower floor. So, we bit the bullet and decided to investigate. We go some of the water out of it using a syphon and hose pushed down the shower trap from inside the shower. bit slow, so decided to take the top off of the unit, which is built in and nearly impossible to work on. My son knelt down, released the top, then WHOOSH, and load of dirty you know what exploded out, under pressure, sprayed a fine mist of poo, just like it had been sprayed from a big aerosol, covering all and sundry. Anyway, an hour later after cleaning the walls and floor and we got our breath back, we decided perhaps the discharge pipe was blocked, so into the loft. The pipe run is 22 mm and solvent weld. the pipes seem to be wrong, there are two 90 deg sharp bends on the pipe run through the loft just before it goes into a larger pipe, which then it goes out of the wall and down into the large soil pipe. Also, the vertical pipe goes
about 2 mtrs from the unit into the loft, and again there is a sharp right hand bend.
We are going to change the pipes to less severe bends, as it says in the saniflo help page, but getting solvent weld pipes seems a problem. Screwfix don't appear to stock long or 45 degree solvent weld fittings, and other places on the net, such as ebay and plumbing people, are quoting sizes such as: 21.6. or 21.4. or 22. etc. can I assume that any of those, as long as they are solvent weld will be o.k. to fit to a 22 mm wickes plastic waste pipe?
Also, anyone know of any other reason why its playing up.?
I did sit in the loft while some water was flushed into the unit, and I could hear/feel water getting to me, but although the macerator was still running, the water seemed to have stopped, possibly under pressure as it was making slight jumping sounds.
Thank you in advance.
Annie.