[cgregoire]

Hi,

I wanted to get folks opinions on the best "flush up" systems for basement bathrooms. I hear all about Saniflo's macerating systems - hear good things, and I have a Liberty pump for my utility sink and have read they they have a system also.

The sewer pipe is elevated from the basement floor so I will need to pump up and over to it. Thanks for the help.

[mccmech]

I have installed the Sano-Flo system, another above-the-floor system I know as a Quick-John system and the in-ground crock system. All 3 have good points to them. The first question I would ask is what are you looking to put in the basement, a powder room (toilet & sink) or a full bath (toilet, sink, tub or shower)? If just a powder room then the sani-flo system may be a good choice. All the plumbing gets done above ground. Only downside to Sani-Flo is that you are pretty much limited to whatever toilets they sell since the toilets discharge out the rear of the fixture into the macerating box. If you're doing a full bathroom I like the in-ground crock systems. Installation requires a fair amount of labor breaking up the floor & digging a hole for the crock and trenches to run drain lines to the crock. If you use a Sani-Flo or Quick-John option for a full bath you will be looking at having to build a platform for the tub/shower so that the drain will make it to the above ground macerating box. Sometimes this is a huge issue depending on ceiling height in the room. I guess to make a long story short, they all perform pretty well in my opinion. Regardless of which option you choose please keep in mind these following things not to flush in ANY macerating system because they will jam the pump & you'll get a mess. 1) Q-Tips 2) Paper Towels 3) Disposable Wipes ( They're not so disposable ) 4) Tampons 5) Condoms. Best of luck with your project.

[cgregoire]

Thanks for your take on Sani-Flo. The plan is to build a full bath so it's important to have a system that can handle that. If I can avoid breaking up the concrete I will but I know I have some homework in terms of getting exact measurements on ceiling height. A quick assessment showed that if I was to build a plaform using 2x6s, I would have approximately 2 inches left and still be to code. But again, need to look into that more.

Biggest thing is that I want to make sure a Sani-Flo system is heavy duty enough so I'm not replacing it a few years down the line. Of course, taking proper care with it.

thanks,

Chris

[johnjh2o]

If your putting in a full bath go with mccmech suggestion and use in ground tank and pump. Then you have no limitations on what you can use. You only want to do this once. This is a very good system that will serve your needs.

http://www.zoellerpumps.com/ProductBenefit.aspx?ProductID=69

John

[cgregoire]

thanks for guidance.

[SlowDrip]

just want to chip in, a day late and a dollar short as always.


I have had great success with the saniflo toilets for reno projects. I have only ever had one customer come back with an issue, and it turns out he hadn't hooked the darned thing up correctly.

I just want to reiterate what mccmech said about keeping in mind how the saniflo has to be positioned. An old basement with a low ceiling is a terrible place to try to install one of these units.

In the last place I planned, the new bathroom backed onto a large closet, so we built a "shelf" at the back of the closet and hid macerating unit and everything else under it, with a door on the front of access. It is nice to hide all of the ugly working bits, if you can.