Flush up

Hello there. I want to install one of those flush-up toilets in my basemen t. Plumbing isn't a problem, the pipes run right above where I will instal l it on the wall. My concern is the action itself and how reliable it is. You can't always believe the manufacturer and the last thing I need is bro wn water (or worse) in my basement. Any thoughts on these or to the reliab ility?

Reply to
jamesfantonucci
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I've never used one, but if your house is reasonably new, it's not difficult to breakup the concrete floor and add a drain pipe for a conventional toilet.

My brother-in-law showed me how he did it and said breaking up the concrete was simple. (His house was built in the 70's)

I decided to try it myself and could not break the concrete even with a

16 pound sledge hammer. The concrete here was put in in 1932 and bears no resemblance to how they do things today.
Reply to
philo 

Not familiar with them either but my son has one he put in for a basement room a few years ago and I have not heard any comments about it.

Some people with sewer service don't have drainage to sewer below basement level and this is only choice. I think some are water powered and others electric. I would worry about electric if it failed. I have a neighbor that pumps up septic gray water and it failed. Fortunately septic tank was not in the house.

Reply to
Frank

I installed one once. It worked fine for years, although it didn't get heavy use. The design is very simple. There's a heavy plastic, sealed tub that goes under the toilet and has a pump. When the water level reaches a certain point the pump goes on. The install required building a platform, (about 8" high, I think) to house the tub. The top of that was then vinyl-tiled and the toilet installed just as it would be in a normal floor. There was never any problem with leaking or fumes, but it is basically a septic tank sitting on your cellar floor.

The big challenge in most scenarios is having a cellar ceiling high enough to accomodate the height needed. There may also be other options, like a pump-toilet-in-one. That might be worth looking into.

Reply to
Mayayana

I heard from a guy who worked in a place that had a pump assembly at the toilet in the shop. He says that he could identify the persons using the toilet by the smell after each one. He tried to convince them to use the toilet in the other section of the building, with little success.

Point of mention this, is that if you download into the toilet, you might want to find a way to run enough water to eject the material, rather than leave it in the tank.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

From what I remember, there was a rod that came out of the top of the tank. Connected to the float that turned on / off the pump. He thought the smell was escaping through the seal around the rod. He worked in the room next to the ejector toilet, and might have been working in the room that contained the ejector pump. His actions weren't based on some diagnostic, it was based on he didn't like his place of employment to smell like a bowel movement.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

| I heard from a guy who worked in a place that had a | pump assembly at the toilet in the shop. He says that | he could identify the persons using the toilet by the | smell after each one. He tried to convince them to use | the toilet in the other section of the building, with | little success. | | Point of mention this, is that if you download into | the toilet, you might want to find a way to run enough | water to eject the material, rather than leave it in | the tank.

The tank I dealt with is fairly big. Maybe 30"x40"x7". It's not just a one-use holding tank. I never noticed any smells. There's just the sealed intake and a pipe outlet. The tank itself is one-piece. So it's no more likely to leak than normal drain pipes or toilet seals. I also wonder about the reasoning of your friend. If it smells just after someone uses it, why would one think that's due to a leak in the tank? Wouldn't it make more sense to check for smells when it hasn't been used for some time?

Reply to
Mayayana

| From what I remember, there was a rod that came out of | the top of the tank. Connected to the float that turned | on / off the pump. He thought the smell was escaping | through the seal around the rod. He worked in the room | next to the ejector toilet, and might have been working | in the room that contained the ejector pump. His actions | weren't based on some diagnostic, it was based on he | didn't like his place of employment to smell like a | bowel movement. | His office was next to the bathroom. The pump "might" have been in his room. That would be an oddly distant pump. It would also imply that there were probably air gaps between the bathroom and his office, since the drain pipe would be having to go through that wall to reach the pump. So I'm trying to point out what should be obvious: If your office is next to a smelly bathroom, why would you assume that there's a leak in the pipes, unless it smells long after the bathroom has been used?

A mechanical float switch coming out of the top of the tank does sound like a poor design, though. I'm imagining something like the rubber seal on a clutch shaft. There may be a number of designs. The one I used is like a sealed septic tank with no realistic risk of leaks as long as one doesn't puncture the tank. It was all PVC and rubber connectors, like normal plumbing.

Reply to
Mayayana

CY: Dunno. You'll have to go ask him.

CY: Well, why don't you see if you can find the guy who had the issue, and discuss it with him? He used to live outside of Rochester, NY. I'm sure you will have interesting discussion. I'll wait here.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

ement. Plumbing isn't a problem, the pipes run right above where I will in stall it on the wall. My concern is the action itself and how reliable it is. You can't always believe the manufacturer and the last thing I need is brown water (or worse) in my basement. Any thoughts on these or to the re liability?

That assumes that the sewer line exits the house at basement floor level. Many, probably most do not.

Reply to
trader_4

In the North, where pipes could freeze it's a valid assumption.

In the South where pipes would not likely freeze, I'm sure you are right

Reply to
philo 

basement. Plumbing isn't a problem, the pipes run right above where I will install it on the wall. My concern is the action itself and how reliable it is. You can't always believe the manufacturer and the last thing I need is brown water (or worse) in my basement. Any thoughts on these or to the reliability?

If you're talking about flushing and having the waste flow up to the ceiling, then somebody is pulling your leg.

Reply to
Guv Bob

There are various types and designs. Some sit on the surface of the basement and pump the sewage up to the sewer line that leads outside. Others are really heavy duty and powerful and the pump is placed in a pit that is dug below the basement floor.

The first type works well enough for a homeowner who wants a basement level toilet for convenience and for careful use by the homeowner and his/her family etc.

The second type costs a lot more, but it grinds up and pumps just about anything and can tolerate use by tenants etc.

It might help if you said more about why you want one of these units, where the existing horizontal drain line is located (below the floor, above the floor by a few inches, or higher up in the basement).

If you respond back with more info, I'll post more info.

Reply to
TomR

Huh

You don't pull your leg to flush a toilet

you pull that little chrome lever

Reply to
philo 

concern is the action itself and how reliable it is. You can't always believe the manufacturer and the last thing I need is brown water (or worse) in my basement. Any thoughts on these or to the reliability?

ceiling, then somebody is pulling your leg.

LOL!! After reading the postings - very interesting. I never had a basement that was lower than the sewer connection, butt I can see where that would be necessary and didn't know anything like that existed.

Reply to
Guv Bob

I caught your humor when you said "butt I can see"

LOL!

Reply to
philo 

And the concrete gets harder every year.

If they go into the basement bathroom and the light won't go on, they should use another bathroom!

LOL

Reply to
micky

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My basement is NOT lower than the sewer. In fact it, and I think every townhouse in the n'hood, has a rough-in for installing a toilet in the basement. How I'm supposed to know exactly where to chip away the floor to find the drain, I don't know, but that is the plan. (The water supply pipes would have to be run.)

But the 4 lowest houses flood a little when it rains enough, mine and the three next to me.

We had a long thread here a while back when my new next door n'bor wanted a bathroom in the basement for his mother-in-law. I told him he couldn't do it, but then asked here and found out about upflush toilets.

If you give me a few minutes, I'll post the email I sent him.

That model sits on the floor, not below the floor, but has an electric macerator, that starts chopping and flushing within a iirc 2 seconds of flushhing the toilet, so afaik, it's emptied after every flush, and not like a septic tank, though now I would want to verify that. Maybe I jumped to a conclusion. Or maybe it's filled with clean water and a trfile of what didnt' get pumped out in the 20? or 30? seconds it runs after a flush.

Yesterday, as those who read my other thread know, I was at a plumbing supply store and for the sake of my neighbor, I asked in the showroom if they had upflush toilets. He said they can order them. I asked if he had a brochure. He was gone for almost 10 minutes and had xeroxed maybe

15 pages about a different brand. I have to read it, and then I'll give it to the neighbor. The product are Saniplus and Sanibest. They look more complicated than the other brand but maybe not.

The neighbors have been here for months but haven't started on the powder room (w/ shower?). The daughter said something about it being expensive -- I think they thought it woudl be less -- but it's a pittance compared to the cost of the house! The hardware for the one I told them about, the first one above, was about $1000 and the plumbing cost seems like it should be practically nothing. One pipe to the ceiling, across 4 or 5 feet, and a Y connection to the drain that is already there.

The hardware cost was about 1000

Here are the links I sent to my neighbor:

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Reply to
micky

Then I would install a drain and connect to the sewer. If you don't have to pump crap up and over head, you're better off. Later on you will regret installing something that grinds up waste and pumps it up across the ceiling. I can foresee all sorts of ways it could leak. And when you have to rebuild the pump..... not for me. This is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Reply to
Guv Bob

If you're talking to me or my next-door neighbor, you must have skipped the part where the sewer already backs up into the basement. Putting in a toilet, whose top is lower than the top of the laundry sink, probably means this overflowing would happen more often, and there's no simple way to plug a toilet like I plug my sink.

Oh, I just said it floods. It floods by backing up through the sink drain.

Reply to
micky

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