Following on from my question last week about getting waste from a sink to an awkwardly located, run-wise, soil pipe, and the suggestions from the usual suspects on here that a Saniflo macerator was the way to go, does anyone have any experience of Hydrolux products ? It appears to be a brand name of Plumbworld. They have a macerator available that looks like a ringer for a genuine Saniflo, but at half the price. As the duty that I need one for is very light in that it will only be shifting water, I'm figuring that even if it's not quite as robust as the genuine article, it should still be ok for the job. Thoughts ?
Sinks, and even wash hand basins, can get a lot of crud down them (as occasionally checking the traps will prove) so it won't just be water. However, this product will be competing with Saniflow so it would have to be somewhat capable. Even so, prepare yourself to eventually have to clear either of them out at some point in the future... Baby wipes are the favourite cholesterol of wc saniflows :)
We had a macerator fitted in a staff kitchen where I used to work. The kitchen was used of making tea/coffee only but the macerator was forever failing to pump away the waste. The fault seemed to be with whatever sort of float valve used to switch the thing on and off and we got to know that a well aimed, gentle kick would start it ok.
I would assume that in the OPs application there could be fat/grease build up with hot fat laden water mixing with cold water remaining in the tank leading to gunge building up on the float etc.
Maybe this has been solved by the manufacturers and macerators are ok for kitchen use.
My approach would be to fit a manual push button switch somewhere that over rode the float switch so it could be started manual when needed. Trouble is that the macerator can fill up with waste and refuse to start and it turns into a very messy job of removing it when full to sort out the problem. Not sure if my manual switch would be acceptable in a commercial application or if it would invalidate the warranty.
A chum has one[1] in a domestic kitchen plumbed with 22mm plastic pipe and he is worried about blockages. I've suggested that he add a mains water connection to the pipework to allow flushing through. One 22mm full bore ball valve to isolate the pipework from the pump, another to connect mains to the waste and a double check valve to keep the mains clean.
Might not meet WRC regs but when compared with CH filling loops it perhaps could if fed by a flexible, disconnectable loop.
[1] Sorry, no brand info but knowing him it will be badged/unbranded.
The only thing you can flush through a Sanilav with is PE4. This has the added advantage of removing the Sanilav and house. These hideous devices are designed by the French and exported to the UK in revenge for us beating them in battle and irritating them for over 1,000 years.
Their cunning design ensures they _will_ jam (rather than block) - and when they do the only way to un jam them is to dismantle the whole device, spilling well rotted contents of the sink or lavatory over you and the floor in the process. The most common failure mode (of many) by far is that something jams between the fixed and rotating parts of the mincing disk.
Once this occurs the hideous thing simply stops and nothing will get it going again. Putting a motor with poor starting torque ensures the damn French get frequent revenge. Remember we are talking of a nation who think the height of lavatorial technical elegance is a sheet of corrugated iron in the street.
They also have the well known MPFM (Murphy's predictive failure mechanism). This ensures they jam as soon as someone with diarrhoea uses them or, for sink ones, you are just about to prepare the most important meal of the year for 20 guests. It will also occur just as you are going off for a fortnight - so when you come back the contents will be suitably rancid.
The only thing putting one of these in commercial premises will ensure is failure of the business. The idea of one coping with the quantity and sort of stuff going down a commercial sink is risible. One piece of mince can stall these horrors, a small piece of fat or skin from any meat will prevent them starting if it catches between the grinder disks. Once this happens you have an hours work dismantling the thing to clear the disks and a day clearing up the revolting mess.
Unless you fitted non-removable filters (of about 0.5mm mesh) on each sink they will fail daily. You won't be making burgers but permanently mopping slime from the floors.
A friend of mine had one. Keeping it going for her tested our friendship severely. I have been told some people with one on toilets fit the lavatory doors with a 6 lever lock (on the outside) and only issue the key to visitors after they have read a three page list of prohibited items, signed an agreement not to sue if it cause a back surge and accepts all financial responsibility for the consequences of failure while they hold the key.
May I take the liberty of adding a link to your excellent piece on the subject. It should be compulsory reading for anyone considering one of these devil's devices (or expanding foam for that matter). Plus it gave me a bloody good laugh. Thank you.
Trust me - it will only be pumping predominantly clean water, It is *not* a Sanilav we are talking about here. It is a Saniflo-like separate macerator, connected to a sink that will be used *only* for washing blender jugs that will be used only for making milkshakes. There will be no connection to a toilet, or indeed anything other than a single sink. There should be no - or very little - grease, fat or solid matter that needs macerating. It will be being used only for its automatic pumping ability.
I know nothing of this product but my first thought is of a cheap Chinese copy of a French design. I'm sure Peter Parry may have a though on such a piece of engineering.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.