So, for various reasons involving a small rodent (unharmed) and a tampon string I'm face with a blocked macerator 'behind' some very damaged boxing in. The macerator sounds as though the string is round a blade or something so, probably fixable but not pleasant. The boxing-in needs replacing anyway but was done because plumber at the time said all macerators had a vertical exit with minimum vertical (upwards) pipe length of 2/3 feet (can't recall exactly, going by size of boxing). Had a new baby at the time and no time to argue/google. But surely exit can be vertical then go more or less straight into a horizontal run with no minimum vertical distance? So, question is - given that I probs have to poke around with macerator/remove remains of boxing anyway is there one with an inlet from loo on the front and an outlet on the side? Or at least no minimum height requirement. (And will replacing be a much nicer option than opening up the existing one...) NB- no I'm not a plumber I'm a 'reasonably good a following instructions' newly single mum (so wanting to save money/kind of used to doing yucky things...) Any advice very welcome - thank you! [Edited to ad:] Oh,and bother it - on inspection looks as though the existing one is connected to a plug and socket but surely it should be wired in properly? And whilst I'm prepared to poke around in **** I probs need a professional for that - thoughts? [Edited again:] ignore the electrics for now, looks 'only' to be a risk of flooding issue and will allow me to turn it off more easily for this, can fix that later.
[Last edit before bed:] It gets worse, there are at least 3 90degree bends in the exit run before it gets to the soil stack... I totally get why (architecturally) but that looks like a no-no too. Does the run really need replacing with copper or as it has been fine until now (about a year) do I risk leaving it as is?
If you go to the saniflow site, they have a macerator for every day in the week. Lots of instructions on how to fit and pipe runs etc. 90 deg bends are not good, they should be swept. You can use copper or plastic the bigger the diameter the better but minimum is 22mm. Pipe fall is critical though. Most important - make sure that the electricity is off before you go poking round in there. The blades are very sharp, the motor is powerful and it will remove any bits of your body that happen to be in the way if it starts up.........nasty. I think that the plug and socket is ok provided the correct fuse is in there. Depends on the instructions. Best take the thing outside to clean it, very smelly, I wont touch them! I'm a whimp!
Ideally, any macerator should be hard wired to a fused, double pole spur (electric sockets and plugs are a no, no in bathrooms/toilets. As GIF says, have a look on the Saniflo site. I'm sure there's some on there where the top outlet can connect straight to a 90deg bend (but swept bend is better) Yep, macerators do come apart for maintenance (cleaned one out at work twice in over 3 yrs as someone put wet wipes down the pan) It is a smelly, dirty job. Wear marigolds and a protective apron, and wash your hands straight after (several times too)
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