Saniflo Sanivite only pumping intermittently

Phoinikos

Hi all,

Our new place has a small bathroom where the shower and basin both feed into a Saniflo Sanivite pump. The previous owners said it just needed a lot of water buildup before it would pump, but we noticed the water backing up into the shower tray and sitting for hours until it finally pumped.

So, I took the thing out today, spliced it into an extension cord outside and started investigating. No noticeable buildup or blockages. The membrane over the pressure switch was dirty but still flexible and I could easily engage the pump with a light touch.

Then I grabbed a garden hose and started filling and testing. The first couple of fills, it pumped out fine. But after a few runs, I noticed that about every fifth or sixth fill the pump did not engage. Furthermore, when this happened, I could feel a slight vibration coming from the pump motor -- just nothing was actually happening. Generally, if I left it alone for a few minutes or just started shaking the unit, it would eventually engage the pump.

I'm afraid this means the motor is shot and the whole unit needs replacing, but I wanted to ask just in case anyone had ever had this issue!

Thanks!

J_B

As a (sort of) farmer, I am obviously fully qualified to give advice on this matter (not!)

Sounds like the capacitor on the motor is faulty.

???

phill99

The joy of Saniflos. Invented by the French and sent to Britain as retribution for Agincourt and Waterloo.

Nilrem

From the sound of it the motor is at least trying to start if it's vibrating, that suggests as has been said something like a capacitor that is dying (i've seen a similar problem on stairlifts*), or if it starts when knocked/shaken a loose part that is not always engaging.

I'm forever grateful that when we built our downstairs loo we put up with the mess from the front garden being dug up to the drain, as opposed to the "faster and easier" option of a Saniflo.


*I'm guessing they're both using high torque motors that will pull a lot power during start up.

david1951

I've had a similar issue. The whole thing needed replacing.

On the plus side, they are actually improving and the new one has lasted a while now (5 years).

Cost £600 for the local saniflo guy to do it, all in.

Phoinikos

Thanks, all, for the replies!

I believe it is in fact the capacitor, which I should hopefully have the replacement tomorrow to try out. I also sent a video into the Doctor Saniflo customer service folks and they also thought it was a capacitor issue (btw, kudos to them to answering a string of emails within two hours on a Sunday afternoon). I'll let you know if it works.

Phoinikos

Just to wrap up the story:

The capacitor was indeed gone. When I replaced it, the motor worked like a charm... while testing it on outside! I ran it dry a dozen times - no issues; filled it with water and ran it another half dozen times - still no issues. Even after re-installing it back in place, it tested fine a couple of times. Then it stopped working. Just filled up with water and started leaking from the top lid.

I let it sit a while, hoping it would trigger so I wouldn't have to deal with all that extra water volume to remove. At the end of the day I went to try and get it out -- got a nasty shock from a short touching the water. That pretty much ended the project for me. Cut power, dug the thing out and chucked it.

As near as I can tell, while the capacitor did need replacing, somehow water was getting into the motor housing itself and shorting out the engine. Not sure if this was the original issue or if I caused the leak by opening up the electronics housing to install the capacitor. Thing was very hot when I finally got it out.

I put in a brand new Sanishower (which is the model that always should have been there, not a Sanivite) and it has been working like a charm for the last couple of days. I think the lower trigger level for the pumping action helps with the relatively low run of the shower tray.