Additional bathroom - saniflow or soil stack?

ChasingtheWelshdream

Evening all,

We are hoping to add an additional bathroom - probably an ensuite - and have had a plumber take a look today. He thinks saniflow is the way to go, but I am not keen. My understanding is that it's preferable to connect into a soil stack if possible.

The new bathroom will be on an outside wall. There are 2 existing cast iron soil pipes, the closest 10 feet away. As far as I can tell (to be confirmed), these feed into a combined foul/fresh water drain running parallel to the wall (under a concrete path).

From my limited knowledge, I would have thought it possible to either connect into the existing soil pipe by running the pipe outside (I realise cast iron could be problematical, and also unsightly), or dig down and connect a new stack into the drain (albeit expensive and disruptive). It is an Edwardian house, so I am assuming the drain will be clay pipes under the concrete (I'm thinking breaking concrete and clay pipes are not a great combination).

The plumber says it is easier to fit a saniflow, but I'm unsure if it is just easier to for him to fit, or not possible to plumb traditionally at all.


Any thoughts?

(Oh, the pipe could not be run internally to the existing stack as there is a large chimney breast in the way.)

Thanks!

On a slightly different note, we are toying with an extra shower room on the top floor (3 storey house, 5 bedrooms and currently only one bathroom - with 3 teenage boys! :eek: ).

Am I naive in thinking that should it be possible to connect to the soil/drain traditionally, adding a further bathoom directly above it would be fairly straight foward?

We realise this is will fall under building control.

jk0

Oh, definitely go with the soil stack IIWY. I wouldn't buy a house with a saniflow. I suspect you may need another manhole fitting & stack above. It's all perfectly doable.

ChasingtheWelshdream

That's what I've read, but DH doesn't think saniflow is a problem if it 'gets the job done'.

Whereas I would rather pay more and put up with the disruption for the traditional, fail-safe option.

Methinks I need to talk the the plumber (I was out when he looked round). We've used him before and he is honest, but I wonder if he's going for the easier option for him, rather than the house....

Edit: Digging around a little more, would installing a new soil pipe actually be a job for a plumber, or morel likely a builder/ground worker?

Davesnave

ChasingtheWelshdream wrote: »

Edit: Digging around a little more, would installing a new soil pipe actually be a job for a plumber, or more likely a builder/ground worker?

A new soil pipe would be a job for a builder, who would probably intercept the drain run and add another chamber, rather than run 10' of pipe across a wall (if doing things with an eye to how they look!)


Or they might be able to run underground to the existing chamber. Depends on circumstances and (possibly) regulations

GDB2222

Mother in law added a bathroom to her bungalow, with a saniflo. To be fair, it has been surprisingly UNproblematic. I am not aware of a single blockage in the twenty years since it was installed. Be aware, though, that it makes a noise, and it's not just for the loo. Every time you wash your hands, the Saniflo starts up. Likewise, whilst showering.

If you don't mind the 10 foot horizontal pipe run, that's probably the cheapest. We have two in our house and it has been absolutely fine. Ours haven't frozen in winter, but we are in London. It might be a different problem if you are up a mountain.

phoebe1989seb

Many people don't like the idea of a Saniflo, but we've had them installed at a couple of previous houses and never experienced any issues - or much noise. To an extent I think it depends on how careful you are with what you put down the loo :eek:

No problems selling the houses with a Saniflo fitted either in our experience.

We plan to install one in our current 400 year old Welsh cottage as the location of our new understairs cloakroom is on the opposite side of the stone-built property to the soil stack.

Jackmydad

Traditional every time. I've known a few plumbers, and they all hate macerators.
I would always go for the least mechanically complicated solution myself.
If something's not there it can't go wrong.

J_B

ChasingtheWelshdream wrote: »

We are hoping to add an additional bathroom - probably an ensuite - and have had a plumber take a look today. He thinks saniflow is the way to go, but I am not keen.

The plumber says it is easier to fit a saniflow, but I'm unsure if it is just easier to for him to fit, or not possible to plumb traditionally at all.

Any thoughts?

Tell the plumber that, if he's so B** keen on one then get him to guarantee that he will come and fix it when it blocks up or breaks down.
Job done!

Nilrem

I would always say no to saniflo, with the possible exception of it being used with a urinal..

You can get them and they'll be fine, but then you get the ones where it blocks up or needs attention every week either because of a motor that is slightly weak, or a bit of the pipework being at slightly the wrong angle or slightly too long for reliability (even if it's within the total length allowed in the manual).

I've only come across a few in the "wild" myself, but they've all had issues and most of plumbers I've talked to about them have always recommended against them.
When we had an extra toilet fitted we ended up paying a builder to put in a proper soil pipe as the last thing we wanted was to end up playing "unclog the stinky teeth", or deal with a pipe full of foulness that required the saniflo to be operating to move on.
It was bad enough having to help one of our neighbours a couple of times with his.

My impressions of them may be slightly skewed by the fact two of my neighbours (about ten years apart) tried Saniflo's when having downstairs loos fitted, because the plumbers preferred to run small internal pipework rather than digging a short trench* and putting in 100mm soil pipe, both had no end of issues to the point that when one of the houses was sold the new owner had the downstairs loo removed, the other house IIRC ended up getting the piping replaced.


*Seriously, in one instance it needed about 2 meters of soil pipe, compared 5+m of internal pipework - they were having to build a small extension for the loo anyway :-/

phill99

Saniflo?


A foul piece of French 'engineering' exported to the UK as retribution for Agincourt and Waterloo.


Who would have thought that the Battle of Waterloo would actually be won in the sh*t infested bathrooms of Wolverhampton?

VfM4meplse

Soil stack every time for me! If you've got the drainage facility, use it!

I may be off-fashioned in wanting the waste to drain away, but hey-ho.