Blocked Saniflo loo!. Gross!

[chipmonkey]

ds1 has a saniflo loo in his loft conversion ensuite. It has been blocked before but when we called the engineer out, apparently there was nothing wrong and worked after he flushed it a few times. Can I do anything to unblock it or just call the engineer out?

Do you have a mop with a floppy head (the old rope type of vileda type?) If so put the head in a plastic bag, secure it with tape and plunge in hard up and down - this will dislodge the blockage.

I actually don't have one of those mops but have one with cloth strips? Would that do?

Yep that'll do fine. Just secure a plastic bag over it (you don't really want to have to clean fermented shit off your mop) with tape and plunge up and down - you may need to put a bit of water in the bowl to encourage things. Be careful not to cause too much splashing.

Have done it several times and it is better but still very slow to flush. Will give it a few more goes but looks like we may have to call the saniflo guy.

wmmc, I shouldn't say it but there has been much mirth here about someone called Whomovedmychocolate helping us with this issue!

Okay - before you call a plumber - go to the DIY store and get a can of compressed air with a plunger attachment (it'll cost you about £10). This will blast out whatever is stuck in the pipes. You could also try some caustic soda now it's moving more freely to eat away the gunk.

Is your DH on a high fat diet, fat in poo will really clog up your pipes. As will baby wipes.

If it was dh, that might be true but it's ds1 who is a fairly healthy eater. Wipes would never be put down that toilet. If it were one of the other loos, I might think it was ds4 doing his little trick of putting a whole roll down but at 14, I hope ds1 has grown out of that!

Thanks for the other suggestions, WMMC,will give those a go, especially as it's the end of the financial month for us and I don't have anything to pay the plumber with. ( jeez, given the financial crisis here in Ireland, I am hoping we will be able to afford one at all, the way things are going)

See, I knew my two day plumbing course would come in handy someday

If it is still going but slowly, and you are out of funds, suggest boiling water and washing powder (eats the fat in turds as well as laundry - weird fact of the day) - but you won't be able to use it for 12 hours afterwards while it works.