Macerators

[2madboys]

Just wondering if anyone has one of these? We have just had a huge quote to get a soil pipe put into our ensuite and I'm wondering if this is the solution. Any idea how noisy they are? Not sure it'll be much use if it's very noisy. Thanks.

We had one in a downstairs cloakroom of the house we have just sold. We had to replace the macerator pump when we moved in so it was a newish unit.

I hated it and avoided using the toilet whenever possible and encouraged visitors to use the upstairs bathroom. It was very noisy and I was totally paranoid about it getting blocked with a stray baby wipe or something.

It might be that ours was a particularly rubbish version but I'm not sure that I would want one near sleeping people. Ours was under the DCs bedroom and was loud enough to wake them up.

Thanks. Sounds like it wouldn't really be suitable for us. DH wasn't as horrified by the quote as I was, so we'll probably go with the soil pipe.

had long chat with builder about this (our upstairs WC- no room for shower is costing 2700!) apparently you want a macerator with a special incline on the pipe or something- most dont have this so it causes problems but if you know which one to get and get a decent one it should be fine.

think we are just about able to get a normal loo thankfully but at great expense!

we just had one put in as we are in a listed property and couldn't add a soil stack and it really isn't as bad noise wise as i was expecting. Certainly wouldn't wake anyone up - more of a loud hum? Like the slosh of the washing machine for about 5 - 10 seconds . Fingers crossed we don't have any maintenance issues down the line...

I've come across macerators several times, both in private houses and in clubhouses. Every single one had leaked at least once. Yuck.

PersOnally, I would avoid one unless there was absolutely no other choice. Would far prefer to pay more and have a proper soil pipe installed.

I'd pay more for the soil pipe - we have a macerator and after a recent power cut which stopped it macerating for 24 hours, we ended up with a leak all down the newly painted dining room wall. Charming.

If you live in a village where you get power cuts frequently, don't forget that you can't use them when the electricity's off

Having said that, the previous owner did try to do various jobs on the cheap, so this may not have been the best one.

Avoid a macerator at any cost, they are filthy,noisy, high maintenance and unreliable. I have removed several of these units that were only 1-2 years old due to mechanical problems and have then installed a proper soil pipe. I would get a few more quotes for the groundwork involved in installing a soil pipe and go down that route every time. If you do go for the macerator the rules are simply.."use once, flush 3 times".

Sparkyuk I don't know how your macerator didn't wake you up. Ours was like a pneumatic drill, of and it reverberated through two floors of the house and upsets the neighbours. It leaked several times when we were getting the thing installed, blocked for absolutely no reason we could see, and then finally, catastrophe, blocked and kept pumping raw sewage out. This did £13,000 worth of damage, had to have the floor and ceilings below stripped out, the wooden floor joists sprayed with antiseptic and fungicide stuff because it was raw sewage. It is a disgusting idea that has no place in your home - avoid it like the plague.