Herndon, Va., Plumbing Installer Strongly Recommends Above-Floor Plumbing vs. Sewage Ejection for Basement Baths

HERNDON, Va., Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- It's an all-too-common scenario: You want to create a completely new bathroom in your basement, so you call a plumber for an estimate. With either conventional plumbing or sewage ejection, you discover that your installer must dig through the concrete flooring. That means a messy and time-consuming job – and a high job-cost estimate from the contractor.

"Most customers are not thrilled if you tell them you have to bust up the basement," says Mario Rink, service manager with Herndon Plumbing & Heating, Inc., a family-owned business operating in Northern Virginia for more than 50 years.

Rink says he gives his customers all the options, and explains the pros and cons of each. "I tell a customer I can put a sewage ejector in there, but that means I have to break into the floor to run my sewer lines. Then we have to re-close the floor. The customer hears about my having to jackhammer concrete and right away knows that means dirt and inconvenience. If you come in with a product like Saniflo, it's an easy sell."

Saniflo makes modern low-water-consumption, up toilet systems that use special above-floor, or "macerating," plumbing technology, so there is no need to dig up the floor to install a bathroom. An up-flush, macerating toilet looks very much like a conventional toilet and takes up roughly the same floor space. But instead of routing the flush water through a floor drain, the system moves it to a macerating pump, usually located atop the floor between the toilet and the wall. It can also be hidden behind the wall.

The macerator pump uses a fast-rotating blade to liquefy waste and toilet paper in the flush water. The waste is released under pressure through small-diameter piping to the sewer or septic tank. (This piping can be hidden in the wall, too.) The technology requires no special maintenance, and the pump is sealed for life. "The Saniflo up toilet is a much cleaner product than a sewage ejector," Rink adds.

Indeed, the simplicity of the above-floor solution is at the heart of its appeal to homeowners. "Where these products really come in handy is in old houses where the customer doesn't want to break through walls or ceilings to run a sewage line," Rink says. "I did a couple of those in Alexandria, and the customers were really happy with it."

In addition to the obvious advantage of installation on top of any floor surface, Saniflo up toilet systems can also handle wastewater from the sink and the tub/shower – not just the toilet – to create a complete bathroom.

For more information on Saniflo macerating systems, visit www.saniflo.com

NOTE:  Publication-quality images can be downloaded at: http://saniflo.oreilly-depalma.com/2010/above-floor-plumbing-vs-sewage-ejection.shtml

SOURCE Saniflo