Saniflo type systems, are there jobs plumbers don't do.

[student plumber]

I was talking to someone who said he had a Saniflo system though he had difficulty remembering the name so it could be something else.

It sounded like the wc is some way from the waste and needed an inline pump to give it an extra push, but this had stopped working properly and no plumbers would even look at it.

He had spoken to the manufacturers but they were talking about selling a whole new system which he didn't want, the hole from the pan to the back or through the wall or something is a different size now, and it sounded like the units have changed aswell. Redesigned I suppose.

Eventually found someone who took off the cover but some water or a bit more came down and he wasn't able to reattach it, it sounded like he'd broken a seal and couldn't reseal it, it came out and went everywhere. I assume they'd been told not to use it in the mean time.

Are there some jobs plumbers won't touch, (if Saniflo why?) or any others for that matter, regardless of what aspect of plumbing.

I wouldn't want to get into a bad situation and out of depth when no one else would even go near it.
Or could it present employment "captive audience syndrome" working for a product where only they can repair it.

 

[Toddyplumb]

Saniflo why ? think about what it does !!
Had apprentice changing a urinal today , how I laughed

 

[REDSAW]

saniflow have there own engeneers and your suposed to have em serviced every 5 years.
i walked away few months ago from one, can you imagine what will happen if it hits the fan????.
not for me thanks.

 

[johnmcginty]

I love getting phone calls from customers who ask me to fix thier toilet , i start counting the reddies there and then before i have even taken the address down.... then sometimes it all goes pear shaped and i get a sick feeling in my stomach and a head rush and a nervous sweat starts to form on my brow then I feel compelled to double .....no tripple the price all because of the dreadded 'S' WORD. What I find amazing is that some custards think that because i am a plumber i don't mind a cascading bonanza of human excrement to wash down my bacon buttie. Though on some occasion it is a lot easier to say 'oh you need a new one ' .....but I would never be that dishonest.

 

[stevetheplumber]

sanifow engineer has a wet vac to empty pan before he starts and puts it back in when its working again

 

[Paulplumb]

Saniflow is the YTS kiddies job.

 

[student plumber]

Don't get me wrong I can understand someone not wanting to do it, but would they be allowed to do it by Saniflo or do they end up ruining the guarantee.

Not that I'm in any rush, I've got a part time job to help pay for my course and one of the tasks is cleaning toilets, so I'm not in any great hurry to go near someone's poo.

The bloke said the lid was taken off and a seal was broken. Is it a certain kind of seal or is it just a rubber seal like any other (no fishy jokes please). Could the fixer have easily replaced it or did he well and truly knacker it.

I should've rephrased the question, are there jobs plumbers aren't allowed to do.

O.K. now you can make fishy jokes.

 

[student plumber]

I stress this isn't a job if it was I'd say so, so I could get genuine advice.

The bloke was a software salesman (or should I say sales person) at a job fair self employed type thing. I thought it would be a good idea to have a look and see if it could help in my chosen career, though early days at the moment as I have no idea what could happen or how or when.

He asked what I was intending to do and couldn't wait to tell me a problem he had with his toilet, I said it was interesting and I would try and find out even if it was only for my benefit as I imagined he would've got it fixed by then, especially as he had contact with various people anyway and I was just off the street.

 

[WHPES]

Don't touch Saniflos personally but I recently bought a drain jetting machine and I can make more money from a single short visit with that than I do working my bum off doing plumbing all day long!

 

[John t]

had a saniflo problem a few months ago, Saniflo gave me the number of local engineer, gave me a fixed price, (only if he fixed it) job sorted. Turned out to be an electrical switch anyway which a plumber wouldn't have been able to sort out

 

[student plumber]

Turned out to be an electrical switch anyway which a plumber wouldn't have been able to sort out

Do you mean a switch on the unit or where it's plugged in. I thought the things were plugged in to the wall or wired in to a fused switch box. All the workings were mechanical as it's a pump and so there were no switches on the units.

 

[diesel_ltd]

Do you mean a switch on the unit or where it's plugged in. I thought the things were plugged in to the wall or wired in to a fused switch box. All the workings were mechanical as it's a pump and so there were no switches on the units.

i'm sure theres some kind of flow switch in it, how else ould it know to start the pump when you flush the toilet

 

[Scottley]

I used to work on a rented property which had one of these. It packed up 3 times in 3 years. It all overflowed and came through the ceiling, it was worse than being at a music festival. Causes were kitchen towel, another one was a pin caught in the mechanism and the third one someone had failed to turn the bath tap off properly in a hurry and it burnt the motor out. Just goes to show no matter how careful you are they can still pack up

Id never install one or recommend one. If you cant get the pipework in then leave it alone i say.

 

[student plumber]

My english not too good, what I meant was;
All the workings would be mechanical as it's a pump and so there would be no switches on the units.

They don't go into specifics on the adverts, but I assumed that when you flushed the toilet, these things where they can be out of the way, were activated from the cistern. Where the flush was connected to something be it a switch or whatever so the box could be behind something and hidden.

 

[Puddle]

There is a float switch inside the unit that turns pump motor on and of, it is near the bottom and covered with a light rubber shoe around it

The hardest part of the job is getting the lid back on, I used to repair them, good little earners, have a friend who does them, just takes faulty unit out and fits reconditioned and cleans out and repairs in work shop (shed at end of garden ),if you have the room easy to repair and clean out but you never have the room, always in some tiny utility room or shower room
They used to be good units but like anything the build quality has gone down. in rented accommodation nightmare as tenants do not care what they but down them
Found a little toy figure in one once, washed it off of most of the the boo and tampons and put on my tool bag, little kid came in and took it, tried taking it off him but he screamed and screamed, mum came in and said leave him it will be ok
When I left he was chewing something, not sure what....builds up the immune system, so when he gets big, he to will be able to get stuck into cleaning out macerators’ !!

 

[student plumber]

Forewarned is forearmed, if they ever come up I'll think carefully about it, thanks.

 

[oph]

Saniflows are manky jobs

I have had experience with them as an apprentice and was lucky enough to have to take one apart once to change a faulty microswitch..............