Uniflo Flush/ Saniflo/ macerator engineer on South East London

[nisnooz]

moved into a new place and the loft conversion has a uniflo flush macerator linked to shower, sink, and toilet. it's broken... it does not start at all if you run water in the basin or the shower and if you flush the toilet, it might work one in 4 times.

I had a saniflo plumber in:
a) he didn't seem to know anything so suggested a new unit altogether
b) wants to charge £700

Can you recommend a reliable and trsutworthy macerator engineer in S.E. London who might give an accurate assessment and advice on how to proceed? This is urgent, any help would be appreciated.

 

[rpm]

Welcome to the forum.
Saniflo people tend only to know Saniflo`s, show them another make and they haven`t got an idea where to start. At £700 he probably quoted you for either the Sanipro or the Saniplus with a few alterations to the pipes. If money is tight the cheapest option is to look on the web where new Uniflo`s can be brought for around £165 then it`s just a like for like swop over.
Downside is as far as I know Uniflo don`t have a network of service / repair people and at half the price of a Saniflo they will generally last half as long.

 

[Ray Stafford]

I just looked at the Uniflo website.

It doesn't fill me with confidence that I am dealing with a company of substance

 

[rpm]

Very small company Ray, they just buy dirt cheap from abroad and sell on, little or no backup and their pumps are copies of copies of copies............... like so many available to the public now.

 

[Ray Stafford]

I knew it wouldn't be long before I was quoting Ruskin again.

“There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey.”

 

[rpm]

Sometimes I really feel for customers when their man (can`t use the P word or I`d get banned) tells them its a £500 Sani or Grundfos being installed when it`s really a £150 copy.

 

[rpm]

A few years back an overseas manufacture was importing a copy of a well known pump and had the cheek to put the details of the offical manufactures UK agent in the box for any warranty claims, poor guy nearly went to the wall with so many unpaid call outs.

 

[nisnooz]

Thank you, rpm!
You know we were lied to (won't mince my words) as the previous owners told us it was a saniflo installed.. it was only when I got the plumbers in and looked at it myself that I realised it was a uniflo (one of the plumbers didn't even pick up on that fact it wasn't a saniflo!)
Can you recommend a reliable saniflo engineer for South East London?
I don't want to opt for the cheaper knock-off but a quote of £700 is steep (a Sanipro XR costs about £335 to £400 online) but key for me is knowledge, an engineer who knows what they are talking about and can give an honest suggestion.

 

[rpm]

It`s not uncommon for the house owner to think they have a Saniflo installed to be honest. Guess you have two choices. A) Ring Saniflo 08457 650011 from the house landline to be connected to your local engineer and ask him for a quote but some will not install a pump purchased by the house owner. B) Go to "Looking for a plumber" section in this forum as I know some of the guys are happy to install them and the amount of pipe alteration required should be minimal.

Also look at the 10 Golden Rules & the installation pages on the sani website and you might get an idea of what is required. Hope that helps and you get it sorted quickly.
Don`t forget to register it for the 2yr warranty cover.

 

[rpm]

PS.
If you do have a sani installed PM me and I`ll tell you how to look after it and save £`s on service charges as you live in a hard water area.