Toilet chopper pump: design options and installation instructions

Overhaul and redevelopment of old buildings sometimes brings a lot of unpleasant surprises. Having drawn in your mind a beautiful picture of “how everything will be after the repair”, you are surprised to find that it will not be possible to realize the plans due to the unsuccessful location of the engineering networks. One of the most common problems of this kind is the inability to move the bathroom to another room or equip a new one. As a rule, the sewage system in private homes is gravity. That is, the drains move through the pipes, obeying the force of gravity: from top to bottom. If the toilet is installed below the level of the central manifold, it will not work. What to do? Do you really have to radically change plans? Not at all necessary. It is quite simple to make a gravity-filled system partially pressureless by installing a toilet pump.

What is it and how does it work?

Externally, such a pump is a small plastic box that is installed behind the toilet shelf. It does not spoil the aesthetics of the room and looks like a second drain tank.

If necessary, such a pump can be hidden in a box made of drywall or plastic panels. Typically, a pump can transport fluid up to 100 m horizontally and 10 m vertically. But there are more powerful models.

Main characteristics of pumping devices

When choosing a device for the forced transportation of effluents, the following characteristics should be considered:

Transportation distance

. The choice of pump power also depends on how far away from the bathroom the gravity sewer pipe is. On average, it is capable of transporting effluents 90-100m horizontally and 9-10m vertically. In most cases, this is enough.

Several devices can be connected to one grinder pump

• Ability to connect additional equipment. If the bathroom is equipped not only with a toilet, but also with a washbasin or shower, it is not necessary to install a separate pump on each of the devices. It is enough to purchase a combined device.

Important! If it is necessary to arrange a forced sewage system for a bathroom equipped with a large number of plumbing and household appliances, experts recommend that clean hot drains and cold faecal be separated. In this case, it is better to purchase two pumps: one fecal pump for the toilet with a grinder and one for clean hot drains.

• Fluid Temperature. This indicator ranges from 40 to 90 degrees for different models. If the shredder is designed only for the toilet, an appliance for cold environments is sufficient. If you plan to connect a shower or washbasin, the maximum allowable temperature of the pumped liquid should be greater.As a rule, the most expensive pump is needed when a dishwasher or washing machine is additionally connected to it. This technique drains water up to 90 degrees into the sewers.

Wall mounted chopper pump

In small rooms, when it is necessary to save space as much as possible, hanging toilets are often installed. It is for such cases that special devices with a tank width of about 12 cm have been developed.

There are compact models designed for installation with a hanging toilet

It is enough to simply hide it in a drywall box, where a drain tank and a frame for attaching the toilet bowl are installed.

Toilet bowl with integrated chopper and pump

More recently, toilet bowls with an integrated grinder appeared on sale. You can also connect additional plumbing equipment to such a device. Such a toilet does not have a flush tank.

There are also models where the pump is built into the design of the toilet

When the key is pressed, water is opened from the water pipe and the toilet grinder is turned on.

A mandatory requirement for the installation of this equipment is a sufficiently high pressure in the water supply network - at least 1.7 atm.

How to calculate the required power?

Despite the fact that all the main characteristics of the device are clearly spelled out in the instructions for it, it is quite easy to make a mistake with the choice. The most common recommendation here is to consult a specialist. But, unfortunately, there are not many good specialists, and their services are not cheap. Let's try to figure it out for ourselves.

The most common mistake is not making the right pump choice. For example, if the instructions say that the pump is capable of transporting fluid 80m horizontally and 7m vertically, this does not mean that everything will be so. Firstly, these are extreme parameters, in such a situation the pump will always work at peak power, and any unaccounted load will cause a malfunction. So it’s better to have stock.

Do not throw personal hygiene items into the toilet connected to the chopper - they can clog the basket

Secondly, these characteristics can be called mutually exclusive in a sense. That is, if you need to transport the liquid only horizontally, then such a pump is able to do this at a maximum of 80m. If at the same time it still needs to be lifted by a couple of meters, then the feed range will decrease significantly. The following rule can be taken as a calculation formula: each meter of liquid rise reduces its horizontal transportation range by 10 m.

Installation steps and features

Even a novice can independently install a toilet grinder pump. Connecting it is quite simple.

Pipeline Installation Works

When installing the pipeline from the grinder to the sewer collector, only its length and lifting height are of importance. These figures should correspond to the characteristics of the pump. Everything else: the lifting angle, the material used and the configuration of the track can be any. The only limitation is to try to avoid sharp pipe turning angles, this will create an additional load on the pump.

There is no need to use a large diameter pipe for these purposes. Thorough shredding of the waste and a sufficiently high pressure in the system will prevent clogging in the pipe with a diameter of only 45 mm. So:

• We lay a sewer pipe;
• We connect it to the gravity system using a tee;
• We connect the chopper output to it.

Toilet connection

The grinder is connected to the toilet with a corrugation. Given the fact that drains from the toilet will fall into the grinder tank by gravity, when you connect it, you must follow some rules:

• The toilet outlet should be above the inlet in the grinder;
• The corrugation should not bend;
• Avoid a large angle of rotation of the corrugation.

That's all. It remains only to connect the device to the mains and you can use.