How Does a Macerating Toilet Work?

With the amazing SaniFlo macerating toilet systems, you can install a complete bathroom, kitchen or laundry room almost anywhere with minimal construction! Watch this quick video of how macerating toilets work.

Learn more about how a Saniflo macerating system will allow you to install a bathroom anywhere in your home. Saniflo systems are equipped with modern features such as dual flushing and smart toilet technology, embodying sleek, modern design and advanced capabilities that traditional toilets can’t match.

All About Saniflo Flush Systems

So, you want to put in a new toilet, but you don’t want to destroy your floors or spend your life savings on a plumber. You’re not alone! We all want to save money and have new, expanded homes. Thousands of people have turned to the Saniflo system for a solution to this problem.

Because we continue to offer only one brand of macerating pumps here at SanifloDepot, we want to take the time to educate you why that is and why we have chosen to spend the last 12 years committed to becoming experts in this area, highlighting Saniflo's reputation among the top brands like TOTO toilets, American Standard toilets, Santerra Green, and KOHLER smart toilets.

Designed to make installing a new bathroom fast and easy, Saniflo macerating toilets don’t require additions to your traditional plumbing, major construction, or ongoing headaches.

Regardless of whether you’re creating a new bathroom, retrofitting an old one, or even looking for a way to make a utility closet or basement into a fully functional space, we offer highly effective, cost-efficient, and intelligent macerating toilet solutions.

Here’s what you need to know about why a Saniflo macerating toilet works so well:

What is a Saniflo Toilet Bowl?

If you’ve ever heard of Saniflo, you already know it’s one of the most reliable and trusted macerating toilet units. Saniflo offers a variety of products that cater to different needs, including various toilet tank and bowl designs to fit any bathroom layout or preference. Durable and well-established, Saniflo not only invented upflush macerating toilet technology but has expanded to offer a complete line of related products based on their “gold standard” macerating technology, including upflush toilets, macerating toilet units, grinder pumps, RV and marine toilets, gray water pumps and condensate units.

Thanks to our affordable price tag and easy installation, the Saniflo Depot has quickly become the go-to for households that want to add an extra bathroom, expand an existing bathroom to include a shower and sink, or retrofit a closet into something much more functional, but don’t want to install traditional plumbing to make it all work.

This eco-friendly, affordable, and simple-to-install solution offers simplicity, accessibility, and quality in one accessible, user-friendly package that traditional toilets can’t offer. Additionally, Saniflo ensures compatibility with a wide range of toilet seats, enhancing comfort and convenience for every user.

What’s to Love About Saniflo for Your Bathroom?

Commonly referred to as the “upflush toilet,” Saniflo is a unique macerating toilet unit that discharges human waste and gray water out the back (rather than gravitationally) and into the primary plumbing stack. A solution like this has many advantages, including but not limited to the following:

The efficient flush system of Saniflo macerator toilets not only ensures thorough waste disposal but also complements various features such as material, dimensions, and options like one-piece or two-piece toilets, comfort-height toilets, and different bowl shapes catering to a wide price range and special needs, including alternatives like wall-hung toilets or ADA compliant toilets.

Versatility and Features of Saniflo Systems

With an upflush system, it’s possible to install a new Saniflo macerating toilet virtually anywhere you can imagine, including options for both floor-mounted and wall-hung installations. Whether you want to add a full bathroom to your attic, basement, RV, or somewhere in between, macerating toilet technology makes it possible. This flexibility allows for installing various toilet types, such as low-flow, one-piece, two-piece, comfort-height, and even ADA-compliant models, in addition to the sleek, space-saving wall-hung toilets.

This is due, in large part, to the fact that models like the SaniPLUS, SaniBEST, SaniACCESS, and clearly the SaniCOMPACT only require enough space for a regular toilet, unlike their copycat products, which need at least 30” of clearance.

Cost-Savings with Saniflo Products

There are dozens of great ways to save money with a macerating toilet system. First, you don’t have to hire a plumber to come in and rip out your flooring, effectively removing the use of that part of your house during construction.

Secondly, you can create a full bathroom with a Saniflo macerating toilet system anywhere you have space without the hassle of a major plumbing overhaul. This commonly runs $8,000 - $14,000, depending on where you live.

Installation Timelines

While a traditional bathroom will take weeks to create, Saniflo upflush toilets can be completely installed in just a day. In fact, most units only take 4-8 hours to install. This makes it an easy and adored DIY option, even for those who aren’t journeymen plumbers in their spare time.

Believe us, you can do this. But if you don’t want to, you’ll only need a fraction of an installer’s time. We can help you identify certified macerator toilet installers near you to ensure your unit is properly installed.

Movability and Easy Installation

Access to sanitation is a critical global issue, with nearly one billion people lacking access even to a traditional gravity flush toilet. This impacts the spread of diseases and underscores the importance of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6. Saniflo is committed to improving accessibility to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene, offering innovative solutions that cater to diverse needs.

When you install a traditional bathroom, you can only leave it behind if you sell the house and move later. With a Saniflo macerator toilet system, you can pick up the entire installation and move it, which is ideal for times when your situation changes or you need to move the bathroom to a new area. In fact, the entire unit only leaves four small holes when you remove it.

The History of the Upflush Toilet

The Saniflo toilets’ upflush solution may sound new-age and exciting, but it’s actually a decades-old proven creation—dating back to 1957 in France. We guess all those beautiful old buildings needed new, updated commodes!

While many people initially confuse macerating toilets with composting toilets, the two systems are actually very different. While a composting system collects and composts waste, a macerator toilet system discharges it into a macerating unit, which grinds it into a fine slurry.

From there, the macerator pump moves the liquefied waste up or out the back of the unit into the plumbing, soil stack, septic tank, or holding tank. This makes it possible to install upflush toilets in a basement or any other room below the level of the sewer line.

Macerator toilet systems are popular throughout Europe and have slowly made their way to prominence in the U.S., and rightfully so. Most people who install an upflush solution save an average of $9,000 in plumbing and installation costs. Perhaps this is why we’ve experienced 20% growth every year for over a decade!

Saniflo Depot offers a variety of bowl shapes, including elongated and round options, to ensure comfort and fit for any bathroom size. Additionally, our range includes designs where the toilet bowl and tank are separate, catering to different aesthetic and installation preferences. For those who have trouble sitting on or standing up from standard-height toilets, Saniflo provides comfort-height toilets, enhancing accessibility and user comfort.

While Saniflo is best known for our upflush toilet system, we also make a variety of other products, including gray water pumps, grinder pumps, condensate pumps, and more. The full line of products allows contractors and DIY'ers alike to do anything from installing a bar to running the entire home on some of the larger macerator pumps.

Upgrade Your Home with Macerating Toilets

If you’ve been looking for a simple and streamlined way to improve the functionality of your bathroom, a Saniflo system makes a great option. Affordable, easy to install, and available in a wide selection of models, makes, and features, Saniflo products offer beautiful china designed to make any space in your home into a bathroom, bar, or utility closet.

While many different brands of macerating toilets exist, and they frequently contact us to carry their products, we are committed to carrying a full line of only the best macerating toilets for our customers. Saniflo solutions stand out for their durability, quality, and commitment to approachability. Because of these things, we have emerged as the leader in the macerating toilet field and continue to produce products that are as reliable as they are unique.

Saniflo products also address public sanitation needs with innovative solutions, including urinals, supporting efforts to combat the spread of diseases linked to open defecation and urination and advancing access to adequate sanitation.

If you’re looking for quality grinder pumps, upflush toilets, or even condensate removal pumps, you’ve come to the right place.

Ready to learn more? Give us a call or shop our range of Saniflo products now!