So I’ve been working on my own plans for a tiny house, with a friend of mine who is a Small Structure designer. I’m fairly particular and want to run all my plumbing inside the building envelope as much as possible. The ultimate resting place for the unit will likely be in the BC interior, where there are fairly decent winters and I don’t want to deal with freezing pipes all the time. This lead to some fun challenges, as I’m plumbing the unit for a standard toilet. This means a 3″ waste drain pipe from the bottom of the toilet to the black water outlet. The bathroom layout means that this drain pipe must cross at least one floor joist. You can see this in the graphic below.
This causes headaches, which most people have solved by simply dropping the waste pipes straight down, through the floor and routing them below the unit, in open air. I’m not a fan of this solution. This leads to worries about the DWV (Drainage, Waste Venting) pipes freezing. They’re not full of water, but extremely cold weather can lead to any trickling water building up as ice and eventually blocking the pipes, a problem we’ve had with the kitchen sink drain at our cabin in winter. This design also provides a path for heat to escape the unit, leading to a cold spot on the floor near the toilet.
Enter the SaniFlow macerating toilet. You’ve got to love that word. Macerating. Yep, it chews up your ummmm.. wastes, then flushes them out a small, 1″ waste pipe into the wastewater system. It’s more moving parts that a standard toilet, but efficient with water (4L or 1 gallon per flush) and solves a lot of the problems associated with standard toilets. You don’t need to go down into the floor, as it can pump ‘uphill’. What’s more, you can even route your sink drain through the unit, simplifying your plumbing. The SaniCompact is self contained, uses standard 115v AC power and looks just like a regular toilet. Unlike composting toilets, your guests won’t be able to tell the difference between it and a standard toilet. By putting this toilet in my Tiny, I’ll be able to keep all my water & waste piping sealed up inside my insulated walls until the very last moment and not have to mess with changing floor joists, which is a clear win for me!
The Saniflow website has lots of great info and FAQs, while Amazon.com (US) has it available at a reasonable price, including Prime shipping. Sadly, Amazon Canada has some ridiculous price, but it is available at Home Depot Canada as a special order.
http://www.saniflo.com/index.php/products/index/show-product/lang/en/type/pro/id/46