What Is a Macerating Toilet and How Does It Work?

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A macerating toilet, also called an upflush toilet, is a normal-looking toilet with a pump that grinds waste and pumps it up through a small pipe. That lets you put a bathroom almost anywhere.

How it works, step by step

1. You flush, and the bowl empties out the back into a sealed pump box instead of down through the floor.
2. Spinning blades inside the box break waste and paper into a slurry.
3. The pump pushes that slurry through a small discharge pipe, up and over to your existing drain line.
4. The pump shuts off by itself when the box is empty.

Where people use them

• Basement bathrooms below the sewer line (our basement picks)
• Garages, workshops, and pool houses
• Adding a half bath under stairs or in a closet (small-bathroom picks)
• Room additions where running a new gravity drain would be expensive

The honest downsides

• It needs power. No electricity, no flush, so think about it if you lose power in storms.
• You’ll hear the pump run for a few seconds after each flush.
• Wipes, feminine products, and grease will damage it. Toilet paper only.
• Pumps eventually wear out, but replacements bolt in (see common fixes).

Popular models