Revolutionize Your Mine Drys with Saniflo: The Ultimate Efficiency Solution in Above-Floor Plumbing Systems
Written by SFA Saniflo Canada
According to Natural Resources Canada, there are currently more than 200 mines across the country and, depending on the project size, between 50 and 1,500 miners could be working at any one mine site at a time. Before any miners enter the adit (a horizontal passage leading into a mine) they first use the ‘mine dry’ to prepare for the day.
Typically located on gravel, a mine dry is a facility that contains a toilet, sink, shower, and sometimes a laundry room. Similar to a locker room, this is the ‘home away from home’ for miners – their first and last stop of the day.
Project size determines a mine’s dry size. In a part-time mine, a mine dry could last five to 10 years. Many mine owners who are looking for cost-saving solutions, however, bring portable trailers in for the workers to use.
Whatever form the mine’s dry takes, one of the critical components of efficiency on site is a plumbing system to allow miners convenient access to reliable and resilient restroom facilities.
The Saniflo Solution
So, how does SFA Saniflo Canada and its extensive above-floor plumbing offering fit into the mine dry picture?
Saniflo macerators and grinding stations can assist waste discharge by pumping wastewater to a larger pump, leveraging the technology’s ability to move effluent long distances – both vertically and horizontally.
To create below-floor drainage with conventional plumbing or sewage ejection, plumbers often assume they have no choice but to pound through concrete. However, that means a messy, noisy, time-consuming job, and – most importantly – a higher front-end cost to the mining company.
Fortunately, an above-floor grinder system is a convenient, effective, and a cost-efficient alternative to labour-intensive trenching. No matter how big your project, whether it’s multi-family residential or commercial, above or below ground – pre-assembled grinder systems are capable of reducing and discharging wastewater from multiple fixtures.
Unfortunately, however, too many plumbers fail to consider an above-floor option; probably because they haven’t yet tried it.
This is not the case for Tisdale Mechanical Contracting. This venerable company has provided high-quality mechanical systems and services since 1955, including plumbing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, sheet metal fabrication, and electrical. Over the years, Tisdale has installed approximately 100 restroom facilities in mines located in or near its home base of Timmins, Ontario.
CEO Jamie Clarke often turns to SFA Saniflo Canada for these applications. He says, “The benefit of using Saniflo’s products is they can handle many fixtures — from showers to urinals and pumps. The necessary disposal of waste is crucial on a mining site. Knowing Saniflo can work even in uncontrolled environments while creating a plumbing system anywhere without breaking concrete is great.”
Consider the Sanibest Pro
Like other Saniflo products, the Sanibest Pro is designed to be easily installed on top of any finished surface, eliminating the need for below-floor drainage installation. Ideal for uncontrolled restroom environments used by large numbers of people – such as a mine dry – the rugged unit can discharge black-water drainage from a toilet as well as gray water from up to two other fixtures, such as a sink or a shower.
Most of the Saniflo pump range consists of macerators, but the Sanibest Pro incorporates a powerful, one-horsepower grinder system, making it ideal for heavy-duty applications with unpredictable usage. Featuring a water-saving 1.28 gallons per flush, the Sanibest Pro is engineered to quickly dispose of larger, sanitary objects that might clog a conventional toilet, such as condoms, sanitary napkins, q-tips, dental floss, etc.
How it works: Water and organic waste matter entering the chamber of the grinder from the toilet or other fixtures are immediately reduced to slurry by the unit’s cutting blades rotating at 3,600 RPM. This slurry can then be pumped vertically as much as 25 feet to a sewer line or as far as 150 feet horizontally to a soil stack. A standard operating cycle for the Sanibest Pro takes only 10 to 12 seconds, depending upon the discharge pipe run configuration.
The Sanibest Pro toilet is available with either a round-front or a more stylish elongated bowl, which is required by Canadian plumbing codes in commercial applications like a mine dry. A conveniently positioned access panel atop the unit allows for easier servicing of the electrical components inside, should that be necessary.
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