Saniflo Case Study
As host of the British Open golf championship in 2017, Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, Merseyside is one of the most challenging links courses in the UK. With the greens nestled amongst the sand dunes on the North West coast, it is also one of the most picturesque. Featuring a distinctive Art Deco clubhouse, the course has hosted many major championships including the Open, the Ryder Cup and the Women’s British Open.
The course has become very popular as an event venue for weddings, parties, balls and general entertainment as well as prestigious golf tournaments and the club recently identified an area to create some much needed additional catering capacity.
A room at the rear of the building, used as a walk-through to access the main reception, has been kitted out as an overflow food preparation and wash-up area and is conveniently located directly below the kitchen with a lift between the two areas. Equipped with a commercial dishwasher, a sink and stainless steel preparation surfaces, a water supply was needed and also a pump to discharge hot grey water from the appliances.
The plumber, Tony Marriott, from AE Marriott Ltd, has previously fitted Saniflo units and the brand is his first port of call in situations where traditional gravity drainage isn’t an option.
“I trust Saniflo products. They are efficient and reliable and the support from the company is second to none. For this job our local Saniflo sales rep from the company came out on a site visit and recommended a Sanicom 2. It’s always important to specify the right product for the job because I don’t have time for unnecessary call backs.”
The Sanicom 2 is ideal for commercial applications such as this kitchen area. With two powerful motors it can process large quantities of water waste and the second motor ensures continuity of service in the unlikely event of one failing. The unit detects water ingress and starts up automatically discharging water up to 35°C working temperature, but it can also manage up to 90°C for short periods.
“Fitting the water supply was difficult as we had to run pipes from a water supply in a bathroom on the next floor into the roof void, down the walls and across the floor. My colleague, Alan Coakley was invaluable as it took two pairs of hand to sort it out. However, when it came to installing the Sanicom 2 it was very straightforward. I put the unit in a small storage cupboard and ran the pipes through the wall and up to join an existing soil stack that takes waste from the kitchen above. Without this solution the room couldn’t have been converted. The cost of digging the floor up and running new drains would have been prohibitive. The Saniflo unit has really transformed the ability of the golf course to run events.”
In another kitchen area, just off the main bar, a Sanivite is installed to take waste from two sinks, a glass cleaner, dishwasher and ice machine. This unit works very hard, particularly during the Open and has never failed. It is plumbed horizontally along one wall and then up to a boiler room that has its own drain. However, as the bar gets busier it is likely to be changed for another Sanicom because of the back-up pump as a fail-safe solution.