Hi Amy, We're doing shell beans, so I just caught your question on a bit of a break. I often macerate fruit overnight and see no problem doing that. I do refrigerate at this stage. It may not be necessary, but it suits my comfort level. (Not so much safety as quality.) One thing with peaches. I would be sure I had some ascorbic acid in the mixture for preservation of color. For a standard batch I'd stir in no more than 1/4 tsp. Any more than that and you risk bitterness. Even with lemon juice I'd add the ascorbic. Not necessary for something like raspberries, etc. but peaches and apricots are especially susceptible to browning. Carol

A macerator is absolutely unnecessary. It only purpose is to chop larger bits of food small enough to pass through the holes in the spray arms. Several manufactures have decided that it is better to filter out the food bits rather than just put it back on the dishes is just got washed off of. If you get a dishwasher that properly heats the water and use the right detergents the food bits are broken down and flushed out the drain. There is no reason for the macerator blade. Many salespeople sell what they have or what they make the best spiff off of. It they don't sell a model with a proper filtering system or they make a higher spiff off of a model with a macerator that then becomes the best dishwasher ever. Or at least until another model pays a higher spiff. Anybody that tells you a macerator model is superior is a fool. There is no proven data that indicates a macerator blade is better than a filter model. In fact most of your higher end models with the best wash results are filter models without macerators.

Macerators are usually used to move sewage up such as in a basement bathroom that is below the level of the sewer line. There are very strict codes governing them and I dont think it will solve your problem. As for your last paragraph: totally unacceptable practice. I could be wrong but usually for two bathrooms one one pipe (in detroit anyway) plumbers say use 4 inch pipe. On the other hand I believe lazypup (and I trust him because I know he can provide a code reference to back it up and he has years of experience) said wet vents were not allowed for toilets, if that is the case your whole setup is non code compliant. Final note the minimum pipe size for a toilet is 3"

I did a quick search on Google using the search term septic tank and macerator and came up with a link to saniflo. If you read the page twoards the bottom you will find this, They are environmentally friendly; using less water than a normal toilet system. Ecology wise, the macerator could be seen as a primary sewage treatment system and a septic tank and/or municipal sewage treatment system as a secondary treatment I would assume from that statement they can be used with a septic tank. Plus if I remember correctly septic tanks have baffles to keep the solids from the leech field. Here is a link that might be useful: saniflo macerator