How in the heck do I fix this?

[Dave Garner]

20 year old kitchen drain stopped up tonight after wife dumped too much rice. Assumed it was the trap. As I was wiggling the trap off the 1.5" ABS horizontal pipe (after the trap) snapped right off at the wall board. Couldn't believe it as I had not applied any undo pressure to it. When I inspected the break I was surprised at what I saw. Wall board was damp like it had been leaking a little.

I have repaired a whole lotta plumbing problems over the years but this one is the first time I have had to ask for help. I would really like to NOT go into the pipes and start cutting and fitting if at all possible.

What I find odd is the way the ABS pipe looks at the break. Its a very clean break but I can see an obvious inner, middle, and outer part. (See the image "plumbing prob 2) The inner part looks kinda like its crystallized and I can sink a small screwdriver into it. The other pipe in that image is what the pipe looks like a few inches away where I cut it with my bandsaw.

One thought I had is... is there any method of reaming out the broken end inside the fitting such that I could insert a glue a new piece of pipe into it? Or is there an accepted method of gluing a replacement pipe of smaller diameter onto that piece?

 

[Standardairconditioner]

"Crystallized" may be brittle ABS failure.

This whole inner coupler thing is really weird, like it was used to join 2 female ends. You may be able to ream it out with something like a cylinder honing tool, but I have never seen that used on plastic.

If you try to rebuild it the way it was made in the first place, it will probably leak again like it had already.

Glue only works where male/female surfaces are slip tight.

If you try to glue some very lumpy surfaces together, water will always get in-between, weakening all.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dave Garner]

"Crystallized" may be brittle ABS failure.

This whole inner coupler thing is really weird, like it was used to join 2 female ends. You may be able to ream it out with something like a cylinder honing tool, but I have never seen that used on plastic.

If you try to rebuild it the way it was made in the first place, it will probably leak again like it had already.

Glue only works where male/female surfaces are slip tight.

If you try to glue some very lumpy surfaces together, water will always get in-between, weakening all.

 

[Dave Garner]

Thanks for the reply but it is a very standard install... the pipe on the right (in "plumbing prob 2") is the 1.5" pipe that connected to the female end in "plumbing prob 1".
Since I made this post I watched a youtube video where the guy heated up the broken inner part, lifted it a little with a flat screwdriver, then grabbed it with some needle nose pliers and 'rolled' it out. I am going to try it with a test piece. If I can make that work... problem solved!

 

[Standardairconditioner]

I know, but then you are just going to replace it with the same thing and the failure will repeat again.

For abs glue to work, parts have to be smooth slip tight, like a new sheet of paper, not a crumpled sheet of paper that you tried your best to flatten back out.

 

[Dave Garner]

I know, but then you are just going to replace it with the same thing and the failure will repeat again.

For abs glue to work, parts have to be smooth slip tight, like a new sheet of paper, not a crumpled sheet of paper that you tried your best to flatten back out.

 

[Dave Garner]

Well, after watching a coupla youtube videos I think I can solve the problem tomorrow. Using a coupler from the same pipes as a test piece, I sawed the pipe off flush, then found an old hole saw that was a close fit, heated it up, set it in the pipe till it was nice and toasty, removed the hole saw and pried the pipe away from the fitting, then I was able to remove bigger pieces with my needle nose. Cleaned it all up and it looks pretty darn good. About 90% of the pipe came away nice and clean. You can see this effort in the attached images.
It will be a little more difficult doing the same under the sink but just a whole lot less effort than replacing those fittings.
That ABS gives off some nasty fumes though. Plan on opening up the kitchen sliding glass door and firing up the whole house fan.

 

[hj]

Or buying a "RamBit" or similar to drill the remnant out of the fitting.

 

[Reach4]

At about minute 6,

gets into the method of cutting slots in the piece to be removed, and then hammering at the segments with a flat screwdriver. Minute 2 shows the Rambit.

 

[Dave Garner]

At about minute 6,

gets into the method of cutting slots in the piece to be removed, and then hammering at the segments with a flat screwdriver. Minute 2 shows the Rambit.

 

[Dave Garner]

Thanks to both of you for taking the time to address my problem. In the event, this morning I went ahead and used the same method I used yesterday on that test piece. Like I expected, it was more difficult as I had to do the work 'standing on my head'. But it did work as you can see by clicking on the attached image. "CASE CLOSED".

D".

 

[Asktom]

Hopefully end of story. From the mid 80s to the beginning of the 90s there was defective ABS pipe on the market. Your break is a classic example of how the pipe failed. This pipe was made by Apache, Centaur, Gable, Phoenix and Polaris. If you do a search on "ABS pipe failure" you can find more information.

 

[Dave Garner]

Wow, whoda thunk. Our house was built in '96 along with hundreds of other homes in a northern California sub-division. I guess I now have to consider the fact that if that one pipe was defective then all the other ABS in the house...
In any case its always best to be informed and I wouldn't have thought to research it if not for your post. Thanks!

 

[Asktom]

96 is probably too recent for the bad pipe, the last of it was made in 90.

 

[hj]

The next time you do it, put a hose clamp around the outside of the hub so you do not split it while removing the piece of pipe.

 

[Dave Garner]

96 is probably too recent for the bad pipe, the last of it was made in 90.

 

[Dave Garner]

Tom,
But as you point out, my broken pipe is a "classic example of how the (substandard) pipe failed". I wonder if some of that pipe could have sat in storage and finally made it into my house?

 

[Dave Garner]

The next time you do it, put a hose clamp around the outside of the hub so you do not split it while removing the piece of pipe.

 

[Dave Garner]

I think you are referring to the Youtube video "Reach4" posted... not my effort.

 

[Reach4]

You probably want to glue in a trap adapter rather than a pipe.