Ran into a small problem replacing drain.

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phospholipid

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We have a 100-year-old house. The drain out of the second floor tub had been leaking in several places including where it met the cast-iron waste stack. It was too difficult to carve out the lead and oakum seal in the stack, so I cut off the galvanized pipe entering there and plugged it. I had plenty of room to run my own PVC pipe down the wall and tap it into the same cast-iron stack at the bottom where previous plumbers (?) had replaced that seal with god-knows-what. So, I have a new 2" PVC waste pipe with a lead and oakum seal tapped into the cast-iron Y in the basement. It's great.

Rebuilding the drain at the top was a little tricky. I didn't want to tear my frame apart, so I had very little room to work around the old waste pipes. It's fine. I build a good shape, it fit perfectly, it had a trap, a clean-out, it tapped into the old vent pipe, and it was sloped in the right direction. Gold star!

However, I had one last piece of PVC to fit. It was a six-inch straight that was connected to a T on one side and a 90 on the other. The plan was to force both ends down on the straight and twist the straight. Well, the straight twisted into 90 side before the other, and then it caught the T side, but only inserted about 1/4 of an inch before the glue set. So, on one side of that very difficult to access straight, the end of it is *not* butting up against the interior of the T. It went in 1/4", the glue set, and it's all pretty solid. But now I'm nervous.

I am guessing that since it is a non-pressurized system, that 1/4" insertion is enough to get purchase and create a water-tight seal. If I needed to, I could cut it out and replace the entire Y side. Obviously, I would want to avoid that. Thoughts?
 

phospholipid

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If you leave it and it leaks what will the consequences be?

After a shower (on the 3rd floor) and a manhattan, I came to the same conclusion. I'd rather spend an hour on it tomorrow than spend a full day diggin out all the walls in the future.
 

phospholipid

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I think I can cut below the Y and in the middle of the straight and replace that section. It will introduce two more couplings, but I can seat them before I put it together. It will be fine. Annoying but fine.
 

phospholipid

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Since I'm going to be in a very tight space, I'm not going to have a lot of room to twist the connections 90º as I seat them. But if I use couplings, can I glue both sides of the coupling, press both pipes in, and twist the coupling 90º?
 

Cacher_Chick

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Sometimes we will use banded couplers instead of cemented ones. Sometimes getting a fitting cemented in place can be more trouble than it is worth.
 

Smooky

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https://www.zoro.com/fernco-shielde...gclid=CIDkiryEq8sCFYk9gQodSTcGqw&gclsrc=aw.ds

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phospholipid

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I can bury that in a wall? I feel like fittings like that are part of what caused the problem to begin with. Also, can I put them on a pipe with a slight downward pitch or only on a vertical?
 

Cacher_Chick

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I think HJ has noted something based on your description of how you did the installation. If you were to post photos of your trap, vent, and drain, it might be easier to judge.
 

phospholipid

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Sure thing. So, in the one photo, you can see the new drain from the tub. The overflow tube has yet to be cut and glued. There is a clean out. There is a trap and then about a 12" long section. You can see half of that in the first pic.



The second pic is taken from underneath and you can see that 12" section it sticking out and the drain pipe on the other side.
 

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phospholipid

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Here's a third pic where I've sketched in what the connections will look like. I didn't dryfit the pipes for the pic, but I have fit them accounting for the lubricating effects of the glue and I've measured as well. As cut, with fittings and couplings, things line up quite nicely.
 

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phospholipid

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Was he just talking about being able to shove pipe in two ends of a coupling while twisting the coupling to get a seal? I did it once and it worked out perfectly. But, the second time, well, as you read above... the space was too tight so it seized up on one side before the other side could grab, so no twisting happened and I got inadequate depth seating that side.
 

phospholipid

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So, I glued it all together. Here's a pic.

The coupling circled in red was the last piece and I did try the move I described. It went fine and the pieces on both side sunk fine as I twisted the coupling and applied pressure from behind the beam. Thankfully, it worked out that I had the wall on the other side of the 90 helping me. Otherwise I would have needed a third hand.
 

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Smooky

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In the picture Plumb1 in post #16 why are you angeling down 45 and then going to a tee. Why not go straight into a sani-tee? Is there a vent in the drain that I can not see? Is something in the way?
 
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