Tub leak from cracked ABS fitting

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Terry

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Here is a cracked ABS Santee that was leaking in a ceiling of a home. There seemed to be just a little leak when the tub was draining under pressure. That is, we filled the tub, and let it drain. A small stream of water was jetting out. Thinking maybe a nail hole that had rusted through, we opened the ceiling a little more and could see a crack. Removeing the santee outside, I held it in my hands and gave a slight rotation, I split completly apart in my hands. You could tell that the crack had split at least a third of the way around, and was due for complete seperation.

chan_tub_leak_1.jpg


It's pretty rare for this to happen, but I've been seeing more of it.

Yesterday, I pulled out a fitting on a toilet bend, that either had a crack, or had too little solvent in the joint. Either way, I had to pull the toilet, replacing the closet flange and work my way back to a section of pipe that was good. As soon as the repair was done, the wood started drying out.
 
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Jadnashua

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Do you think that the cracks are a result of slight misalignments, and the tension on the fitting, or possibly anchoring it too tight, and the expansion/contraction eventually causing it to fail? It's probably not possible to actually determine this, but did you notice that things 'sprung' back when you cut them out to replace them?
 

SHR

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I often see this now. Mostly on drain pipes that had really hot water passing through them. Kitchen sink drains are the most common. Never on PVC always ABS.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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My kitchen line cracked at a coupling. I think this was because of the sprayed foam insulation myself not the water temp).

Maybe a few no hub fittings can help take away any stress on these fittings. Maybe the plumber tweaked the line a little to make things line up?

An occasional no hub fitting would offer up some flexibility I think.
 

Terry

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All wood framed homes lose height when they have dried out. Sometimes that puts a lot of compression on joints. When I cut the wood blocking out from below, the entire line dropped lower.
You can lose almost an inch per floor. When I was building homes, I would wirenut the wires to the furnace and let it run day and night for a month before drywall.

I have also seen fittings that cracked for no apparent reason.
 
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JohnfrWhipple

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All wood framed homes lose height when they have dried out. .....

There building wood apartments now in Vancouver five stories not three like before. I hear that some of the EarthQuake Tie downs are popping through the roofs almost six inches.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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What about one of the compression slip joint thinga ma bobbers.... One for ever vertical....

I have them in my basement but not my main floor...
 
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