Bathroom sink drain pipe cracked. Is it soldered to stub out?

[macman99]

Hi. My bathroom drain pipe system cracked when I attempted to remove the sink. The drain pipe that comes from the wall and connects to the P-trap must have been very old and was seriously corroded. Once I started fiddling with the trap, the pipe cracked at the point that you see. The plumbing that was there was a standard chrome plated 1-1/4-in Brass P-Trap setup. Please see attached photos.

How do I handle this? I can't even understand how the remaining drain pipe is connected inside the wall. Is it soldered somehow? Should I attempt to desolder the cracked piece and solder a new pipe in? Can chrome plated brass be soldered? Just confused because I don't understand what I am dealing with. Any help is appreciated.

 

[James Henry]

I've dealt with this a hundred times. The bad news is, your stub out is cut off to close to the wall, you risk starting a fire in the wall if you don't have a lot of experience. I would either heat the pipe from inside the pipe to melt the solder and pull the old trap arm out, then file the chrome off a new trap arm and carefully solder it in the stub out, or, in your case I would probably open the wall up, see what you have to work with and install a trap adapter of some kind.

WHEN EVER I USE A TORCH I HAVE A SPRAY BOTTLE FULL OF WATER AND A FIRE EXTINGUISHER WITH ME AND I THOROUGHLY SPRAY THE AREA DOWN AROUND WHERE I'M GOING TO SOLDER WITH WATER BEFORE I START.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

It is soldered into a piece of copper tubing, but cannot tell if it is 1 1/2" or 1 1/4". ir you are careful, you can heat the tubing and remove the remains of the trap. What you do next will depend on what size copper you have.

 

[macman99]

It is soldered into a piece of copper tubing, but cannot tell if it is 1 1/2" or 1 1/4". ir you are careful, you can heat the tubing and remove the remains of the trap. What you do next will depend on what size copper you have.

Thank you. That is interesting. A couple things to note. I am installing a cabinet around this area, so the pipes will be hidden from view most of the time. This may allow me to remove some tiles around the drain stub out without it being an issue. I also have good visibility into this wall. There is an old in-wall medicine cabinet installed above that I removed and can see all the pipes behind the wall. I imagine in the worst case I can just spray a fire extinguisher down there.

I still am confused about the soldering though. The trap arm that was there was 1 1/4" chrome plated brass. Does a 1 1/4" chrome plated brass trap arm fit snugly inside a 1 1/4" copper tube for soldering? Or does something have to be done to the chrome first to get it to fit?

Also wondering what could have caused this corrosion? I don't notice this pattern on other pipes in our area. This bathroom is in a rental property that's been rented out from various landlords since the 1950s. I wonder if some combination of tenants/landlords have been using chemical drain cleaners/acids over the years that just destroyed the pipes?

 

[Reach4]

I still am confused about the soldering though. The trap arm that was there was 1 1/4" chrome plated brass. Does a 1 1/4" chrome plated brass trap arm fit snugly inside a 1 1/4" copper tube for soldering?

A 1-1/4 inch tube would fit into a 1-1/4 type L copper pipe. That tube would not fit into a type K copper pipe. Tube, as used in slip drain lines, is named by its outside diameter (OD). Pipe is named by approximately its inside diameter, but for a different nominal pipe size, the ID will vary according to the wall thickness for the different sizing. In copper, those common sizes are K, L, and M. M is even thinner than L, and it would have even more room.

Or does something have to be done to the chrome first to get it to fit?

The chrome plating must be removed from the brass tube to solder it, as mentioned in #2. It would fit with the chrome in place, but it would not take solder.

 

[WorthFlorida]

Pipes do not last forever. Looks like most of the corrosion was from electrolysis. Take a wire brush to the metal. copper will still shine after the crud is removed and if it is soldered, it will look silvery. Old solder is tin and lead. After cleaning it up and there appears to be no solder, using a pair of pliers on the old p-trap pipe may just pull out. You can twist and collapse it and it may pull out. Sometimes just a little heat from the torch will cuase things to expand and be able to pull out the old pipe.

Bath sink drains are 1-1/4" traps. The wall may be 1-1/2" copper.



If you know how to sweat copper, this is what you need at the wall.

If you can get into the wall you can use this Fernco to go from copper to PVC and new plastic p-trap.

Pick up today

Fernco Proflex 1-1/2 in. Neoprene Shielded Coupling, Black
$7.84
Home Depot
(136)

 

[WorthFlorida]

Definitely three pipes. The pipes 1 & 2 maybe soldered but the third one (the trap arm) is not. Wire brush it to determine if there is solder.

 

[hj]

DWV systems are usually done with DWV copper, which is thinner than type M, as most plumbers know.