Cast Iron to PVC???

[SYakoban]

Hi Guys,

I want to fill in this waste pipe well in my basement by extending the cleanouts upwards to floor level with PVC and then filling the well with gravel and topping with concrete. If you look at the photo, the left of the photo shows the whole house vent, then there is a trap with two caps, then a wye at the right before the waste pipe exits the basement. The cast iron is a 3" waste pipe, but it looks like the wye cleanout has a 4" bell.

What I'm trying to understand is what kind of adapter is available to transition from the cast iron to PVC using these fittings. I don't want to cut any cast iron, just remove the caps and adapt to the ends where the cap would go.

Possible? How exactly?

Thank you!

 

[Sylvan]

The Vent before the trap could be a fresh air inlet not the whole house vent
Depending on the condition of the CO threads you maybe able to threat a 4" galvanized nipple and then go to NO hub coupling to PVC

 

[Sponsor]

 

[SYakoban]

The cleanout cap threads are gone. The lead plug has to be hammered in each time.

It looks to me like the threaded portion is set in the bell end with lead (not sure?). So is there a way to either remove that or somehow connect even with bad threads?

 

[Terry]

You have a poured lead joint, which can be removed and replaced. You might find an old school plumber that does lead and oakum poured joints, or you can also use a rubber insert made for cast hub joints and run PVC from there.
Removing the lead joint normally means drilling, prying, maybe even a little saw blade work to work the lead out of there.

 

[SYakoban]

Thanks Terry is there a name for the rubber insert?

 

[Sylvan]

Yo I resemble this remark

"You have a poured lead joint, which can be removed and replaced. You might find an old school plumber that does lead and oakum poured joints"

The reason I Still used lead and oakum especially on roof drains is as follows

The roof can be extremely hot in the dog days of summer and below freezing in the winter and rubber / [plastic can dry out or crack

Bird dropping are acidic and lead is impervious to acid and will expand and contract with the temperature changes

Poured joints are proven to have longevity well over 100 years of service

Picture a guy walks walks onto a roof with a rag and uses some primer and glue and attaches a plastic roof drain and says that will be $1,200 fore the installation do you think the building owner will not gripe after seeing how it was installed?

 

[SYakoban]

So how does a PVS stub attach to a cast iron fitting with lead?

 

[Michael Young]

Thanks Terry is there a name for the rubber insert?

SV SERVICE SEAL GASKET, available at Fergusons. One side fits into the hub. They make an adapter for the other side. a lot of plumbers will tell you that you don't need the adapter. They are wrong. Buy the adapter and some of the lube they mfg. just for this purpose. Work the rubber into the hub. Work your adapter into the seal the best you can by hand. Put a piece of wood against the plastic adapter and use a mini sledge to (gently) work the seal into the adapter. Once the adapter it installed, you're golden. Just glue like you would any other pvc fitting.

 

[SYakoban]

@Michael Young - good explanation - thank you. I think you're saying that I need the SV SERVICE SEAL GASKET plus an adapter. What is the adapter called?

Also, in my cleanout, am I right that the threaded piece that the cap fits into is leaded into the fitting hub and that piece needs to be removed to get the gasket to fit the hub?

 

[Michael Young]

I use a torch. Heat up the lead and slowly work out enough lead. Eventually you'll reach a point where you can pull the lead and oakum out with your channel locks; a big flat screwdriver (one of your junkers) is helpful too. Take a little fan with you. it's going to get stinky. Then just clean the joint and install a new service gasket and adapter (just ask the guy at fergusons for the adapter).