Chipped end of drain pipe

[blm3000]

Hi all,

Here's the problem I'm having. I was clearing a clog in the wall coupler (not sure this is the right name for the part, I'm talking about the piece that goes from the p-trap to the metal drain pipe sticking out of the wall) underneath the kitchen sink in my rental unit. It does not look like the connection to the metal drain pipe was sealed and the threads are very corroded, so when I removed the wall coupler a small piece of the end of the drain pipe chipped off. This is what it looks like... you can see the chip along the top edge of the pipe, it's about 1/4" deep.

Now when I reconnect everything, there's a small leak at the joint with the metal drain pipe. It doesn't seem like pipe joint compound would do much; maybe tape would help. Any advice on stopping the leak? Seems like the proper fix would be cutting the pipe and some new threads, then buying a slightly longer coupler and properly sealing the joint, but I don't want to do all that if there's a simpler (if jankier) fix.

Help greatly appreciated.

 

[Reach4]

The name you are looking for may be a nipple screwed into a sanitary tee. I looked at something not as bad looking recently. What I did first was to get a 1-1/2 NPT die and clean up the threads. I got a threaded brass trap adapter to go on there. I won that operation. I then twice lost the war of getting a leak free drain from the kitchen sink. I overtorqued the nipple when tightening the trap adapter in place, and caused leaks. I then found I had another leak in the vertical pipe farther down. Fortunately I a have a basement, so that made things easier than if I had a slab.

What I ended up doing, and I think you should be considering, is to open the back of the kitchen sink cabinet, and replace what you can with plastic. Since you are in California, that plastic will probably be ABS. For me it was PVC.

A plumber can do that stuff more than 10x faster than you or I.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[blm3000]

Thanks for the quick reply. Running a nipple screwed into something between the trap adapter and the chipped drain pipe seems like a good idea. Do you think a sanitary tee would be better than a coupler (no hub or otherwise)?

 

[Reach4]

I suspect that you have a sanitary tee in the wall that has a thread tapped in the side like the picture below. Into that is screwed a nipple, and you are seeing the other end of the nipple.

Unscrewing that nipple is unlikely. You could maybe grab the remainder of that nipple with some banded coupler. Or maybe it is time to dig in and go more extensive. Here is the deal. Where a kitchen drain drops and turns, there is a tendency to get clogs. So if you get a drain hooked up to what you see, there may still be drain problems.


The rest of that picture is probably not the same as you have. I just chose that picture because it was a sanitary tee (santee) with a female thread in the side.

 

[Dj2]

I did one like this a couple of months ago, except it was a shorter nipple.
The last thing you want is a leak under your sink.

I tried to unscrew it...didn't budge.
I knew that the T in the wall was corroded too, so I replaced it and installed a new nipple.
Get a plumber to do it, and you can write it off as plumbing repair.

 

[Reach4]

Get a plumber to do it, and you can write it off as plumbing repair.

I wasn't thinking about the landlord aspect. Yep, a strong additional reason to have a plumber do it.

 

[blm3000]

Wound up using a fernco coupler between the trap adapter and the rusted nipple, worked like a charm.