Greg Lovern
New Member
I have done some very minor plumbing repairs but do not know much about it. Our 22yo InSinkErator Badger 5 died, and I was lucky to find a great deal on Craigslist for InSinkErator's top of the line model, the Evolution Supreme SS. Actually it's the "Supreme SS-2" according to the model listing on the unit.
I installed it and it works fine. However, it's fatter than the old one it replaced. The new one pressed hard against the drain plumbing, making it vibrate, which made it much louder. When I held the unit away from the pipe (the unit is isolated on rubber mountings which allow it to move around, to reduce vibration reaching the sink and drain pipe), it was much quieter.
I got some slip joint fittings from Home Depot and managed to reroute the drain pipe so that it does not touch the unit. And it does not leak. And it's amazingly quiet. So all would seem to be well, but I have a nagging feeling that I did not do the slip joints right and that they might fail sometime in the future.
Here's what I did. But first, here's what was there when I began:
- metal pipe coming straight out from the wall.
- plastic pipe inserted into the metal pipe above, with a 90-degree turn down to the floor. This is the part that the new unit pressed against. I will refer to this as "Old Elbow".
- slip joint p-trap pipe.
- black plastic pipe coming out of the InSinkErator unit and turning straight down, inserted into the p-trap pipe.
Here's what I did:
- First I moved "Old Elbow" around to aim sideways rather than down. Then I connected a 90-degree slip joint elbow pipe to it, aimed down to the floor (I will refer to this as "New Elbow"). However, "New Elbow" did not line up with the p-trap. Also, I could not connect "New Elbow" to the p-trap even if it did line up because they were both female ends.
- So then I did two things:
-- I got a 6" slip joint extension and cut it shorter with a hack saw, and inserted it between "Old Elbow" and "New Elbow". I will refer to this as "MF Extension". With this extension, "New Elbow" lined up with the p-trap, though I still could not connect them because they were both female ends.
-- I used the cut off portion of "New Elbow" -- just a section of plain pipe with no threads -- to create a short male-male slip joint extension. I made it as short as possible while having each end stick into its respective female counterpart as deeply as possible. I didn't measure it but it was probably not much more than an inch long. I will refer to this as "MM Adapter". I put the two nuts onto "MM Adapter", sliding them to the middle of the pipe so they touched each other. Then I used a plastic fork to gently push the washers down into the nuts. Then I connected "MM Adapter" first to "New Elbow", then to the p-trap.
So here's how the chain of pipes is arranged now:
- metal pipe coming straight out from the wall.
- "Old Elbow", aimed sideways.
- "MF Extension".
- "New Elbow", aimed down to the floor.
- "MM Adapter".
- slip joint p-trap pipe.
- black plastic pipe coming out of the InSinkErator unit.
I tested by running water for a couple minutes, checking the whole drain pipe chain for leaks. There were no leaks.
Does this sound correct?
I installed it and it works fine. However, it's fatter than the old one it replaced. The new one pressed hard against the drain plumbing, making it vibrate, which made it much louder. When I held the unit away from the pipe (the unit is isolated on rubber mountings which allow it to move around, to reduce vibration reaching the sink and drain pipe), it was much quieter.
I got some slip joint fittings from Home Depot and managed to reroute the drain pipe so that it does not touch the unit. And it does not leak. And it's amazingly quiet. So all would seem to be well, but I have a nagging feeling that I did not do the slip joints right and that they might fail sometime in the future.
Here's what I did. But first, here's what was there when I began:
- metal pipe coming straight out from the wall.
- plastic pipe inserted into the metal pipe above, with a 90-degree turn down to the floor. This is the part that the new unit pressed against. I will refer to this as "Old Elbow".
- slip joint p-trap pipe.
- black plastic pipe coming out of the InSinkErator unit and turning straight down, inserted into the p-trap pipe.
Here's what I did:
- First I moved "Old Elbow" around to aim sideways rather than down. Then I connected a 90-degree slip joint elbow pipe to it, aimed down to the floor (I will refer to this as "New Elbow"). However, "New Elbow" did not line up with the p-trap. Also, I could not connect "New Elbow" to the p-trap even if it did line up because they were both female ends.
- So then I did two things:
-- I got a 6" slip joint extension and cut it shorter with a hack saw, and inserted it between "Old Elbow" and "New Elbow". I will refer to this as "MF Extension". With this extension, "New Elbow" lined up with the p-trap, though I still could not connect them because they were both female ends.
-- I used the cut off portion of "New Elbow" -- just a section of plain pipe with no threads -- to create a short male-male slip joint extension. I made it as short as possible while having each end stick into its respective female counterpart as deeply as possible. I didn't measure it but it was probably not much more than an inch long. I will refer to this as "MM Adapter". I put the two nuts onto "MM Adapter", sliding them to the middle of the pipe so they touched each other. Then I used a plastic fork to gently push the washers down into the nuts. Then I connected "MM Adapter" first to "New Elbow", then to the p-trap.
So here's how the chain of pipes is arranged now:
- metal pipe coming straight out from the wall.
- "Old Elbow", aimed sideways.
- "MF Extension".
- "New Elbow", aimed down to the floor.
- "MM Adapter".
- slip joint p-trap pipe.
- black plastic pipe coming out of the InSinkErator unit.
I tested by running water for a couple minutes, checking the whole drain pipe chain for leaks. There were no leaks.
Does this sound correct?
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