Old school indirect waste?

[boston_ked]

Found this in a turn-of-the-century 2 family in Boston. It's some kind of indirect waste, but I have no idea where those lines come from. My first guess was the overflow for the attic tank that would have been with a gravity hydronic heating system. Both apartments have steam, though, and my gut tells me that system is original to the house.

Has anyone seen something like this before?

 

[Jeff H Young]

I sure havent seen that barely see lead and oakum in my current area Ive worked a fair amount of pre ww2 houses and only a handful of pre ww1 homes , basements arew pretty rare as is steam in So Ca. but love the old plumbing the receptor the upright wye all that stuff . hope you find out what you need I dont see anything too puzzling , still got lead water piping in it?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[boston_ked]

I sure havent seen that barely see lead and oakum in my current area Ive worked a fair amount of pre ww2 houses and only a handful of pre ww1 homes , basements arew pretty rare as is steam in So Ca. but love the old plumbing the receptor the upright wye all that stuff . hope you find out what you need I dont see anything too puzzling , still got lead water piping in it?

No lead water lines fortunately, but there was a ton of the old fine-thread yellow brass pipe. It's bigger than 1/2" copper but smaller than IPS. It's relatively common in Boston. They make reamed adapters for it but they're kimda hard to find. A 3/4" street fitting slides right over it though, so you can sweat to it. That's what the burst water line was made of. 120 years of plumbing in one photo