Repairing PVC double sanitary tee?

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jamesf

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Hi folks..I did a stupid thing last night. And I know the right answer. Im just curious if I can avoid the hell it will be :)

While trying to remove the toilet flange so I could put down another layer of subfloor, I reefed on it too hard and cracked the (suspiciously off color) downstream double sanitary tee with side inlet. It's not broken off, so theoretically I'm able to peel it back, prime & glue the crack, and not have to tear the whole thing apart.

Wondering if this is a common repair, absolute insanity, etc. I'll attach a pic. It's the right side hub, cracked where it meets the side inlet hub. Hard to see the crack in the pic but it's a good 270 degrees around. It's the line that doesn't make the 90 degree turn to the left, that's a casting line.

thanks,
jim
 

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hj

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It would have been difficult or impossible to crack the tee there. If anything was going to snap, it should have been the hub where the toilet pipe is connected. Therefore, the assumption would be that it was either a defect or already partially cracked and you just made it worse. There is almost no repair that I would trust at that location.
 

jamesf

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Thanks for the responses. The plumber came out, went to get parts, called me from the road said he got a no heat emergency and would be a few hours, which runs into Thanksgiving prep work I need to do.

Meanwhile, I'd been looking at my glue repair I did for grins this morning and I gotta say it's holding up well. I was able to follow the crack around and prime it, and get glue in just about all of it. Flushed the toilet on the good arm, whose water would directly hit the crack, and it's dry. I can apply reasonable force to the pipe and it hasn't moved.

Can I expect this joint to weaken with time or are glued joints pretty long lasting? There's about an inch of insulation between the tee and the rim joist, plus I can replace that with spray foam for better insulative performance (and added support).

jim
 

Cacher_Chick

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You have to think about how big of a problem this will be when the baths are finished and it starts leaking a year from now.

PVC cement is made to chemically bond a spigot to hub fitting, and should not be trusted for any other use.

Fix it right while you have the bath torn apart, and you will never have to worry about it again.
 

hj

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Waater may not leak OUT of the crack, but it will get INTO the crack and deposits from the water, when it evaporates will create stress and cause the crack to continue thus getting bigger.
 
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