Shower pan waste pipe - too short?

[blecrone]

I am remodeling a shower at my home, installed new acrylic shower pan with Kohler K9132 drain assembly. I cut the 2" PVC waste pipe per the instructions for the shower pan which said to cut it 3/4" below the subfloor. However, after installing the pan, and fitting the rubber gasket down over the waste pipe, the gasket bottoms out in the drain body after going down only about 3/4" onto the waste pipe. The drain instructions say to push it down until the top of the gasket is flush with the top of the waste pipe, but in my case the top of the gasket is about 3/4"above the top of the waste pipe. I did check it by pouring a bit of water around the edge of the gasket and it seems to hold after 15-20 min. Question is, is this acceptable? Am I asking for issues down the road such that I should pull everything out and extend the waste pipe before I get any farther along? I'll try to attach a picture, hopefully it works. Thanks for your time all.

 

[Dj2]

It might hold tight, or not. The exposed rubber gasket part will probably deteriorate over time.

If it were me, I'd fix that.

Do you have access to the drain from below?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[blecrone]

It might hold tight, or not. The exposed rubber gasket part will probably deteriorate over time.

If it were me, I'd fix that.

Do you have access to the drain from below?

I do not have access from below, it is a second floor bathroom. I would have to take the pan back out, remove the subfloor again, and redo the rough in.

 

[LLigetfa]

Looks to me that the rubber seal did not go down far enough as there does not appear to be enough thread exposed above it for the compression ring to screw in. Even if there was enough thread for the ring, the seal would just bulge out where there is no pipe.

 

[Reach4]

In the instructions for the drain, it looks like the pipe comes up much farther. The instructions do say that it is OK to use conventional caulking rather than the provided rubber seal.

https://www.us.kohler.com/webassets/kpna/catalog/pdf/en/1114755_2.pdf

 

[PorcelainVacation]

Did the pipe slip down during installation?

 

[blecrone]

Looks to me that the rubber seal did not go down far enough as there does not appear to be enough thread exposed above it for the compression ring to screw in. Even if there was enough thread for the ring, the seal would just bulge out where there is no pipe.

Yes the seal should ideally go down farther but as I said it is bottomed out in the drain body as best I can tell . This particular model does not have a compression ring - just push or tap it down.

 

[blecrone]

Did the pipe slip down during installation?

It could have but the trap was pretty much resting on the joist below so it couldn't have gone more than about on eighth of an inch.

 

[Reach4]

I am not a pro. I might be tempted to use one of these, possibly with no-dye primer.

https://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/2-pipe-extender-pipe-o-d-spigot-x-pipe-i-d-spigot-s0301-20.html

 

[LLigetfa]

This particular model does not have a compression ring - just push or tap it down.

OK, I see that now. The instructions say to insert the seal with the lettering on top but I don't see any lettering in the pic. Could you have inserted it upside down?

 

[blecrone]

OK, I see that now. The instructions say to insert the seal with the lettering on top but I don't see any lettering in the pic. Could you have inserted it upside down?

No the lettering is facing up, I made sure of that, you just can't see it in the photo.

I appreciate all the questions to make sure I installed it correctly, believe me I went over it a thousand times ☺. Bottom line is , is this something that can be lived with, or is there enough of a risk of premature failure that I should bite the bullet and correct it now, before I install the tile? What would you do if it we're yours?

 

[LLigetfa]

If the pan is easy to lift and if you can get access to the base of the trap, I would put a shim under the trap to raise it up the required amount.

 

[blecrone]

If the pan is easy to lift and if you can get access to the base of the trap, I would put a shim under the trap to raise it up the required amount.

Hmm, this has promise. It shouldn't be a problem to lift the pan, and I should be able to get a shim in under the trap. It would only need to come up about 3/4 inch. But wouldn't this put stress on the pipes, or is that not really enough to worry about?

 

[LLigetfa]

The amount of stress depends on the length of the straight section after the trap to where it is supported or Tee'd in to the vent further downstream. If it is a short run, then lifting it would also knock the vertical section out of plumb.

 

[blecrone]

I believe the run is a couple of feet long to a wye, so that seems plausible. As far as being out of plumb, well it's already out of plumb a bit the other direction so this should help bring it back closer to plumb. I think I will give this a shot as it doesn't appear there is any harm to be done other than maybe an hour of my time.

 

[Jadnashua]

Let us know how it works out.

 

[blecrone]

Hmm, this has promise. It shouldn't be a problem to lift the pan, and I should be able to get a shim in under the trap. It would only need to come up about 3/4 inch. But wouldn't this put stress on the pipes, or is that not really enough to worry about?

All good! This worked well and was super easy. Thanks for the suggestion

If the pan is easy to lift and if you can get access to the base of the trap, I would put a shim under the trap to raise it up the required amount.

All good! This worked well and was super easy. Thanks for the suggestion, and everyone else for their input.