Snappy Trap Abomination

[St3v]

Its my first foray into plumbing, and during a bathroom sink down pipe replacement, the p-trap snapped off and fractured into pieces (!). So, in a rush, I purchased a snappy trap and proceeded to figure it out. Behold the abomination below:
View attachment 71079

I had to use the flexi-hose because the drain pipe was literally intersecting with the sink down pipe no matter what I did. I really don't like this, but my questions are --

Despite its horribleness, is this acceptable? I think it will work, even if it is ugly.
If I were to replace this with something better, how do I deal with the ultra-tight clearance? From the bottom of the down pipe to the drain pipe it is ~3" down and ~3" across.

 

[Reach4]

Not the worst ever. At least you know how to pull it to clean out the clogs.

If you did no glue on any of the white stuff, you were not the biggest sinner.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[wwhitney]

If I were to replace this with something better

I would.

how do I deal with the ultra-tight clearance? From the bottom of the down pipe to the drain pipe it is ~3" down and ~3" across.

I don't quite follow, and the picture is quite dark, so I'm not sure what you have coming out of the wall. Is that a 1-1/2" PVC Schedule 40 45 degree elbow at the wall, followed by a hub trap adapter, followed by a short section of white 1-1/4" tubular pipe, and then the grey tubular pipes?

If that's right, then suppose you extended the white tubular pipe along its current path, and extended the sink tailpiece down. How much would they intersect or clear each other? I.e. 0" is just touching each other, or 1" clear means a 1" gap at their closest approach, , or a 1-1/4" intersection (the outside diameter of 1-1/4" tubular) would mean they line up perfectly and their centerlines would intersect.

If they clear each other by not too much, it should be possible to have your u-bend turned so that the white tubular (if extended) would pass right over the u-bend outlet. The u-bend would mostly point away from the white piping. Then the trap elbow would point back towards trap adapter and be in line with it.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[St3v]

If you did no glue on any of the white stuff, you were not the biggest sinner.

The white piping isn't mine, with the exception of what I think is a reducer adapter that fit rather snugly into the larger white pipe. I think all of the rest of the white pipe is glued, although I did not dare torque it much to test it. For the white reducer I put in that came with the kit, I put some blue monster "pipe dope" around it which seemed reasonable.

I don't quite follow, and the picture is quite dark, so I'm not sure what you have coming out of the wall. Is that a 1-1/2" PVC Schedule 40 45 degree elbow at the wall, followed by a hub trap adapter, followed by a short section of white 1-1/4" tubular pipe, and then the grey tubular pipes?

Let me upload a brightened picture:

• The short section of white 1-1/4" pipe you're seeing actually adapts the white pipe which is 1-1/4" with the snappy trap, which is 1-1/2". this came with the kit, slid into the threaded end of the pipe, and was needed to attach the grey pipe to the white pipe. This is what I coated in pipe dope, since it was just a friction fit between those two white pipes.
• The grey tubular pipes then screwed onto it accordingly.

If that's right, then suppose you extended the white tubular pipe along its current path, and extended the sink tailpiece down. How much would they intersect or clear each other? I.e. 0" is just touching each other, or 1" clear means a 1" gap at their closest approach, , or a 1-1/4" intersection (the outside diameter of 1-1/4" tubular) would mean they line up perfectly and their centerlines would intersect.

Yes, you are hitting at the crux of it, I think. I don't have an exact measurement here, but if you extended the centerlines of those two pipes out, they are almost perfectly coincident--probably the lines are 0 to 1/4" apart, meaning the corresponding pipes interfere. When I was installing, this was the problem I had because both the short and long horizontal tubes (not pictured) that came with the kit as alternatives to the flex hose directly interfered with the sink downpipe extension needed to connect to and complete the U-bend.

If they clear each other by not too much, it should be possible to have your u-bend turned so that the white tubular (if extended) would pass right over the u-bend outlet. The u-bend would mostly point away from the white piping. Then the trap elbow would point back towards trap adapter and be in line with it.

This very correctly describes what I couldn't do because of the interference. I think to get something better, I'd need a rather compact connection and U-bend coming out of the white pipe, so there was room for the U-bend to fit the other way without the pipes crossing over.

 

[Reach4]

This very correctly describes what I couldn't do because of the interference. I think to get something better, I'd need a rather compact connection and U-bend coming out of the white pipe, so there was room for the U-bend to fit the other way without the pipes crossing over.

If you were someday able to get that bend out of the wall replaced with a lesser angle bend, then you could put a trap adapter on that, and run a conventional trap. Changing out glued fittings takes a special tool.

For now, don't let people see under your sink. ;-)

 

[St3v]

It seems like i could make this work if i could find a u-bend with a very tight bend radius

 

[Reach4]

If things were nearly exactly in line, you could use a bottle trap. Maybe a tailpiece or tailpiece extender could jog enough to make that work.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Brass-Decorative-Lavatory-Trap-in-Polished-Chrome-I5530-CP/203499248
https://support.kohler.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003528194-Bottle-Trap-Drain

A flex tailpiece extension would be less scary than a corrugated flex p-trap, I think. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbil...n-Tailpiece-Extension-Tube-C3526945/205153937

If they were far enough from being inline, you could do B:

I don't know of one like this in plastic slip stuff: http://media.wattswater.com/PS-P4004.pdf

https://www.keeneymfg.com/system/cad_drawings/136/original/200w.pdf?1260478841 is about as compact for a slip joint p-trap as you will find AFAIK.

 

[wwhitney]

The short section of white 1-1/4" pipe you're seeing actually adapts the white pipe which is 1-1/4" with the snappy trap, which is 1-1/2". this came with the kit, slid into the threaded end of the pipe, and was needed to attach the grey pipe to the white pipe. This is what I coated in pipe dope, since it was just a friction fit between those two white pipes.

It's still hard to tell from your picture exactly what is going on with the white pipes. Are you saying that the last white pipe slides into the bigger white pipe? Then the bigger white pipe should have a compression nut on the end, which you loosen to let the tubular white pipe slide, and you tighten to seal to the pipe. No pipe dope should be required anywhere on that kind of connection.

Yes, you are hitting at the crux of it, I think. I don't have an exact measurement here, but if you extended the centerlines of those two pipes out, they are almost perfectly coincident--probably the lines are 0 to 1/4" apart, meaning the corresponding pipes interfere.

So if you remove all the grey stuff, and you get a normal tubular 1-1/4" trap, won't it fit on the tail piece, with the u-trap pointed almost directly at the larger white pipe, and the elbow fitting into the larger white pipe? The plain ends of the tubular can always to be cut to length if needed. The only interference problem you'd have would be if the u-bend or part of the elbow would interfere with the larger white pipe.

It sounds like the problem you're describing may be that you got a 1-1/2" trap, and the outlet of the trap is close enough to the larger white pipe that you don't have room on the horizontal trap arm for the 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" adapter piece you described. Sticking with 1-1/4" throughout would avoid that problem.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[St3v]

Yep, all. I just ordered a very simple 1-1/4" (and hopefully compact enough) in the hopes that will fit.