Black iron sewer

Chuck52 · Sep 16, 2004

Junkman, et al,

Thanks for the suggestions. Since we do plan to do a remodel on the kitchen that will include plumbing work, I think I'll try to get by with some wife training. If she would watch me climb up on the roof it might convince her to try harder to avoid clogging the drain......I'm always careful to point out that my earning potential out weighs the life insurance I carry.

Chuck

Junkman · Sep 17, 2004

( Junkman, et al,

...............I'm always careful to point out that my earning potential out weighs the life insurance I carry.

Chuck )

I am worth more dead than alive..... one of the down sides of retirement.... My wife comment just this evening while I was choking on a piece of chicken....... I hope that you paid your life insurance premium. As they wheeled me into the ambulance, she was on the phone with the funeral director making the arrangements.......

OK.... all of this isn't true, except for the first 7 words.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

SPIKER · Sep 17, 2004

CHUCK: that is a good point, tell her she has spent many years TRAINING YOU to get up on the roof when needed at least she could let herself be trained a bit too! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif (ya sure that will work but at least we will find out about the life insurance policy! haaha /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif )

I did this retro fit about 4 yrs back, and the bell in the floor was OK, and I have 1.5" PVC from there UP to the sink now. used sawsall to cut out the cast, (no stack on HERS and I didn't install one either.) I was planning on using one of the interior wall vents popit things but didn't get one in-time for the job, so it was left out.

get her to STOP with the grease and food down the drain, they are bad for the enviroment, and if you have a septic system they are even WORSE! grease in septic will KILL the bacteria as it cuts off the access to AIR and the bacteria dies. it is said to be worse than bleace! becasue it does not dissapate and clogs the field too.

On the system i did a 3" toilet ring (rubber ring) gasket worked like a champ, I didn't buy it for that jb but I HAD one laying in the plumbing box, after removing the 2" cast I looked at the rubber and set it there and it was a tight but perfict fit with the PVC in it... (slipped it over the PVC and then stuffed the pvc into the cast BELl in the floor...)

I have 3 GOOD cleanouts in that now...

ALSO those cast cleanouts, use a tight tip propane torch and heat the circumfrence of the cast fiting, (took me about 10 min,) then get a BIG pipewrench on it... mine were galvinized on galvinized pipe. and they had NEVER been removed as far as I know, (house is a early 50's build) anyhow good luck with the RE-TRAINING... (I suggest getting a DOG wissle and try that, if that don't work try a water gun! maybe a "Supper Soaker!" /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif )

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Junkman · Sep 17, 2004

I suggested heat, but with hub and cast, you can get in trouble quickly if you don't heat the whole pipe evenly. If you heat one section too much, it might just crack. For this reason, I would leave the heat for the professional to do. They know when and where to heat. Galvanized doesn't crack or shatter...

Chuck52 · Sep 17, 2004

Spiker and Junkman,

I value my life and happiness, so I'll climb on the roof rather than give my wife too much grief. And I think I'll let the plumber play with the clean-outs. So long as it doesn't clog during nasty weather, my current technique isn't all that bad. The roof is just a 1 in 12 pitch, and I have a nice solid patio to set the ladder up on. Thinking about it, and with all the comments, I do believe I'd like to keep the iron pipe. Drain noise isn't really a problem because it's in a more-or-less unused basement, but the pipe is solid and represents old-style quality, and that makes it worthwhile keeping it if it doesn't cause way too much trouble.

Chuck

fractal · Sep 19, 2004

Ifen you are like me, you have two problems, neither of which can be fixed.

First of all, your house settled. The plumbing initially had a slope to the street (if they did it right which they may not have). Settling can cause low points in the plumbing where the grease settles.

The second problem I definately have and you may have is ... the wife INSISTS, and no amount of every plumber in the county telling her she is wrong will change, is she runs HOT WATER when she runs the disposal. You absolutely MUST run cold water when running grease down the sink to keep it in "little balls" or coagulated as it bounces down the pipe. Run hot water and it floats for a while, then settles to the bottom and sticks to the pipe as it transitions from liquid to solid. My wife is immune to the laws of physics. Too bad the laws of physics don't give a crud about her opinions.

The only real solution is to call the plumber at least once a year. My mother learned to call them every haloween, otherwise the sink either clogs when she is cooking thanksgiving or christmas dinner and we are out after hour call rates.

Please don't use lye if you think you are going to have to call a plumber. They don't appreciate it. Their hands don't appreciate it and their tools don't appreciate it. Lye works fine if you have nice sloping pipes, but if you have nice sloping pipes, you don't need it. If you have dips where grease accumulates, that is where the lye accumulates and it is where the plumber finds it.

Anyway, in my opinion, the easiest solution to such problems is to price shop a drain cleaning service and have it done once a year, just before the holiday season. Haloween is a good reminder time. Watch the adds and you can get a main line run for 30 bucks.

Chuck52 · Sep 20, 2004

Fractal,

It's the down pipe from the kitchen that causes me problems. The main sewer it empties into has never clogged....knock on wood. I suspect that the three stacked joints in the pipe right before it empties into the main sewer are where stuff accumulates. The wife seems to be more appreciative of the problem now, so we may not have a recurrence for a while.

Chuck

slydog · Sep 28, 2004

Good luck! My wife has seen me lying on my back under the kitchen sink, scrapping knuckles and cussing at least 4 or 5 times. I guess it finally made an impression. She used to peel 10 lbs of potatoes and grind the peelings all at once. I told her she needed a limb shredder and not a garbage disposal. I finally convinced her to either throw the big pile in the trash can, or grind them a little at a time while washing them down with plenty of water.