I have a laundry sink which has been getting clogged a lot due to lint. I can’t get a snake thru the bend, because it gets snagged on the lip of the cleaning port, which I can’t get open. The drain is a solid piece of steel pipe from the sink to the wall, probably installed in the 30s. I would like to cut the bend off and replace it with one that I can get access to when needed.
I had a quote from a plumber to do this, and it would be about $300. It looks like something I should be able to handle, since most of the work would be cutting the thing off. I know that I would need some sort of compression fitting to put the new pipe on the cut ends of the steel pipe, but that is it.
So what kind of fittings and pipe do I need to do this? What would be the best way to cut the pipe?
I don’t know much about the fittings, but I recently had a plumber come in and work on my laundry drain, and to cut the ancient 3" drainpipe, he just pulled out a sawzall and whacked straight through it.
put a filter (women’s long nylon stocking works) on the washer discharge to keep lint from going into drain.
hacksaw will cut pipe.
you can get trap components and compression fittings in both metal and PVC.
go to a good hardware or home improvement store and look at the plumbing drain parts, if it’s a good store the people there can advise. get all the parts and procedure figured out before buying parts or cutting pipe.
There is no welding or gluing to be done here. If you need any kind of sealant on the joints other than compression washers, you’re doing it wrong.
Where the drain goes into the wall - how is it attached to the pipe in the wall? The hard part most likely, will be to “bust a nut” and get the old drain out. Ideally, you’ll end up with a fitting with nothing in it and clean threads, ready to accept a new drain pipe.
On the assumption that the drain is either a standard 1-1/2 or 1-1/4" diameter, you should be able to replace everything between the sink and wall with about twenty bucks’ worth of fittings.
Whether you stick with metal or go with PVC, it’s just tinker-toy “slip this in and snug up the big nut” stuff. PVC is a bit more DIY-friendly.
You may need to replace the sink’s tailpiece. Normally, they just screw in with a little plumber’s putty to seal, but if your sink and its fittings really are 70+ years old, it might be a whole lot quicker (and cheaper than that plumber!) to replace the entire sink with a new one.
The only “gotcha” would be in the sink’s overall dimensions and that connection to the pipe in the wall.
4" sidegrinder with diamond blade (ear plugs/eye protection) to cut the steel. Sandpaper to remove burrs which will cause drain blockage over time. Rubber “Furnco” fitting, one end 1 1/2" for new PVC P-trap, other end to fit steel pipe tightly. Use “Rectorseal” or “Slick-tight” as pipe dope, coating steel and PVC, slip Furnco on, use socket to tighten the hose clamp not a screwdriver. Properly a Furnco should be installed horizontally. It’s a 15 minute job. Furnco will last about 20 years, so it should remain visible for replacement at some point.
It’s possible that the collar thing at the top of the pipe will spin and release the pipe from the bottom of the sink, which would allow the pipe to be unscrewed from the stack. I wouldn’t count on it though. I think it would be easier to cut it under the sink, and then cut the galvanized pipe at the edge of the trap. If there isn’t enough length to attach the coupling at the wall, I could break out the plaster to get another inch or so.
I figured out that I need a fernco, or no-hub coupling of some kind, but I didn’t know if there should be some kind of sealant to go with it.
Before doing any major work, I would give the snake a few more tries.
I imagine that it is catching on the lip of that little cleanout plug at the bottom of the P-trap, no?
I have had this happen before, and the trick was to bend the last inch or two of the snake by hand a good amount (e.g. 45 degrees) before inserting it in the drain. That way, with careful alignment of the snake, it can sometimes be encouraged to go past the catching point.
also a coiled rotating drum snake might work. rotate the drum as you gently feed it in, the point may ride over the lip it’s catching on. if needed a slight withdraw, inch or two, and retry with rotating the whole time feeding can allow it to ride over the lip.