I can’t get the damn thing out. WD-40, beat on a crescent wrench and a pipe wrench with a hammer.
It’s iron, been in place at least forty years. The washer that drains into it backs up into the laundry sink. Things eventually drain, so I don’t need an answer fast.
Beat it in both directions alternating. This helps break the rust bond. Pour vinegar on it and let sit overnight. Beat down on it too if you have not already. Apply heat to the edges with a torch if the pipe is metal too. Gain more torque by getting an extension bar on there. Use a pipe wrench with a pipe over the handle. A crescent wrench is no torque at all. You need more. Get a bigger hammer.
Either call a plumber now, or after you break something.
Yeah.
James, who dropped the water heater on me will probably do it for 25 bucks. :rolleyes:
I tried not to bleed on the check book at Lowes.
But dammit, it’s just a frigging bolt!
Actually, it is quite a bit different than “just a frigging bolt”, if by bolt, you mean a hex-head cap-screw, and it’s the difference that is causing the problem.
With a hex-head cap-screw, the flats on the head are located quite a bit farther from the centerline than the threads (particularly if you consider the corners, where the force from the wrench creates the torque). In the cap-screw case, the torque created by a 1 pound force on the head is just about twice the torque created by 1 pound resistance on the threads.
On your plug, however, the threads are farther from the center than the (square) head. This means you have to put a higher force on the head than the threads are resisting with.
Try whacking the plug on top with a hammer. You can try heating the pipe while trying to keep the plug cool (don’t heat it red-hot, I wouldn’t go over the boiling point of water). Use a pipe wrench, not an adjustable crescent-type wrench, maybe one with a three foot handle.
Good Luck
excavating (for a mind)
If you’ve got a cold chisel, try tapping along the rim of the plug at various spots around its circumference - with luck, it will start to turn. If that doesn’t break the bonds of rust and old pipe dope, go from tapping to whacking.
Absolute worst case scenario is you break the tee fitting that the plug is screwed into, or the pipe itself breaks at the threads. That’s when you bring out the checkbook to have someone cut out the broken section and replace it (probably) with rubber compression fittings.
On re-read… do you really need to pull the plug? If the washer drains into a standpipe, you should be able to snake from there and ignore the cleanout.
I am not quite sure anybody’s suggestions are like mine. Work with a punch or chisel at the edge, but in a tangental direction. If that was what Al bundy mean by both ways, it was excellent advice.
Assuming cast iron, and around 2 inches or larger. Go to a hardware store and look at pipe caps. I am also assuming that it has a square head on it. It is weak in the center. Now that you have viewed it.
Here is how I have handled getting pipe plugs out of waste lines. With a hammer and a punch or chisel. Break the cap. Hit it in the center on the lower edge of the square head. Do not hit it hard enough to break the fittting. After the center is broken out work to the out side from the center breaking pieces out. When it is completely broken out make sure that you did not hit the threads of the fitting.
Do you work and clean out the drain. We always put in ABS plugs with plenty of pipe dope.
Heat and lots of it from a propane torch. Heat the pipe, not the plug. But only do this if you are absolutely sure you are not going to burn your house down. And if you are sure of that, have two buckets of water and a fire extinguiser close at hand.
Just be careful with all that hammering. If you hit it too hard, your likely to cause damage to other fittings the pipe connects into. I often find a light hammer will cause sharper shocks without damaging things. Heat will work wonders. Be careful not to set your smoke alarms off because the fiber/rubber seals or sealing compound will let off smoke when hot enough.
A gas torch might be a bit dangerous in some areas so you might try a hot air gun if you can get hold of one for the day. Failing a hot air gun, just position your TV set near the thing when some political campaign speeches come on.
I’m going for the guy who throws water heaters at me for twenty five bucks.
Thanks, all.
I’ll report on his method.
WD-40 is a water dispersant (WD), it is absolutly lousy for use as penetrating oil to loosen frozen metal threads.
Go to an auto parts store and ask for PB Blaster penetrating catalyst. If they don’t have it try some place else and never by auto parts from this store.
Spray and let it soak for awhile, overnight would be good, then try the wrench again. That should work, it works well with or without heat. If it doesn’t work without heat and IF this plug is in a **SAFE PLACE **to use heat, then warm up the pipe, not the plug, as enipla says.
Thanks, Dallas, I’ll try that before wimping out and calling the plumber.
It is against a wall and next to a gas dryer, so I’ll not try a torch.
“Heating the pipe” does rather answer my question, “Won’t the pipe and plug expand at the same rate since they are made of the same material?”
Amazingly, I had this very same problem yesterday.
I wound up adding a 4 foot cheater pipe to my pipe wrench, slowly added pressure until the @#$%er finally turned.
Then the grossness resumed. Up to my elbow in wastewater, I used a wire to pull the clot. The satisfaction is worth it, though. The clot was about 3/4 the size of a std Snickers bar but considerably less pleasant to look at and smell.
That’s the way to do it!
I was wondering when someone was going to say this. WD-40 does nothing to break rust free.
Even if you do heat both the pipe and plug, then they would both expand proportionally, and so will the gap between the two.
At least that’s the theory. I have never messed with torches and stuck parts.
I have used a center punch or chisel to dig a divot and then pound at a tangent, as others have mentioned above. This technique works wonders on all kinds of stuck fasteners. It was particularly useful when dealing with frozen flathead socket screws that were so tight they broke my Allen keys.
One thing heat does is drive off the water of hydration in the rust or other oxide crystals. That changes the size and shape of them. It also burns off organics.