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I purchased a house that was built in 1920. There is a cast pipe that comes from the upstairs and curves to Y into the main drain with the 1st level cast iron drain. On that curve before the Y it is leaking now and the previous owner tried a fiberglass patch and looks like a poor attempt that didn't last long. The curve is a 60 degree or so and the patch currently on it spans maybe a foot centered on the curve of the cast pipe. Is there any advice on how to fix this problem. Thanks.
I'll be honest and tell you I haven't ever really worked with cast iron pipe. But since no one else has chimed in, I'll toss out a few ideas.
First, as a temporary fix, you might try some of the black tape found in the plumbing section of Lowes/HD. Might give a little more breathing room.
Next, if you have ANY room to move the pipe, I'd probably suggest removing the leaking section and replacing the pipe and/or gasket. If you think you can flex the pipe to get a new piece in place, I'd probably recommend that. A lot of work, however, and cast iron isn't the most forgiving of materials.
Otherwise, you might try googling for recommended solutions. A quick search showed me mostly rubber-gasket and clamp-type solutions. There may be an epoxy-type solution out there as well.
Good Luck!
Jimmy_the_noo Lairg Scotland United Kingdom (Zone 4b)
As a temporary measure only, go to a plumbers merchants and purchase "Denso Tape" This is precisely what it is designed for. But be warned, it is a messy stuff to work with so you'll need disposable gloves.
Remove the old fibreglass and other dirt, rust etc and ensure the cast iron pipe is dry, so make sure no water is discharged down through the pipe for several hours beforehand to give the fractured area time to dry out.
Apply the tape as you would a bandage extending to at least 6 inches either side of the crack. As you apply each layer, rub the tape well into the pipe as if you were working with clay and smooth the edges each time. You don't need to wait for the tape to set or dry. Providing you have applied and worked it in correctly when the pipe was dry, you can use the toliet, sink or whatever straight away.
The real cure is to replace the cast iron section. This can be done with new CI but is expensive. There is also another alternative which involves cutting out (very difficult) or removing the entire length of pipe affected and replace with PVC waste pipe and rubber coupling joints. In both cases, you would be well advised to get a plumber to do the work for you.
If you're fairly handy you can repair it yourself.
You need to go to a rent it store ar plumbing supply or harfdware store and rent a cast iron pipe cutter. They are easy to use.
Cut iut the bad section of pipe out and or the elbow in question.
You'll be replacing it with pvc plastic pipe. I assume it is either 3 0r 4 inch.
You connect the cast iron to the pvc with rubber connectors held on by stainless steel calmps.
The folks at your local hardware store can help you out.
This is a fairly simple repair.
Good luck, let us know how it goes.
BTW this type of repair is fully compliant to all plumbing codes.
The fitting you are referring to is called a "combination" or a "tee-wye", and is a pretty common fitting. The repair that I make on these pipes is to cut the pipe on the upstream side of the fitting, the downstream side of the fitting (both on the horizontal pipe), and above the leak on the vertical pipe or "stack". Then put in a P.V.C. tee-wye and connect like size pipe with clamp-alls. I would call your local plumber and get his opinion. Remember that temporary means just that.
well,if you do not have much plumbing experience, i would recommend you hire a plumber, because if you start poking around with snap cutters on the old pipe you can end up with a larger crack, until you get to a good spot on the pipe.
I come from a long line of DIY'ers who try all kinds of solutions on the fly. Trust me, old pipe, particularly cast iron pipe, is trickier than it looks. When my parents renovated their 1850 house, (with plumbing installed in 1922... the pipes were dated!) we had some old cast iron pipe. My mom was able to replace a section of the vent stack relatively easily, but when she had a complex piece, she got breakage problems and had to call in an expert. The breakage alone cost us an exra $1000 all by itself. Some of that was clean-up cost, btw.
Further, we *needed* the expert (despite my father's significant amateur experience... he'd even put running water into my mom's green house) to both re-route some of the plumbing and remove the old fittings. They had pipes branching five ways, I kid you not.
Heck, even lead can be a challenge when it's old. They had to call in "old house" specialists just to remove some of the old pipe. But then, we had wood inlet pipes on that house. They carted them away with thanks, and now they are in a museum!
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replacing it with pvc plastic pipe, is a good idea and the folks at your local hardware store can help you out. This is a fairly simple repair. Cutting the bad section of pipe out also help you out of this problem either it is more good to hire a plumber.
Real late getting into this question but as I read all the comments I think there is some confusion about the real problem. As I read the first item it seems to me the problem is not in cast iron pipe. While Adamv called it cast, I am thinking it is not truly cast but a piece of lead pipe which connects into cast iron. This is not unusual in older houses. The cast iron pipe is really hard to get just the right sizes and shape to go to the drain of the fixtures so semi-flexible lead pipes were used. I have never really seen a split in the side of a cast iron pipe but it is easy to imagine one in the side of lead pipe. My suggested fix would have dealt with cleaning, fluxing and soldering the lead pipe. I'm sure Adam has long ago solved his crisis but for any future readers, I wanted to throw in my two cents. Maybe I spend too much time reading old forum postings??
ok, I bought a 1910 home, and have 3½' of a 4' section of cast iron pipe that is split. All plumbing was added to the building in 1927 (what the heck did they do for water for 17 years???) Anyway, I was finally able to cut out a 1' section of the middle of the pipe, But my question is how do you remove the two ends of the pipe, they do not seam to want to move at all. Is it becasue lead was melted into the joints?? This pipe is in an extremely tight spot, and I only have access to about ¼ of the exterior face of the pipe.
Any help would be appreciated.
hello..i am a plumber, if you nave a cracked or busted cast iron pipe it can be repaired. the only problem you will have is cutting it
i use a castiron cutter,costs about 350 bucks. so if you dont have one ,you will have to use a grinder. a 4 1/2" grinder can be purchasedat the local hardware store. the problems with using a grinder is the mess, and you have to have access to around the pipe. once you get it cut out. replace the pipe with pvc
you will need a mission band. at the local plumbving supply
if its a 3" pipe you will need a ...3" castiron x 3' pvc mission band
if you need to replace a lead pipe into a cast pipe use a e-z-tite
gasket
I have a question. I just purchased a 1960 house that has a cast iron pipe in the basement. It's leaking in a couple of places and I'm wondering if the entire section can be replaced w/ PVC?
The below photo shows (in circles) the two place it's leaking.
