Is there a plumber in the house?

[Hawkmoon]

I need to snake the drain line from a bathtub. The house is 73 years old, the line is a 2" or 2-1/2" galvanized steel pipe. There is a tee with a clean-out plug where the tub drain drops into the line ... but the cleanout plug has been in place for 73 years.

A number of years ago I had a helluva time getting the plug out to snake the line for the other tub. This one is going to be ten or fifteen years more firmly entrenched. What's the best/easiest way for me to get it out?

[Brad Johnson]

I need to snake the drain line from a bathtub. The house is 73 years old, the line is a 2" or 2-1/2" galvanized steel pipe. There is a tee with a clean-out plug where the tub drain drops into the line ... but the cleanout plug has been in place for 73 years.

A number of years ago I had a helluva time getting the plug out to snake the line for the other tub. This one is going to be ten or fifteen years more firmly entrenched. What's the best/easiest way for me to get it out?

Galvanized steel in a residential drain? Yikes.

Heat is your friend. Heat the collar with a small torch to swell it away from the threads. Water-sizzle warm is fine. Any hotter and you start running the risk of potentially igniting sewer gasses. If you don't have a torch, a heat gun will do. Could even use a hair dryer, just takes longer. Get the collar warm and give the plug a couple of sharp raps with a hammer. Repeat a couple of times if necessary.

Brad

[Kingcreek]

I would get some penetrating oil on the thread joint now and let it work for awhile, then heat and brute force as needed.

[MillCreek]

I like the penetrating oil on the threads first idea.

[French G.]

Thats where I was, kroil and heat. And six feet worth of cheater bar. Reinstalled with antiseize. The source of my woe? The kitchen drains to a gravel sump via an asphalt drain pipe. Wouldn't be clogged if the gutter downspouts right under the maple tree didn't run to the same line.

Oh, and I just finished super duper water filter install and re doing the whole house in PEX rather than 1941 and up iron pipe and copper. The shower doesn't leak. Also pulled the well pump on new years eve for funsies. So I can report confidently there is no plumber in this house. One less idea for self employment too, I'd rather shovel pig manure while wading in it.

[Nick1911]

Oil, heat and beat are always good.  Once on something similar I arc welded a socket to it and used an impact.

Twice with steel pipe around 2 inch diameter I cut it off with about a half inch stub remaining and collapsed the threaded in bit with a cold chisel and hammer.

Good luck, hope it doesn't fight you too much

[grampster]

Detcord!  Someone had to say it.

[HankB]

Thats where I was, kroil and heat. And six feet worth of cheater bar.

Kroil and heat sound good, but with 73 year old galvanized pipes I'd worry about breaking something with the torque from a six foot cheater bar unless I somehow supported the base pipe.

But then again, plumbing and I don't really get along well . . .

[cordex]

Old pipes aren't any fun at all.  My in-laws had a leak in their bathroom, so I went to take a look at it.  The ~50 year old copper pipe crumbled in my bare hands.

[K Frame]

Once you get the plug out... IF you get the plug out... see if you can replace it with a plastic/PVC plug. You may need to cheat the threads to clean them up.

[Hawkmoon]

Once you get the plug out... IF you get the plug out... see if you can replace it with a plastic/PVC plug. You may need to cheat the threads to clean them up.

That's what I did for the other tub drain when it had to get snaked.

To get that one out, I ended up drilling most of it with progressively larger bits, then sawing and then chiseling out the remains. I was hoping not to have to do that again.

[JTHunter]

Hawkmoon - do you know if the drain on this tub has a "P" trap or a "can" trap?  You can't snake a can trap.  Don't even try unless you want a leak.

And HankB is right about that cheater bar.  You might turn that old iron pipe into a pretzel.

[Kingcreek]

That's what I call "destructive plumbing".
the nice thing about it is you just destroy and replace as you go. Eventually you come to stable material suitable for a transition.

[Tuco]

Sawzall.
Fernco cap and a stainless steel band clamp.

[Hawkmoon]

Hawkmoon - do you know if the drain on this tub has a "P" trap or a "can" trap?  You can't snake a can trap.  Don't even try unless you want a leak.

And HankB is right about that cheater bar.  You might turn that old iron pipe into a pretzel.

I'm looking to snake the drain line below the trap, where the tailpiece joins the horizontal run in the crawlspace. It's a straight shot -- if I can get the cleanout plug removed.

[RocketMan]

Sawzall.
Fernco cap and a stainless steel band clamp.

This for the win.

[K Frame]

I've only encountered one drum trap in all of the years I've been working on home plumbing. This one was all lead and was probably from the 1890s.

The biggest problems with drum traps are that they aren't self scouring, which means they are liable to clog just by filling up with crap, and as noted, they really can't be snaked -- they have to be opened and cleaned.

Worse, most of the old drum traps people will encounter are lead, and in trying to snake one it's not unknown to actually punch right through the side of the trap.

[JTHunter]

I've only encountered one drum trap in all of the years I've been working on home plumbing. This one was all lead and was probably from the 1890s.

The biggest problems with drum traps are that they aren't self scouring, which means they are liable to clog just by filling up with crap, and as noted, they really can't be snaked -- they have to be opened and cleaned.

Worse, most of the old drum traps people will encounter are lead, and in trying to snake one it's not unknown to actually punch right through the side of the trap.

That's why we replaced mine several years ago.  I don't know if it was lead as the house was built in '61 and I don't remember what the plumber said it was - or even if he did say.

[K Frame]

Wow. I'm shocked that someone would have put a drum trap in a home built that late. But, I guess they were still code compliant, so why not.

I know that they were being made and used in the 1940s and 1950s because of the high use of galvanized piping during and after the war when copper was still in short supply.

It was easier to make a drum trap and make sure that was in a place that it could be opened and clean than to make galvanized S or P traps.