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Drain Pipe Issue

cycloner29

cycloner29

Well-Known Member
Dec 17, 2008
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Neighbor had an issue with some water dripping on his patio. My first thought was to get the siding off in order to help it start to dry out no matter what was causing the issue. Turns out it was the 1.5" copper drain line coming out of his disposal that seemed to have a seam that had opened. Thankfully we got to it quick enough, but man the insulation smelled like the sewer. The house was built in the 50's so the plumbing is right next to the interior drywall of the house. My question is: Is it better to just cut the pipe and put in PVC up to the were we cut the copper pipe or take a torch and heat the pipe soften the lead and pull it out replace with new copper pipe or let a plumber handle it? The T- fitting is right next to stud as seen in the picture. You can tell by the bottom picture the charred stud would how it was sweated. The double studs are for the kitchen window. The upper drain pipe comes from the sink. The leak is about 8" to the left of the cracked stud. The pipes like I said are up against the plastic sheathing.


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cycloner29 said:
Neighbor had an issue with some water dripping on his patio. My first thought was to get the siding off in order to help it start to dry out no matter what was causing the issue. Turns out it was the 1.5" copper drain line coming out of his disposal that seemed to have a seam that had opened. Thankfully we got to it quick enough, but man the insulation smelled like the sewer. The house was built in the 50's so the plumbing is right next to the interior drywall of the house. My question is: Is it better to just cut the pipe and put in PVC up to the were we cut the copper pipe or take a torch and heat the pipe soften the lead and pull it out replace with new copper pipe or let a plumber handle it? The T- fitting is right next to stud as seen in the picture. You can tell by the bottom picture the charred stud would how it was sweated. The double studs are for the kitchen window. The upper drain pipe comes from the sink. The leak is about 8" to the left of the cracked stud. The pipes like I said are up against the plastic sheathing.


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If I am seeing it correctly, I would cut above the top tee, and below the bottom tee then cut in the middle of both copper pipes in the exposed area between studs and eliminate that entire assembly. Then, pre solder the new tee's and the straight length of pipe off both tee's before you install. Then the only soldering you have to do is on four couplings. One below and above the tee's and one on each leg of pipe between the studs. Don't know if this helps or confuses. Personally, I don't ever mix PVC and copper on in wall applications. It is better to be all PVC or all copper when it's covered up. If it is exposed, then it doesn't matter.

Edit: As for being close to the plastic for soldering, if you or your neighbor have an old license plate or two, they work great as a heat shield. If the plastic melts a bit, tack up some new.
 
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Not sure how skilled you are as a Plumber. For a leak like that I would definitely call a Professional and be certain that it is fixed properly. But I am not skilled at soldering copper pipes like some. Self fix for me would be ill advised. Possible leaks would be disastrous.
 
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I would simply cut the pipe between the studs, it looks like there is about a 3" wide space there, if you are able to get a hack saw in there. I don't see how a pipe cutter would fit in there since the pipe is so close to the wall, so a hack saw would have to do the cutting. Or a reciprocating saw if it fits.

Anyway, cut the pipe between the studs and then again past the leak. Then measure your new piece and feed the new pipe through the hole in the stud and into the coupling. then solder the coupling to both pipes. Alternatively, you could solder a coupling to your new pipe piece first and then feed it through the stud and onto the old pipe. But I prefer soldering both ends of a coupling at the same time, so I would use the first method.

Tricky part will be if there is enough give in the old existing pipe to your left that allows you to get the other coupling in place on the left end of your new pipe piece.
 
Brandon said:
I'd remove the tee and replace with pex.
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PEX is for supply lines, not a drain. Anyway, the cheap DIY fix that you'd see around here is probably a rubber coupling to PVC line. Probably not recommended.
 
Should have looked closer, get a couple fernco couplers and make the tee and rest from pvc.
 
  • Agree
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Would you want the Fernco couple only on the vertical portion? That would make sense.
 
ArgentCy said:
Would you want the Fernco couple only on the vertical portion? That would make sense.
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What you state earlier was correct. That is the cheap DIY method and usually isn't recommended with closed wall work. If it's exposed work like drain pipe in the basement between joists or running down the foundation wall then it's usually not a problem. Only time it's probably okay in wall is on the main chute i.e. 3 or 4" vent pipe. Even then, I wouldn't do it unless it was in a area that is easily accessible.
 
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Didn't see the 1.5", thought it was. 5". Either way you wouldn't use pex on that large of a copper line.
 
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Are those photos from interior or exterior of the house? Being copper piping and if you already are going to be tearing up a wall some to repair it I'd just go all in and replace the entire drain line with PVC and replace the bad insulation and anything else damaged in the wall so you don't have to go back in later for another repair. Old houses suck for this kind of stuff because codes have changed so much over the years you never know what you are going to find when you open up a wall.
 
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You can get cpvc to match od of copper and it withstands higher temps. To say there is no reason to use these days is stupid.
 
Since the guy has a couple of days to let the framing dry out, the drain line is about 3' from the tee. There is an elbow on the other end that goes into the house. Of course where the elbow goes into the house there is a stud they had to corner out to get the elbow in.:confused:

Thinking that cutting the copper pipe between the studs cut out the section of stud to get the old pipe out, get a new section of copper pipe with a threaded elbow and coupler. Sweat the elbow and coupler on, then all we would have to do is do one connection (sweat in the wall).
He is going probably going to have to cut out around the stud to get the elbow to fit.

Thankfully for him it is a drain. I redid my own dishwasher water lines a couple of years ago and that was not fun. I will never do water lines again.

Just trying to save the guy some money.
 
ArgentCy said:
CPVC is never the correct choice. No reason to use it these days.
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As long as you prime and adhesive and not just adhesive, CPVC does just fine. Inspectors need to see the purple primer AND orange adhesive on each fitting to pass.
 
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