how to loosen putty between nylon bushing & brass pip?

The U trap under a sink disintegrated leaving its threads rusted to the female nut on the horizontal pipe.

So I have to install a new horizontal stub to the wall.

I've unscrewed the nut on the wall side, and I find there is a nylon (?) seal bushing inside the waste pipe, stuck in with 40 year old plumber's putty or something.

I don't want to wrench the pipe because it will disintegrate making a mess. And I don't want to stress the joints beyond -- I can't support it because its inside the wall.

Can I use flame without melting the nylon / plastic ?

I cracked the old U when I tapped it doing a trial fit of the new 2.5 gal water heater. Very happy to have it happen now instead of noticing a stink at some point in the future.

But I AM getting tired of something breaking before I've finished fixing the last thing. Got my Uponor catalog today with part numbers for the PEX repiping job so I can start to get started on that... after I finish pulling electrical wiring... and if my good computer is successfully fixed (pulled a socket off the board, waiting for conductive epoxy to dry to see if I succeeded in salvaging a $300 laptop board...)

dont use a flame

if you want to melt that nylon washer off the steel
pipe, I suggest that you simply heat up an old straight screwdriver
untill it is red hot , then simply use it like a probe and
melt through that nylon band..




it works well to get faucet nuts to come off under tight sinks...

Well the pipe broke up, but there was still a 1" ring stuck inside the waste pipe mouth. I managed to pop it free -- but if it had been inserted deeper I could have had a real problem. It was still thick enough that I couldn't "peel" bits off easily.

For reference, what's the recommended way to do this?

recommended way

There is none. You do whatever works. In your case I assume it was a brass drain tube that was stuck. If so, then a screwdriver and hammer would have been the "recommended way".

reapirs to the pipe

AcidWater said:

Well the pipe broke up, but there was still a 1" ring stuck inside the waste pipe mouth. I managed to pop it free -- but if it had been inserted deeper I could have had a real problem. It was still thick enough that I couldn't "peel" bits off easily.

For reference, what's the recommended way to do this?

Click to expand...

maybe you ahve already fixed this,

but every thim I break a brass pipe off a the wall,
and all tha tis left is the ring,
their usually is still a sweet
suprise still left inside the drain pipe....

most likely you will find the other side of the trap arm
still inserted in the drain...nice and nasty...

and you will have to remove it
with a hammer and screwdriver or a new trap wont go back in the pipe...