What to do with this?

**f_armer** · 06-12-2008, 02:48 PM

Bottom of a 3" copper pipe from amy toilet to the stack is corroded right out, what are my options to fix it. Would like to replace it with ABS, but how do I connect ABS to the Sanitary Tee? Thanks

**Terry** · 06-12-2008, 03:31 PM

You could go a little farther and replace the tees too.
ABS or PVC waste fittings don't really cost very much.
They make shielded couplings that are two sided, one for copper pipe, the other for plastic.

And this is why you flush toilets at night.
That bad stuff will burn a hole in copper in high concentrations.

**jadnashua** · 06-12-2008, 04:03 PM

Take the copper you cut out to the recycling metal shop...it's about $4/pound for scrap.

**f_armer** · 06-12-2008, 08:01 PM

from another suggestion elsewhere. I should cut the pipe off flush at the TY, and replace everything up to the toilet flange. Connect it all with a no-hub coupling over the TY, the ABS and the TY should be similar enough in size, to connect together.
Does this sound like a plan?

Terry : the suggestion about not flushing at night...it doesn't sit in that pipe overnight, it sits in the toilet...or is that what you meant?

**Redwood** · 06-12-2008, 09:07 PM

The toilet is leaking at the flange as well It wouldn't hurt to go that route.

P.S. it doesn't stay in the toilet... The stuff displaces water and urine in the bowl which spills down the trapway and into the pipe without the benifit of a good rinse down.

**Terry** · 06-13-2008, 12:02 AM

it sits in the toilet

And that's why plumbers make over $100,000 a year.
We know that things leave a toilet.
The technical term is "flush"
And if you don't "flush", it just leaves slowly, and your pictures look just like a home from a family friend, a doctor that did not flush at night.
I've seen it before.
Trying to save money.

**master plumber mark** · 06-13-2008, 04:23 AM

I had to about do the same thing in my home

cut out the line flush to the tee and installled a 3 inch
fernco fitting to change over to pvc... then attached a new pvc flange abov efloor...

that duct tape looks good...

the flange going up through the floor looks pretty different....

you might have to fernco onto the bottom of it if the copper is still good

**f_armer** · 06-14-2008, 03:43 PM

Duct tape was working well, but I thought I'd better improve it, does this pass??

**jadnashua** · 06-14-2008, 06:14 PM

While it will work, the fitting you have that connects to the T is not specified for use above ground...it is supposed to have a metal reinforcement/alignment band around it. That fitting is designed for below ground use.

**Sandpiper Plumbing** · 06-14-2008, 09:20 PM

Not too bad. I've seen worse.
If it works, give yourself a pat on the back.

**f_armer** · 06-15-2008, 07:23 AM

I know it was not the right connector but it is all I could get. It is a 50 mile drive to the nearest plumbing parts, and they only have the bare minimum.
You think I should get the proper connector if I can find one next time I'm to a bigger center?
I thought the 90 was the same as what the brass one was.?.

**Terry** · 06-15-2008, 07:41 AM

It looks better than before.
The old picture was a pretty good example of rotted out copper pipe.

**tototalitarian** · 06-15-2008, 08:14 AM

The Drake has a double air gap , at least that is what I understood from some drawings posted here.
Does "toilet seepage" occur with the drake also ?

**Terry** · 06-15-2008, 08:32 AM

Anytime you add fluid to a bowl, it will "overfill" the bowl, and the excess will go down the drain.

The back of the trapway is like a dam. The water reaches the top of the dam, and that's the water surface in the bowl.
When you add more water, it goes over the dam and down the drain.

The Drake has a second dam in the lower trapway, same thing happens there.

We are not talking dammed up. The Columbia River has many dams, but there is still water flowing in the river.

So for those that like to add to the river in the night, without flushing to dilute the acid, expect your copper lines to look like the top picture.

**tototalitarian** · 06-15-2008, 08:51 AM

Terry
Obviously there is some merit to your theory of copper and the corrosive properties of urine.
All you have to do is look at what years of urine do to copper drain lines ...your site has several pictures.
Here is an article here on the properties of urine, it can be both acidic and basic.
Neutral is pH of 7.0 , acidic is pH<7, basic is ph >7.0.
Obviously the study conducted by this group does not factor in the time element and years of contact of urine with copper.
Here, a case of real life vs theory.
In this case , your real life experience is more accurate.
http://www.sloanvalve.com/waterfree/...-Corrosion.pdf