Lordoftheflies
Active Member
Plumber redirected the 1st floor bathtub to the vent line today.
Initially the problem was the bathtub kept backing up and everytime I plunged it I got food particles in the bathtub.
I thought (as did the plumber) the reason was because of an incorrectly pitched 2" line coming out of the main sewer pipe (not sure what to call it but the toilet drains to it).
I had just cleaned out that pipe as best I could but the tub didn't flow that much better.
So.........after he did that (will post pics of that as well) and installed a mini vent for it, the dang concrete laundry basin started to leak. They had tried with might to unscrew a nut to no avail with pipe wrenches and I saw the pipes jiggling a bit and I'm pretty sure that's what caused it to loosen up.
It was the end of the day and the plumber took off after replacing the metal trap with a pvc one. Left a bucket under it.
So I decided to take a peek....and found that the whole mechanism for the drain for the laundry sink was indeed loose. (sink never leaked before but never had water backing up into it either)
It's held in by 2 flat head screws and square nuts and it looks like the plumber's putty had tried up and cracked.
As you can see by the stamp the basin was made in 1946! (same year the house was built)
Took it all apart, cleaned off the chunks of dried putty, and used some thumb gum I had left over. I didn't have any plumber's putty handy.
Is it ok to use the thumb gum? Or should I just get some plumber's putty and redo it? Seemed to make a good seal so I'm happy for now if you all think it's ok.
Given its age the drain for the sink is doing ok - just a bit of rust. Perhaps I should paint it?
Now, with regards to the redirect of the drain for the bathtub, this certainly didn't work out as well as I had hoped.
Turns out now the damn laundry sink backs up with the water if you drain a full bathtub (that's how I saw the laundry drain leak).
Does the laundry drain need its own vent like the bathtub?
I do believe this indicates I must have some serious blockage between this connection at the sink and the house trap where the water main is....because the tub is draining at the same rate post redirection. So it wasn't the incorrectly pitched pipe....and now that I think about it some more that pipe was only about 3 feet long and a full bathtub of water would over come that slight incorrect pitch.
At least I don't have to open up the line connected to the toilet to snake the bathtub any more.
Hm. Now that I think about it some more....I'm going to fill the 2nd floor bathtub (we don't use it for baths often, only the 1st floor for the kids) and see how it drains. Showers in both are no problem.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
1. Original trap pipe was already rusted through!
2. Final pvc setup for bathtub
3. Laundry sink connected to vent and bathtub
4. Date of manufacture of the laundry basin
5. Final setup below the laundry sink
Thanks.
Initially the problem was the bathtub kept backing up and everytime I plunged it I got food particles in the bathtub.
I thought (as did the plumber) the reason was because of an incorrectly pitched 2" line coming out of the main sewer pipe (not sure what to call it but the toilet drains to it).
I had just cleaned out that pipe as best I could but the tub didn't flow that much better.
So.........after he did that (will post pics of that as well) and installed a mini vent for it, the dang concrete laundry basin started to leak. They had tried with might to unscrew a nut to no avail with pipe wrenches and I saw the pipes jiggling a bit and I'm pretty sure that's what caused it to loosen up.
It was the end of the day and the plumber took off after replacing the metal trap with a pvc one. Left a bucket under it.
So I decided to take a peek....and found that the whole mechanism for the drain for the laundry sink was indeed loose. (sink never leaked before but never had water backing up into it either)
It's held in by 2 flat head screws and square nuts and it looks like the plumber's putty had tried up and cracked.
As you can see by the stamp the basin was made in 1946! (same year the house was built)
Took it all apart, cleaned off the chunks of dried putty, and used some thumb gum I had left over. I didn't have any plumber's putty handy.
Is it ok to use the thumb gum? Or should I just get some plumber's putty and redo it? Seemed to make a good seal so I'm happy for now if you all think it's ok.
Given its age the drain for the sink is doing ok - just a bit of rust. Perhaps I should paint it?
Now, with regards to the redirect of the drain for the bathtub, this certainly didn't work out as well as I had hoped.
Turns out now the damn laundry sink backs up with the water if you drain a full bathtub (that's how I saw the laundry drain leak).
Does the laundry drain need its own vent like the bathtub?
I do believe this indicates I must have some serious blockage between this connection at the sink and the house trap where the water main is....because the tub is draining at the same rate post redirection. So it wasn't the incorrectly pitched pipe....and now that I think about it some more that pipe was only about 3 feet long and a full bathtub of water would over come that slight incorrect pitch.
At least I don't have to open up the line connected to the toilet to snake the bathtub any more.
Hm. Now that I think about it some more....I'm going to fill the 2nd floor bathtub (we don't use it for baths often, only the 1st floor for the kids) and see how it drains. Showers in both are no problem.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
1. Original trap pipe was already rusted through!
2. Final pvc setup for bathtub
3. Laundry sink connected to vent and bathtub
4. Date of manufacture of the laundry basin
5. Final setup below the laundry sink
Thanks.
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