Drain into fresh air inlet..

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hagakure

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..right above where it meets the main? My mother bought a house and I am extremely limited with what she and my step father will allow due to stubbornness and money and the only available pipe to dump a half bath from the first floor is the FAI which the previous owner had buried into a wall for some strange reason. I want to cut the pipe before the elbow, close to the main, put a wye and dump the 3 inch from half bath into it, then connect a new FAI into the top of said wye and not bury it in a wall this time.

I will be using PVC for the half bath but am unsure of what the best option is for connecting to the snapped Extra Heavy 4 inch. Can sch 40 PVC connect to a hubless piece of XH pipe? Before looking like an idiot at the plumbing supply I figured I'd look like an idiot here. I just want to make sure first but I really can't think of a problem other than some obscure local code.

Thanks a lot. After doing commercial for 3 years its a pain in the ass to see 80+ yr old plumbing and have to fix it cheaply.
 
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hj

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What is this "fresh air inlet" and what makes you think you can connect ANYTHING to it? IF they do not have the money and are stubborn, you should NOT try to "improvise" something to accommodate them. Do it right or don't do it at all.
 

Terry

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I don't believe there is a term for "fresh air inlet"
We do refer to vents.
If it's a vent, then you can't dump a 1/2" bath into it.
You may need to use a location downsteam.

If your old cast is 4-1/8" OD, then use a copper by no-hub coupling. Misson makes one.

dwv_b2.jpg
 
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Dmitrius

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Good morning,

I’ll try to resurrect this old topic as this is the only reference I found on the internet to what I’m trying to do. I’m pretty sure the original poster was trying to cut-it the half bathroom drain into the main house vent - labeled fresh air inlet in the diagram below.

My situation is similar. I installed a condensing water heater a few feet away from the “fresh air inlet”, which is 4” cast iron in my case. I need a way to dump the condensate and would like to avoid installing a pump. My plan is to install a saddle tee on the cast iron about 2’ off the floor, then a small trap, then a condensate neutralizer to complete the connection to the water heater. Any thoughts on why the above might not work or be a bad idea?


Thank you.
 

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Reach4

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Bump. Anyone?
Why it is a bad idea would call for a list, plus, your proposal was not clear, but whichever way I interpret it, it has problems.

How about you need a trap to connect to a sewer. You are not supposed to drop liquids into vents (if that is what you were proposing). It could freeze while slowly dripping its way outside thru your above-ground vent? Saddle tees are not allowed on sewer lines in houses tho they can go before traps.

Have you no floor drain, sump, sink? How high off of the floor is this drain line coming out of the WH?
 

Dmitrius

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Why it is a bad idea would call for a list, plus, your proposal was not clear, but whichever way I interpret it, it has problems.

How about you need a trap to connect to a sewer. You are not supposed to drop liquids into vents (if that is what you were proposing). It could freeze while slowly dripping its way outside thru your above-ground vent? Saddle tees are not allowed on sewer lines in houses tho they can go before traps.

Have you no floor drain, sump, sink? How high off of the floor is this drain line coming out of the WH?

Please see my sketch below. I hope it clarifies the objective. The nearest drain (washing machine) is about 16’ away. The water heater is 4.5’ off the floor.
 

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Reach4

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Please see my sketch below. I hope it clarifies the objective. The nearest drain (washing machine) is about 16’ away. The water heater is 4.5’ off the floor.
Ideally, you would be rid of the whole house trap, if local code allows it. Most current codes prohibit them but some still require them.

What you propose works, but I doubt it would be considered code.
 

wwhitney

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Please see my sketch below. I hope it clarifies the objective. The nearest drain (washing machine) is about 16’ away. The water heater is 4.5’ off the floor.
I can't tell you if that complies with the NSPC (your plumbing code) but looks like it would work.

Unless there are a large number of obstructions in the way, I'd be more inclined to run the drain 16' over to the washing machine area. That would only require 4" of fall, so with the water heater at 54" AFF shouldn't be a problem to do it all by gravity. It would definitely be code compliant and wouldn't require cutting into the old work.

Cheers, Wayne
 

Tuttles Revenge

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Old heating guy I used to work with routinely tapped condensate into plumbing vents.
 

Reach4

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Old heating guy I used to work with routinely tapped condensate into plumbing vents.
Ignored by inspectors in practice, or was it actually officially permitted in your area?

I am confident that it did not actually cause a problem.
 

Tuttles Revenge

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Ignored by inspectors in practice, or was it actually officially permitted in your area?

I am confident that it did not actually cause a problem.

I'm going to go with ignored in practice for 500 Alex.
 

wwhitney

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Old heating guy I used to work with routinely tapped condensate into plumbing vents.
If the condensate from a condensing gas appliance is plumbed through a neutralizer, an airgap, and a trap to copper or cast iron DWV pipes, and the neutralizer is exhausted, the acidic condensate will corrode the cast iron or copper.

Are there any commercially available products to help with this maintenance issue?

I can imagine a permanent indicator installed on the piping after the neutralizer that would change color when the supposedly neutralized condensate gets too acidic. Or even an automatic pH meter that would shut off the condensing gas appliance.

Cheers, Wayne
 

Dmitrius

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Reporting back on my progress. Please see the attached image. Seems to be working great. Thanks to all who replied. Feedback welcome.
 

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