Converting a house trap to PVC

[Jeff H Young]

Where does 40 years without a clog fit into the conversation? he neversaid he been there 40 years or knows that ill go a step further dont want to offend anyone but the guy that plumbed this did crappy work and either cares not or is ignorant. those are the excuses for this shit work! Thats my opinion and sticking to it . if it clogs again or not dosent change the fact its hack

 

[Reach4]

Where does 40 years without a clog fit into the conversation? he neversaid he been there 40 years or knows that ill go a step further dont want to offend anyone but the guy that plumbed this did crappy work and either cares not or is ignorant. those are the excuses for this shit work! Thats my opinion and sticking to it . if it clogs again or not dosent change the fact its hack

He did say "The blockage may have arisen due to a vent stack that was converted to a soil stack back in the late 1980s ". But you are right in that I should not assume that the recent clog was the only one since then.

It would seem a shame to do a lot of work to convert to using a PVC whole-house trap. He gets his septic pumped every few years. Adding rodding the path may not be that bad, especially if he finds a septic tank servicer that can do both pumping and rodding in the same visit.

Sylvan is a proponent of whole-house traps. But he is also a proponent of cleaning those regularly, IIRC.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[North Jersey]

I recently spoke with the previous owner, who bought the house in the early 70s, and he never mentioned having a stoppage when I discussed my plans to remove the cast iron. I've owned the house since 2019.

***EDIT****

I took a closer look at the vertical-to-horizontal transition on the stack from the attic, and I actually have two PVC 1/8 bends instead of the 1/4 bend I thought I saw from the other side of the beam.

At this stage, I want to leave the existing house trap in place since it doesn't appear to have been the source of the problem (I saw no evidence of the stoppage in the RO filter air gap). I do want to replace the cast iron tee with a combo as indicated in the picture. Should I run a long sweep directly out of the 1/8 bend at a) or should I make a jog to the left in the vertical piece after c) to align it with the new combo fitting?

 

[Jeff H Young]

Dont know what you are talking about A and b are fine C is wrong but not that big a deal . the T on the back is wrong but heck youve mostly gotten away with it. If you are asking how to change out the tee the easiest way is to put a combo and 2 1/8th bends at this point. Im not saying this build is doomed for failure just saying that real plumbers 100 percent of us know not to build this way . and its learned very early in our plumbing experiance . Ive seen tons of 1/4 bends like "C" thats way more minor

 

[Jeff H Young]

He did say "The blockage may have arisen due to a vent stack that was converted to a soil stack back in the late 1980s ". But you are right in that I should not assume that the recent clog was the only one since then.

It would seem a shame to do a lot of work to convert to using a PVC whole-house trap. He gets his septic pumped every few years. Adding rodding the path may not be that bad, especially if he finds a septic tank servicer that can do both pumping and rodding in the same visit.

Sylvan is a proponent of whole-house traps. But he is also a proponent of cleaning those regularly, IIRC.

Sylvan Ive seen is a proponent of house traps I dont know if he thinks in all cases a house trap is best. a extremly densly populated area like NYC might have differant needs than a house in the country on septic.
If for any reason I had to remove the House trap I guess I could check with AHJ to ask him if he requires it ? sounds like in that code it wouldnt be legal to remove without permission technically you would need a permit right ?
The vent tee on back is pretty blatent disregard toward proper plumbing in my mind but that dosent mean its going to ever be a problem but Id expect possible issues but wouldnt be suprised to hear of few issues or none

 

[North Jersey]

Dont know what you are talking about A and b are fine C is wrong but not that big a deal . the T on the back is wrong but heck youve mostly gotten away with it. If you are asking how to change out the tee the easiest way is to put a combo and 2 1/8th bends at this point. Im not saying this build is doomed for failure just saying that real plumbers 100 percent of us know not to build this way . and its learned very early in our plumbing experiance . Ive seen tons of 1/4 bends like "C" thats way more minor

That 1/4 bend at c) is going from horizontal to vertical (the picture was taken from below, looking up toward the ceiling). I'm not sure I understand what's wrong with it.

Are you recommending that I offset the stack after c) using two 1/8 bends to align with the combo fitting? Would that be better than cutting out the pipe between a) and b) and inserting a long sweep in the hub at a)? I have a 3-inch Reed Socket Saver bit, which will allow me to reuse that fitting.