Plumbing help needed

I used to work as a plumbers helper and you only have to know 3 things to be a plumber. Hot on right, cold on left, and poopie doesn't run up hill.

If you try to heat up that tee and turn it, it is most likely going to leak. It isn't just lead in there, but also some wadding/twine stuff that I can't remember the name of. If it were me, I would cut out the tee and replace it with PVC or cast iron without the flanges. You can rent a racheting cast iron pipe cutter to cut it. Looks similar to a come along, but the chain is more like a large gear chain with round teeth in it. You rachet it up and the pipe snaps along the chain. From there, you would get some of the cast iron couplings. Basically, they are a rubber gasket with sheet metal around them that have hose clamps that you tighten. I believe the BORG sells them as well.
 
Hey Matt those Shark-Bite fittings are truly wonderful huh? I did a thread on them about a month ago when I did my new addition. When the guy showed me you can slip them on and join PVC, copper and Pex all with the same Tee, I was impressed. They are expensive granted, but I was able to Pex out a bathroom, a laundry room and tie it all into my old plumbing system in half an hour and without a single leak.

You forgot to mention one thing though and that is their greatest asset...you can reuse them over and over.

They were designed by the US Navy for submarine use. They needed a fitting that was quick to install and might save them if their ship got damaged. Quite an impressive fitting.

As for your perplexing problem, if possible I would not fuss with the iron pipe. I have three houses, 2 of which are 200 years old and have leaded iron pipes in them. They probably were a pain to install, but they still work after years and years of service. No need to replace something that will last enough 100 years. Just do what you have to do to plumb up to it.
 
I used to work as a plumbers helper and you only have to know 3 things to be a plumber. Hot on right, ...

Gee, Travis, Hot goes on the right, eh? That must be why you're an EX-plumber's helper. ;):rolleyes::rofl:

(aside: the way I learned the joke is, the three things to know are: hot is on the left, "water" runs down hill, and payday is Friday.)

Personally, I would also stick with copper. You slip an insulating sheet behind the joint and get the joint done quickly. But that is your choice. I also agree with the guys about cutting out the cast iron and using the flexible rubber coupling to transition to ABS. I did something like that back in Edmonton when I took out our main soil stack, which was 4" of cast iron. Taking it out was a pain in the backside, but replacing it with ABS was SOOO much easier than trying to adapt the cast iron to my renovation work.
 
Soldering in close quarters really isn' that difficult. They make special "blankets/pads" to insulate the area near the soldering job. I have used a piece of galvanized flashing material I had left over from roofing my house. I just cut a 16" piece of the 8" IIRC galvanized flashing and bent it to get it between the floor joists and cut and soldered away. The metal just acts as a "heat sink"....absorbs and dissapates the heat.
 
Gee, Travis, Hot goes on the right, eh? That must be why you're an EX-plumber's helper. ;):rolleyes::rofl:

(aside: the way I learned the joke is, the three things to know are: hot is on the left, "water" runs down hill, and payday is Friday.)

Personally, I would also stick with copper. You slip an insulating sheet behind the joint and get the joint done quickly. But that is your choice. I also agree with the guys about cutting out the cast iron and using the flexible rubber coupling to transition to ABS. I did something like that back in Edmonton when I took out our main soil stack, which was 4" of cast iron. Taking it out was a pain in the backside, but replacing it with ABS was SOOO much easier than trying to adapt the cast iron to my renovation work.

Art,
I'm glad that I'm not the only one that caught that.
I've always put the hot on the left. :)

John
 
I've done a few bathroom remods. Some have been pretty old and had galvanized supply and cast iron drains. What I've always done is to go into the basement and cut off the cast iron and replace it with PVC. Just rent the cast iron cutter and get rid of the old stuff. Then use a Fernco coupler to attach the PVC to the cast iron. PVC is MUCH easier to deal with than cast iron. :)

Good luck!

John
 
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