A couple of plumbing questions

[fnord]

I'm in the home stretch on my kitchen. I gutted it back to the studs and took out a wall, re-wired and re-plumbed everything, the sheetrock's up, last weekend I got all of the hanging cabinets and the base corner cabinets in, and this weekend I got the rest of the base cabinets in, the gas stove in (you should have seen my wife and I, she's 5'2", getting the gas stove up the stairs last night, it was insanity), I got the dishwasher in and wired, the countertops and sink in, and the new faucet in and all connected.

I'm down to final connections now, for the drain under the sink, which will feed out from the garbage disposal, which is also finally wired up and ready to roll.

Here I hit my quandary.

I've got 1 1/2" pvc coming in for the drain. the sink trap kit I've bought says '1 1/2"' on it, but it's a lot smaller than the 1 1/2" pvc coming in. How do I make the connection?

Also, the pipe coming off of the disposal is a straight pipe. It has no ridge on the end or anything. I don't understand how a pipe is supposed to connect to it with a nut and stay connected, it makes no sense to me. Yes, I'm probably just exhausted, I worked until midnight last night and through to 8 o'clock tonight, but my brain just isn't grasping it (and I'm rambling).

So, to sum up:

1) Straight pipe coming off of disposal -- how does one get something to attach to it?

2) 1 1/2" drain pipe coming in from wall -- how does one attach the smaller 1 1/2" sink trap kit to it?

Why doesn't 1 1/2" mean 1 1/2"? Last night I was working with the pipes for the gas, and they're nuts too. 1/2" pipe for gas is a LOT bigger than 1/2". It's more like 3/4", which is the next size up, and is more like an inch.

Maybe it's time to convert to metric and sell everything with an honest size :]

thanks, John

[Doug Miller]

With one of these:

Got an Ace Hardware anywhere near you? If not, they sell them at Lowe's and Home Depot, too. And of course any plumbing supply house will have them.

Nuts and gaskets. See link at lowes.com below.

That's not exactly what you need, but it'll give you some idea. Lowe's, Home Depot, and Ace sell disposer connection kits that have everything you need. Ten bucks or so should cover it.

noted above

Welcome to the world of nominal sizes.

This your first plumbing project? :-)

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I.D. & O.D? Tony

[blueman]

I am impressed!!! You get a heck of a lot done in one weekend. I usually get only one or two things done each weekend. Heck, when my parents redid their kitchen, it took a whole team of high end workers about 9 months to do the job working weekdays!

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm in the home stretch on my kitchen. I gutted it back to the studs and took out a wall, re-wired and re-plumbed everything, the sheetrock's up, last weekend I got all of the hanging cabinets and the base corner cabinets in, and this weekend I got the rest of the base cabinets in, the gas stove in (you should have seen my wife and I, she's 5'2", getting the gas stove up the stairs last night, it was insanity), CY: I'm tired just reading this.

I got the dishwasher in and wired, the countertops and sink in, and the new faucet in and all connected.

I'm down to final connections now, for the drain under the sink, which will feed out from the garbage disposal, which is also finally wired up and ready to roll.

Here I hit my quandary.

I've got 1 1/2" pvc coming in for the drain. the sink trap kit I've bought says '1 1/2"' on it, but it's a lot smaller than the 1 1/2" pvc coming in. How do I make the connection? CY: Might be inside diameter? I'm thinking either an adaptor, or maybe a rubber connector with the two hose clamps.

Also, the pipe coming off of the disposal is a straight pipe. It has no ridge on the end or anything. I don't understand how a pipe is supposed to connect to it with a nut and stay connected, it makes no sense to me. Yes, I'm probably just exhausted, I worked until midnight last night and through to 8 o'clock tonight, but my brain just isn't grasping it (and I'm rambling). CY: There might be a plastic ferrule in there, which turns it into a compression fitting. I saw this one time for a drain. Confused me for a long time.

So, to sum up:

1) Straight pipe coming off of disposal -- how does one get something to attach to it? CY: Ferrule? plastic compression?

2) 1 1/2" drain pipe coming in from wall -- how does one attach the smaller 1 1/2" sink trap kit to it? CY: Rubber fermco connector, and hose clamps.

Why doesn't 1 1/2" mean 1 1/2"? Last night I was working with the pipes for the gas, and they're nuts too. 1/2" pipe for gas is a LOT bigger than 1/2". It's more like 3/4", which is the next size up, and is more like an inch. CY: Gas pipe is measured inside diameter.

Maybe it's time to convert to metric and sell everything with an honest size :] CY: Not sure that will help. Heating guys have that same problem, 3/8 copper for water is 3/8 ID, and 3/8 for refrigeration is OD. Go figure.

thanks, John CY: I'm not sure I'm able to answer all this, but did my best.