Ideas to remove 50-year old 2-inch diamater galvanized "nipple" under kitchen sink

[Harold Lathom]

I need to remove an old pipe and need ideas as to how to remove it.

The 50-year-old 2-inch diameter threaded galvanized pipe that horizontally protrudes about a half inch from the cabinet under the kitchen sink is leaking where it meets the 10-year-old plastic pipes that drain the kitchen sinks and garbage disposal unit.

The threads are all screwed up so I want to replace the nipple.

I can only see the last 1/2 inch of that threaded nipple but it appears to go through the 3/4" thick kitchen cabinet into the wall about two inches (or so) and into a T fitting where the vertical up pipe goes to a vent on the roof while the vertical down pipe goes to the crawlspace drain pipes.

The problem is how best to remove the four-inch long (I assume) nipple when only 1/2" of it sticks out of the cabinet attached to the wall.

One option, of course, is to rip out the cabinet, but, that's a LOT of work to replace a two-dollar four-inch-ling two-inch-wide nipple!

Is there an easier way to get the 50-year-old nipple out?

[RicodJour]

Rock and a hard place. The normal techniques for breaking a big nipple lose won't work too well when they're that far in the wall. You don't have to remove the whole cabinet, you could cut an access panel out of the back of the cabinet, open up the wall then remove the nipple, and patch up the hole. Cut out the back of the cabinet neatly and you can re-use the piece to patch it. It's in the back of the cabinet under a sink so the aesthetics are not a big deal.

R

[Ken]

Can you cut two slots with a Dremel tool or a hack saw on opposite sides of the exposed pipe? You could then insert a piece of steel across the slots and use a pipe wrench or crescent wrench to remove the nipple.

[RicodJour]

They make internal pipe wrenches, but successfully removing a 50 year old galvanized nipple under a sink with one is another matter. My way of looking at it is that you can mess about working your way up to cutting into the cabinet, spend a lot of time working in a cramped space where you can't get your weight on the wrench, someone will mention heat and then there's the risk of fire), the odds of busting open some knuckles, etc. I'd just bite the bullet and open up the cabinet, cut off the nipple to the point where you can get a reciprocating blade inside and see what you're doing (leave about 1" exposed), and carefully cut two or three slots on the inside of the nipple stub without cutting into the T's thread, and then use a cold chisel to knock the pieces towards the center of the nipple.

R

[clare]

How about just cleaning it up and epoxying a fitting to it to take the plastic???? Chances of removing it without doing further damage inside the wall are remote, at best.

[Mark]

yeah, it's a drain pipe, right? no pressure

Mark

[Dean Hoffman]

I'd be tempted to get some 2" hose a couple hose clamps.

[Ed Pawlowski]

As would I. It can be quite a job trying to get that nipple out after all this time. No pressure on a drain, I'd try a patch job first.

[Harold Lathom]

I thought about that but unless I cut a two-foot square section, how does cutting around the nipple give me access for the pipe wrench?

It's hard to explain but I now have only 1/2 inch (or less) of threads sticking horizontally out of the cabinet.

If I cut the cabinet 3/4" back, say, with a five-inch square - then the only pipe wrench I can fit on the two-inch-diameter nipple is one that is five inches long. That won't give me much leverage.

My pipe wrenches are about two feet long. So, I'd have to cut a two-foot square hole in the cabinet around the pipe to give me the kind of access you're suggesting. Right?

I do want your help so I hope I didn't misunderstand what you said.

To repeat, I had thought about cutting just a hole in the cabinet but that hole needs to be as wide as my pipe wrench is long, right? For it do to any good?

Or do I misunderstand the solution?

[Harold Lathom]

Interesting idea! Very interesting. I wonder if it will work.

The danger, of course, is that the 50-year-old pipe will just break ... but it's a great idea to add to the arsenal.

[Harold Lathom]

In effect, what I've done, so far, is just that.

Only I used plumbers pipe dope in a can, number 4 IIRC. I just gooped it on until the leak stopped. But, of course, that's only a temporary fix.

I guess I could just epoxy the whole thing up, and maybe silicone it too. In fact, I think that's my "last resort" as it should work.

It wouldn't be something to be proud of ... but ... it should work. Thanks for the idea.

[hrhofmann]

I would just cut the pipe off with a hacksaw or sawzall and use one of the rubber sleeves with clamps on each end to make the transition to plastic

[Molly Brown]

Are you absolutely sure that pipe is 2=94 and not 1 =BD =93? You do know that pipe diameters are measure from the inside and not the outside right?

[Harold Lathom]

You know, I had never thought of that. Since it's a no-pressure drain, and, since it's under the kitchen sink, maybe the fact I wouldn't be proud of the looks of it wouldn't matter.

But then do I just clamp the other side of the hose to the typical black plastic drain fittings?

[RicodJour]

You wouldn't be using a wrench to take it out, so the access hole is a lot smaller. My subsequent post explained the approach. You cut a few relief cuts on the inside of the nipple running the long way, being vary careful not to cut into the fitting threads, and then use a chisel to cave in the nipple towards the interior.

Other people brought up a fix using a Fernco type rubber coupling with the hose clamps, but with 1/2" of pipe exposed it'd only be on the threads. You could clean up the threads, use some epoxy or silicone to fill them in, then use the hose clamp, but it's still a kludge repair. With only 1/2" of thread exposed, it won't be the best connection. It might leak, it might not.

R

[Molly Brown]

You will need this tool:

I would recommend making a sleeve for the =93plug=94 using a short piece of 1 =BD=94 copper pipe to bring it up to 1 =BE=94 when you insert it in to your 2=94 galvanized pipe so that it doesn=92t get completely crushed while you=92re removing it.

[RicodJour]

Have you ever used one of their tools? It's pretty weird that apparently all of their tools only exist as computer drawings. I didn't see a photograph of a single tool - even the simple things. Go figure.

R

[Vic Smith]

I'm not familiar with the various clamp-on fittings available, but as others have said, they're available, and they'll work. Personality, I'd pull the cabinet and get a wrench on the nipple. If you do that, and use a steady pressure on your wrench, it should come out with no damage to the T. Don't go jerking on it. But you don't know until you do it. If the original plumber didn't turn the nipple in far enough, there may not be many usable threads left in the T. Maybe the vertical pipes in the T have rusted enough to break. Then you end up going into the wall, and maybe beyond. Still, since I'm a glutton for punishment I'd pull the cabinet/sink.

If you go the clamp on route and only have 1/2" sticking out, you might want to use a deep hole saw a bit wider than the nipple and cut out the cabinet back around the nipple. Then you can slide the new fitting beyond the 1/2" showing. Go a little big with the hole saw size. Easier to fill a gap than file the entire hole to make it big enough for the fitting. If it's a rigid fitting the nipple outside and fitting inside could be doped with epoxy and allowed to set. That's a "permanent" method. But I'd use the hole first so I could slide a flexible rubber fitting well past the threads, then hose clamp at the threads. If it needed dope I'd use a non-hardening dope. Makes it easily removable. Auto radiator hose should work. But maybe they make plumbing fittings for this kind of deal. A new close nipple glued or clamped at the other end restores your original connection, albeit flexible.

--Vic

[Harold Lathom]

Ah. I didn't realize that. Thanks for the clarification!

[Harold Lathom]

I wouldn't cut the galvanized 2-inch-wide nipple and the 2-inch-wide plastic pipes that are "supposed" to screw onto the nipple are just sort of "pushed" on right now (with a LOT of pipe dope sealing it for now!).

It's a temporary fix.

So I'll look around for the right kind of two-inch flexible hose that might fit over the two-inch nipple so that I can connect the rest of the plastic pipe to the other end of that two-inch flexible hose.

That's one method anyway.