Lubricating PVC fittings to pre-fit

Jay-T · 2009-12-11T08:45:33+00:00

I am pre-fitting some PVC fitting for a 3-inch sewer drain line coming down from a first-floor toilet. Where the drain comes through the basement ceiling from the toilet, there are two 45-degree 3-inch fittings -- one is the toilet flange itself which is a 45-degree fitting and the other is a 45-degree elbow. The place where they come through the ceiling is hard to access.What I would like to be able to do is put the two PVC fittings together and then be able to easily rotate both so I can get the correct angle I need to continue the run. The problem is that when I put the two fittings together, they are next to impossible to rotate while in place. I need the fittings to be able to rotate one inside the other to get the correct line-up.Has anyone ever tried lubricating PVC fittings first just to get the fittings lined up correctly, then marking them for the correct line-up, and then remove the lubricant and glue the fittings together? Does anyone know what kind of lubricant might work for this? So far, I have just tried dish soap, but that doesn't work -- the parts just stick together as usual and do not turn easily. Any suggestions on what to use?

Dec 11, 2009 28 Replies

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Jay-T 16 years ago

What if you taper (reduce the diameter) of the male fitting and use it to mark another male fitting. If it has a stamp or mold marking on the male...mark it from there to the female. Then use a new one that will fit tightly! HTH

bob_v

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That's similar to what Existential Angst wrote above which was,

"If worse comes to worse, pvc fittings are not that expensive, so maybe you can just remove some material from them so they can rotate, and sacrifice them for this particular app, and have spares on hand. Keep them around for future fit-ups, but mark them so you don't inadvertently use them."

But, your idea is a little more specific about maybe just reducing the size of a test male fitting to do the line-up. In my case, that probably would have worked more easily than what I ended up doing -- which was basically using brute force and some leverage.

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Tony 16 years ago

How about K-Y jelly? Or better yet Astro Lube! After all, you are dealing with male to female fittings.

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Existential Angst 16 years ago

Hmmmm.... if that turn is *too* complex, I'd hang a sign on the toilet that says, "Flush Often, Please". Esp. with 3" pipe. Mebbe N'Yawkers just have bigger bowel movements? Our code is 4". Texas proly has a 6" code.... 48 oz steaks, donchaknow....

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Existential Angst 16 years ago

It's AstroGlide, and its origins were male-male. Still, given that, uh, demanding work environment/application, proly would work all the better on pvc.

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Roger Shoaf 16 years ago

I think hairspray has acetone or some other such solvent and might very well melt the plastic like the glue does.

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Steve Barker 16 years ago

the outlet on the toilet is 2.5 inches at best and most are 2". 4" pipe is overkill. And I've never seen 4" pipe in a house. It won't fit down a wall.

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Tony 16 years ago

Four inch pvc fits in walls! In my last house there was one interior (non load bearing) wall that was 2x6 studs. They had some special name for it but I forget the name. In that wall are 2 4" pvc pipes, one for the plumbing waste vent through the roof and the other was put in and capped in the attic just in case I ever needed it for Radon abatement. I agree 3" is fine for the toilet. When the trap/path leaving a toilet gets to be 4", then maybe a 4" pipe would be needed. It is however very common for the main pipe to be 4" where the smaller pipes join and that normally goes out to the septic or city sanitary sewer.

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Bob Villa 16 years ago

for it but I forget the name.

Wet wall, waste wall, or utilities wall? (as seen in "The Matrix")

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charlie 16 years ago

HIGHLY unlikely. that would make it be pretty toxic.

some msds files:

non-aerosol hairspray:

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hairspray:

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mostly: water, alcohol, some sort of polymer glue, and fragrences.

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