Need ideas for my first washing machine drain pipe plumbing repair

Cut them with a reciprocating saw or a 4 1/2" angle grinder and a cut off wheel. Wear face protection and a GFCI.

Use Fernco couplings to transition to Schedule 40 PVC DWV pipe. All sorts of connector types shown below. The more common ones will be available at any home center. If you need something special, you may need to contact a plumbing supply house.

Fernco couplings were basically invented for this type of situation.

Agree. First try to figure what pipe that is there is still sound. That can be impossible because it rusts away from the inside out. Cut it wherever it's most accessible, nothing wrong with taking out 5 extra feet and some more fittings for example if it makes it easier. I would probably use ABS for drain pipe, but either that or PVC is acceptable.

Once you get it cut and can inspect it better you can access how bad it is. Long term problem is that usually once it starts to go, there will be other problems coming from what's left there. Which is why they don't use steel anymore.

On May 18, 2022, Marilyn Manson wrote (in article<news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com):

Thanks for all your advice as I've done "normal" plumbing before, but never "waste" pipe plumbing (most of my work was copper or 3/4" & 1/2" galvanized, or landscape white PVC).

Cutting them isn't any problem (the only problem is the crawl space is narrow in terms of doing anything, especially anything long, such as twisting a pipe would take with a long pipe wrench - and 20-foot steel pipes would be unwieldy as they must way scores of pounds each).

Thanks for those keywords as I don't know any of the keywords yet. I always thought they used ABS (the black stuff), don't they?

I found a few leaks while I was in the crawl space so I also will be replacing a few 20-foot lengths of the drain pipe too.

I need to figure out what material to use first, I guess.

Looking up what is Schedule 40 PVC DWV pipe

However, it seems schedule 40 is slightly different from drain/waste/vent. Same material, apparently, but the schedule 40 has thicker walls it seems.

ABS is a different material. Is that black ABS also possible to use?

But can non-threaded PVC go into a typical cast iron Y shaped pipe which is in the cement at the kitchen outside drain and at the garage outside drain plus?

I wonder if those cast iron Y shaped cleanouts can be removed? They seem cemented into the wall.

Do they typically come out with a sledgehammer? If so, do you replace them with PVC/DWV/ABS (which seems much weaker)?

Ron, the humblest guy in town.

Feel free to use anything labeled as DWV - drain/waste/vent.

Just make sure you use the correct size in the correct locations. Bigger is not better. Connect a 1.6 gal toilet to a 10" drain pipe. How far do you think the solids will travel? Answer: They won't. They need to be suspended to flow and as the bottom of the pipe approaches "flat" they will just sit there.

Not sure what a "typical cast iron Y" is. There are so many different styles.

In any case, two options come to mind, depending on how the pipe enters the Y.

Cut the pipe, leaving a stub sticking out of the Y and then use a Fernco no-hub coupling to transition to PVC.

There's that "typically" word again.

Most things will come out with a sledge hammer if you work at it hard enough. Not knowing what you have I'm not going to comment on using that specific tool other than to say that I'll bet there's a better way to accomplish your goal.

Entire houses, commercial buildings, etc. are plumbed with all PVC. Why do you think weaker/stronger is important here? What is the metal Y doing that requires more "strength" than a PVC one would provide?

It's what is most commonly used for waste pipe.

Sounds like that's the very old cast iron where one inserted into the other and was joined with hot lead. I'd try to avoid getting to that, if you can. But there must be some modern solution to mate with it if you have to, IDK what that is though.

IDK what exactly you have.

All the new work is using that, so yes. My house it's ABS all the way to the street.

On May 19, 2022, trader_4 wrote (in article<news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com):

I did that yesterday and I found out there are three leaks & a drain clog.

I'm going to replace every pipe that leaked at the very least. Plus whatever has to be replaced in order to replace those pipes that leaked.

At the most, it's going to be two twenty foot sections (each of which has a pinhole leak), and the rusted out nipple at the "Y" shaped drain cleanout.

The problem is the drain cleanouts are apparently cemented in. Are they? How do you replace them without destroying the concrete there?

The pipe is easier than those two drain cleanouts, one of which is leaking at a nipple but it might break or might be too corroded inside to reuse.

What seems to have happened is that there was a long term (years!) clog that used to back up into the sink she told me but then stopped backing up.

That's because it rusted out the nipple and leaked there instead. I cleaned out the clog with a 100 foot snake so that's gone for now.

The question is HOW to fix this at the least expense possible where replacing all the damaged pipe is a given. It's only with what? White Schedule 40 PVC? White DWV PVC? Black ABS?

Digging on the Internet I think DWV is better than Schedule 40 not for strength but for the fact that the connections are apparently different.

The DWV connections have smaller bumps on the seams to let water flow. But I don't know anything about ABS yet so I have to explore that.

And the BIG PROBLEM is what to do with the two "Y" shaped cleanouts which are seemingly CEMENTED into the foundation. That's an issue.

To be clear on my skills, I've done copper/galvanized/pvc plumbing repairs before, but never drain pipes and never these cemented in drain cleanouts.

Ron, the humblest guy in town.

When discussing "DMV pipe" and Schedule 40 pipe, it's not really "one or the other".

Schedule 40 is a thickness specification.

DWV is an acronym for Drain Waste Vent.

Pipes that will be under pressure must use Sch 40 (or greater). "Basic" DWV pipes are not rated for pressure (or heat). However, there is in fact Sch 40 PVC DWV pipes. I suggested that in my first response.

Many people use Sch 40 DWV because it doesn't sag as much as basic DWV and, being thicker, has slightly better sound deadening ability.

Where it gets even more confusing is when we introduce Sch 40 Foam Core DWV vs. Sch 40 DWV into the discussion:

I addressed that in an earlier post.

I don't see any cleanouts in the 4 above pics.

I think you have a bigger project here. One of those pics shows a section of pipe where it is shot and leaking in the middle. So all that old galvanized should be replaced.

I would use ABS, because it's black and traditionally it's been used for waste and you already have some of that there in one pic. But you can use either that or PVC.

IDK anything about that part, but both ABS and PVC can be used. Price could be a factor, especially in the current environment. ABS has been more widely used in the past, IDK current practice, but you have some ABS there already, why mix it up?

I still haven't seen those

This is just like PVC, except you have to connect at some point to whatever steel or iron there is. If you don't want to be doing this again in another section, I would do all of it or as much as accessible. At least do all of this whole run to a logical point where it terminates. Then if another run serving something else leaks you could to that whole run later. All the galvanized should be treated as shot. If it eventually gets to a cast iron waste pipe, probably where it exits the building, that should be OK, it's much thicker.

Hopefully this is just one story. If it's two then you have a much bigger problem, because second story pipes are not accessible. Even one story may require opening walls for access in some spots.

Since there is a fixed beginning and end, the average slope is fixed. The most you can do is even it out if there are some sections with too little pitch.

Good grief, it's exactly the opposite. Galvanized pipes were a disaster, as you are seeing right now. I'm sure plastic won't last forever either, but it's a hell of a lot better.

Good luck unscrewing the pipes. And if you don't and instead cut off and leave some steel, then you just have another failure point coming in the future, sooner or later.

But I'll buy two of them

Put a cover over it if you're worried about that, I wouldn't. If it shows signs of problems many years from now, someone can unscrew it and put in another one for $2.

IDK check the prices. I'd look at Lowes too.