Hey there!

I've got a 3" cast iron soil stack, with a 1 1/2" Tee fitting which has a plug in it. There's some goop at the joint, it's pretty hard. Not quite JB-weld hard, but hard. It's beige colored.

There's not a lot of room in the space, but I've gotten an 18" pipe wrench on it and i can't budge it.

Any ideas? Heating w/ propane or oxy-acetylene? Just a really big cheater bar?

Obviously, breaking the fitting is the LAST thing i want to do!

thanks in advance!
~aaron


ps: This 1.5" tee is where the kitchen sink / dishwasher used to drain. A previous owner of the house routed this drain past the main stack, and out to what is apparently a dry-well or something... it's not connected to the septic. The county sanitarian issued an order when the place was inspected that it be reconnected to the septic, which is fine by me. IF I can get that plug out!

The "goop" you seed is most likely Rector Seal, a pipe compound.
First I would take a hammer and tap around the threads to loosen and break the bind. Then I would load the threads up with WD40 and give it some time to work before attacking it with my 18 incher.
If that failed I would take my torch and heat the cast iron threads while taking a hammer and beating on the wrench like a impact driver. Good luck, Tom

Thanks!

Actually, I started hitting it with PB Blaster (wd-40, but seems to work even better) a few weeks ago.

I'm worried about breaking the cast iron pipe, since that would be a major disaster in my house, at least according to the female resident ;-)

I tapped it all a bit with a regular hammer, but boy does it sound scary... brittle, almost bell-like. Just now I've tried tying a rag onto the joint and soaking it with Goo-Gone, which is about the most universal adhesive-remover I've seen, rubbing a bit with the rag seemed to get some off, so I'm hopeful.

As a last resort, would it be possible to drill into the plug and then cut towards the threads? Is that a reasonable way to break the plug out? Or how about using a cold-chisel and hammer to drift the plug around?

Thanks again for the swift response!

Here's a couple of pics, for future reference.

~aaron

How about using a cold-chisel and hammer to drift the plug around?

That's what I'd be trying next. Good luck, tom

Got it!

Soaking with the goo-gone really made that stuff soft (it was very, very hard before) enough to brush off. Some more of it soaked into the threads, plus a cheater-bar (about 3 ft) and pop!

Right off!

Thanks for the help and encouragement!

Glad you got the plug out. Use Teflon Tape on the threads next time. Good luck, Tom