Hey guys,

I'm having trouble with my shower and toilet drains in my basement. I'm attempting to connect PVC to the cast iron hubs. The drains were cast iron and leaded in. I bought a 4" rubber donut for the toilet drain and a 2" rubber donut for the shower drain. After removing the lead from the inside of the hubs and cleaning them out I inserted the donuts. I then worked/hammered in the pvc pipes. The toilet pvc pipe seems kind of loose but the shower pipe is tight. Both of the drains are leaking at the hubs, the toilet more than the shower. I bought two new donuts and tried putting the donuts on the end of the pvc pipes first and then hammering them in. They are still leaking. Is there anything else I can try? :confused: As far as I can tell my next step will be to call a plumber. How much is the expected cost to have a plumber come out and install drain pipes from the hubs? I live in the south suburbs of Chicago.

Thanks,

Dan

Hey dw

Those "donuts" you are talking about are great... IF they fit your particular pipe type.

If you look on the hub ends of the pipe you should see either SV or XH... The donuts may work on the SV (standard weight) type of cast iron, but will not work on XH (extra heavy) cast iron hub.

The trick here, believe it or not is SOAP... not regular soap... but a grease soap sold where you purchased the donuts. You just install the rubbers dry, then you GREASE/SOAP the pipe end AND the inside of donut... and the 2" pipe should slip in pretty easy and tight...the 3" is a bit tougher.

Now, three things:

1) You can try again
2) You can call a plumber
3) You could try to pour a lead joint yourself (need some tools to do this), or

4) You need to get a sawzall and cut the hub ends off the pipe (about six inches in back of hub, if pipe in good shape) with a 8/10 teeth/inch sawzall blade and then use NO HUB CLAMPS to joint PVC to cast iron pipe (see pic.)

If XH cast, this will take time. If SV pipe will probably take 20 minutes or so to cut through 2 inch and 30 minutes to cut through the 3" pipe. KEEP the cut straight, let the saw do the work. Then clamp on clamps and go (I prrefer the 4 band husky type no hub clamps.. just don't have a picture of that type right now).

So anyway... what are your thoughts on this?

Thanks for the help! I'm willing to bet that the hubs are XH. I'll verify when I get home from work tonight. I bought the donuts from Home Depot and I couldn't find the grease anywhere. I asked a guy that worked there and he said they didn't have it. I used regular soap on the pipe and on the inside of the donut. The 4" pipe didn't really take too much effort to put in while the 2" was much tougher. If the hubs turn out to be SV I may try again this weekend but I'll get the donuts and grease from a regular plumbing supply place. I tried before but I don't get home from work in time to get there before they close. If the hubs turn out to be XH I don't think I'm ready to try and pour a lead joint myself so if that seems the best way to go I guess I'll call a plumber. As far as the sawzall approach, I don't think I have 6 inches behind the hub. It seems like there may only be about 3 inches behind the hub before it goes into a "T". At least this is the way it appears to me. I only broke up the concrete up to the edge of the hub. Also, if the hubs are XH it may take me 2 hours to cut through the 4" hub! :eek: I like the idea of the No Hub clamp but I just don't know if I have the room on the pipe. So, if I wanted to keep the XH hub, the only way to connect to it would be a lead joint? Oh well, at least I made an attempt at doing it myself. :cool: Thanks for your help.