Ripped out a bathtub/shower. It never drained very well. If you took a shower you'd always be standing in about an inch of water. After seeing this I know why. Any suggestions?

The tub branch needs to come off the horizontal, not vertical. The vent needs to come off on the vertical plane (45*-45*). Gonna be tight work.

i can't tell what that pipe going up the wall does ? assuming it is a vent then the fix is easy. cut out that sanitary tee, cut the pipe back a little closer to the bottom of the photo. install a 3 x 2 x 2 "Y" on the flat using a 2 inch trap with a reducer in the inlet. you'll have to break a little cement.

You have to REDO everything, but because of the very limited space you will have to work it out as you go. That "vent" if that is what it is, is completely useless

Thanks for the responses.

The vertical pipe in the back of the photo goes to a 4 way, one branch goes to a sink in the same room, one branch goes to the upstairs shower and I don't know where the other branch goes.





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that seems to be a valid vent. dig out the floor, use a 3 x 2 x 2 "Y" laying flat moving the "Y" downstream, short piece of 2 inch pipe, 2 inch trap with a reducer in the inlet and tie the wet vent back into the "Y".
as i said... simple fix..

That system looks like it was installed by someone who had absolutely NO idea of how to do plumbing, but believed ANYONE could be a plumber. How did he, or she, expect anyone to use those compression stop and wastes to turn off the water to the shower when it needed repairing, besides making a kludge of the drain system?

so as a horizontal wet vent system yours is:

1. double lav drain serves as wet vent for shower. which is often a choice for a remodel..the ADA specs allow for a spacious shower that if needed will be bench friendly as our population is aging.
2. add horizontal wye branch (as suggested above)
3. 2" P-trap installed with shower tail piece ran "wild" to center of new shower. (this all depends on type of shower you intend to install)
4. make cut below double san tee and demo existing piping all the way to give you room to add your wye so the branch 45 off the main points aims towards (within swing of a trap) to new shower drain center.

good post with good pics...let's the plumber give the correct answer without the guessing. Hope you post progress of your DWV repair before starting water repair.



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hj, the picture doesn't show it but those valves can be accessed by a removable panel on the wall behind them.

Pipe runner, actually I'm putting a tub/shower unit back in there with the drain in the same location as the original.

Are there any special considerations with regards to the drain plumbing of a tub/shower unit vs a shower only?


thanks

Syb

Thanks for all the responses, picking up parts today.

I've not encountered this situation before and have one question............ after I have cut out the "T" I'll have two immobile ends to join together with the horizontal "Y" and whatever extra I may need .......... there'll no play in the pipe to push it together. Is there a trick to this?



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You could use banded no hub couplings. Remove bands and slide on cut pipe. put the rubber piece on the cut pieces of pipe and roll the other half inside out. Put your pipe in between the rubber pieces and un roll on to the pipe and slide the band s over the rubber and tighten the bands.



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Thanks exapprentice30, that sounds like it would work.

After looking at the photo today it occurred to my that the reason why whomever put this together made the "T" vertical instead of horizontal was because they were afraid of backflow into the tub????? I would think if that ever happened there would be more serious issues than dirty water coming into your tub.



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In your last photo, you state that cross tee has a sink from the same bathroom draining into it, a shower from upstairs drains into it and you're not sure about the 3rd pipe? Where does the shower drain into the tee, the top of it? There might be more issues here than what's in the ground.

steve, the shower from upstairs drains into the top of the T.

In that case, technically, that pipe CANNOT serve as a vent for the downstairs lav and tub, since it is a waste pipe. But, whoever did that plumbing could not be bothered with a "code issue" because he did not know anything about the code.



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I figured out the issue with joining the Y to the immobile ends.

- cut a section out of the riser above the elbow
- dig out below the Y and new elbow
- join the Y and elbow
- join a new section to the riser
- join the elbow to the riser

the extra space I dig out should give me enough flex to pop the elbow into the riser

Not addressing your question however, if the shower is by an outside wall (it looks like the pipes go to the outside wall on the photo) now would be an ideal chance to reroute the copper lines to prevent freeze chances.

If you had a bathtub prior to this the shower valve will need to be higher and it is also a good time to upgrade to a new shower valve and trim also.

You have already done the hard work of exposing the pipes and the cost would be well worth the upgrade .

this is how i would make the connections..

Okay, got all the DWV work done myself and a plumber came in and took care of the brasswork.

Does the valve need to be supported?

What's the preferred size hole in the shower wall for the valve?

I can take care of the tub spout

Anything else?

thanks