Hi,

I want to fill in this waste pipe well in my basement by extending the cleanouts upwards to floor level with PVC and then filling the well with gravel and topping with concrete. If you look at the photo, the top of the photo shows the whole house vent, then there is a trap with two caps, then a wye at the bottom before the waste pipe exits the basement. The cast iron is a 3" waste pipe, but it looks like the wye cleanout has a 4" bell.

What I'm trying to understand is what kind of adapter is available to transition from the cast iron to PVC using these fittings. I don't want to cut any cast iron, just remove the caps and adapt to the ends where the cap would go.

Possible? How exactly?

Thank you!


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www.ehydrant dot com/waste_pipe_well.jpg (the image won't show and the actual URL won't either)

Edited 2 times.

probably the only thing you can do is remove the lead and oakum from around the cleanout adapters and have an old timer plumber come in and pack and pour short stubs of PVC into the joints. most likely about 30 minutes work.
you can put the pipe into the joints yourself and push a rubber donut in to seal them but you risk the whole pipe turning when you try to unscrew the cleanout plug.

Thanks sum for getting the photo to show.

@Packy - thanks.

Rotating is a good point. I can glue some pieces of PVC on the outside of the stubs to lock them in the concrete.

No hesitation bringing in a pro to get the stubs on, but not sure where to find an old timer.

Is the threaded area for the caps an insert leaded into the bell end of the pipe?

So know what I'm talking about, can you explain what you mean by "pack and pour short stubs of PVC into the joints" a little more?

you are looking at something like this except it has a bead around the bottom.

this fitting is set into the hub of a fitting and oakum is packed into the annular space filling it to about one inch from the top. then molten lead is poured into that space. once the lead hardens (almost immediately) it is caulked down with a ballpeen hammer and a caulking iron.
so, unless I miss my guess, you have this under the floor.

Yes the trap is essentially that, but the cleanout cap on the left is angled like 15 degrees towards the right cap, so I (have to dig to be sure) but believe it's on the vent(???).

I need to add stubs that come up to floor level, which is at least 12". My plan was to use PVC. The cleanout is angled, so it needs an angled fitting to get it vertical.

So I haven't understood what you've said about the lead because how can someone lead against PVC? Is what you're suggesting, cast iron instead?

[www.youtube.com] The pvc hub adaptor is inserted in the cast iron hub and the oakum is packed to a depth around inch thick and the lead is poured and cools quickly and gets compressed with a chisel.



Edited 2 times.

exapprentice30 = thank you

I would have thought that the PVC would melt/be damaged.

Also, Packy has an image of a cast iron house trap very similar to mine. It has threaded cleanouts that are part of the casting w/no bell end/insert. How does PVC get adapted to that? Is there a screw-in adapter available?



Edited 1 times.

Your threads may not be in good shape or a odd size to screw a male adaptor in to the cast iron and when you unthread the pvc plugs the whole thing could unthread.

well then you must have one of these.

you will have to unscrew one of the plugs to take with you so you can match up the threads. probably 3 1/2 inch threads. then cobble together some sort of adapter ???
measure the OD of the part of the fitting where the brass plugs screw into . if it is close enough to the OD of 4 inch PVC then a no hub banded coupling will adapt a piece of 4 inch pvc.
as for the angled side. if you can manage to get a rubber coupling over the cast iron then a 1/16 bend should get you close to vertical

Those plugs look like lead Fit-All plugs.

"I want to fill in this waste pipe well in my basement by extending the cleanouts upwards to floor level with PVC and then filling the well with gravel and topping with concrete."

Looks like it could be a challenge with all these openings at odd angles. If you want a "flushed" look, have you thought about leaving the recessed box as is, but instead mount something like L-angles around the perimeter of the box then drop a board to sit on the angle to give you a flushed cover that you can remove if you need access?

they do look like 'fit all' plugs.
that means the female threads are probably all corroded since there really isn't anything threaded into them.
looking at the picture again and I believe the straight cleanout can be extended with a rubber coupling, the angled one left as is and a cleanout tee cut into the vertical pipe on that side of the trap.

I agree with sum, lots of work to fill that in and if you ever need access it's gonna be a pain. Batter to fab a top for the hole and leave it as is.

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Not a plumber by trade but a fierce DIYer