Do I need to replace this right away, or can I get more years out of it? It is in my 1920 house, though I'm not sure if it's been there since the beginning.





Thanks.

Mike

I would replace it soon, before it starts leaking and it becomes more of an urgent issue.

So there is no possibility that is just surface rust and the stuff underneath is still solid?

Also, the bottom piece goes straight into the floor. Will the plumber need to dig up the floor or should they be able to do just cut out the threads and put in PVC? Another words, big job or not so bad?

That part that's visible is not that bad of a job to replace, however, once the fitting gets cut out, the interior piping condition can be be evaluated to see if more work should be done. To repair what's currently visible wouldn't require disturbing what's in the slab.

Thanks Steve. I am going to sell this house next year. This pipe is not readily accessible, so it cannot easily be monitored. I don't want to risk a leak, nor do I want to leave a big problem for the next guy - but I also don't want to get involved in a really big job. To me it also looks like the pipe going into the ground is also galvanized steel - but isn't that normally cast iron? So when you mention looking "if more work should be done," that makes me a little nervous. I am hoping not to open a big can of worms.

What's in the concrete is a cast iron wye fitting. What's in the ground below that is?

So in my photo, coming out of the floor that is a cast iron wye?

If what is marked in blue is a pipe, then yes that is a cast iron wye fitting.

Thanks. It didn't look like cast to me. Thanks for your help!

Why has the nipple rusted but the pipe hasn't? If the nipple's gotten wet so should the pipe. I figure they're different material. I'd hope I could replace just the nipple - with stainless steel if I could get it. I bet they don't make them in stainless. Coat it with something otherwise.

That rusted nipple started out as a galvanized pipe, but the galvanizing on the outside was removed as the threads were cut.

They cut their own nipple? Did they dope the threads?

I grabbed a pic from another angle. Interesting is that there is so little corrosion from this angle. Why would it be so bad on only one side?

It could be because of seepage from the threads or the nipple is rusting through from the inside. It's common for a pipe to show uneven rusting. Sometimes it's at the bottom of a horizontal pipe or it could be the top of a horzontal pipe. It could be anywhere on the vertical pipe, but I usually see it near a threaded end.

Thanks for answering all my questions



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There is no leak today.

You are selling the house.

You have a duty to disclose all conditions you are aware of (at least in California you are). You are not a plumber, so you have no professional training or experience as demonstrated by your questions.

Don't touch the pipe.

Disclose what you know, "Some plumbing dates to the 1920's when the house was built. We have replaced the X and the Y since owning the house. We are not aware of any leaks at this time." Simple, factual statements.

A seller is not required to do preventative maintenance, only to disclose known conditions. If there's a leak, disclose it.



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I know you previously said that the wye seen in the pics is cast iron. Why does the appearance look exactly the same as the galvanized? How are you able to tell from the pics that it is cast? The reason I ask is that I had two plumbers quote the job and one said it is cast and the other said it is galvanized. The one that said it is galvanized said they would have to dig up the floor until they find cast to connect to.

Here's a better pic.

I've been in construction business for 40ish years, so I can readily see what they are made of. I've never seen steel drainage fittings like these and don't see references to them online.

In my neck of the woods (So. Cal) we called these Durham fittings -


"Durham Fitting"

"A special type of drainage fitting for use in the Durham systems installations in which the joints are made with recessed and tapered threaded fittings, as opposed to bell and spigot lead/oakum or solvent/cemented or soldered joints. The tapping is at an angle (not 90 degrees) to provide for proper slope in otherwise rigid connections."

Here a link to more informtion -

[chestofbooks.com]

To me they definitely look like Durham fitting which are recessed threaded drainage fittings made of cast iron or malleable iron,

Thanks for marking up the photo - that was extremely helpful! I did not understand that it is just the threaded male fittings that are galvanized steel and that the pipes themselves were all cast iron. I appreciate your help!

You have that backwards. The fittings are cast iron and the pipes are galvanized steel.

I guess I am confused again then. In the photo that you marked up, you marked the vertical nipple as G. The nipple is a fitting. Your markup labels it as galvanized steel. Above that, below that, the nipple is connected to a wye (which I guess is also a fitting?) - and that I understand is cast iron and that's how you labeled it. But above the nipple is a vertical pipe which I thought is galvanized steel. But you labeled that CI for Cast Iron in the marked up photo.

Galvanized pipes are screwed into cast iron fittings. In the top left corner, what's running up at a 45* angle from the CI wye looks like it's a pipe screwed into that wye.

Ah! I got it now. I had to go back and take a look at some of my other photos. I was confused because I had remembered something incorrectly about how the piping was done. Now I totally understand. Thanks for the very detailed and patient explanations!

Amazingly the last plumber tried to scam me by telling me that the wye is not cast and it would have to be dug up until he could find cast in the ground. He was also trying to persuade me to put it through my insurance. His quote was 2-3x the other quote I got. I don't know how some people sleep at night.



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