Leaky Pipe

[almosthandy]

I discovered that when I run the kitchen sink or the dishwasher that the drain pipe leaks into the basement below. Luckily, I have a drop ceiling down there so only a couple of ceiling tiles were ruined. The pipe is a black pipe about 4 inches in diameter and I do not know what caused the leak and I am not sure how to repair it. I have attached a couple of pictures that I took with a zoom lens (it's about 12 feet up). Any help with how to fix it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[pushkins]

Cut the cracked section out and add a coupling. Looks like it is ABS plastic so make sure if you use a coupling that you buy ABS glue.
An easier way would be to but a "Fernco" coupling, it's a straight piece of rubber with a band clamp on either end, again cut out a section of the cracked pipe slide the Fernco onto the pipe then slide it onto the other side so it's evenly spaced and so that both bands are over the pipe, tighten the bands and your done.

[LazyPup]

It's difficult to be sure from those photos but I don't think that is ABS pipe. Judging from the color, the surface striations and the type of corrosion present I suspect this may be an older home and that is lead pipe.

There is an easy way to determine which type of pipe it is. If it is ABS you should be able to see the pipe specifications printed on the pipe wall with white lettering. If you can't find any writing on the pipe try scraping the surface a bit with a pocket knife. If it reveals a black plastic core it is ABS pipe, but if it reveals a bright shinny metal core it is lead pipe.

If it does prove to be lead pipe you could effect a temporary solution by cutting the pipe right at the point of the leak, then reattaching the two ends with a Fernco coupling, but do so with the knowledge that the type of corrosion present is common to lead pipe and in all probability the entire length of the pipe is groved on the botton inside and it is only a matter of time until other holes will appear.

The correct solution would be to remove the lead pipe and replace with sched 40 PVC or ABS pipe.

If you can provide additional photos, especially where this horizontal pipe turns upwards on the upstream end and where is attaches to another line or stack on the downstream end we can then give you a better step by step procedure to correct the problem.

The good news is, even if you have to replace the whole line, it is not a difficult task and the material cost is relatively cheap.