Cast Iron Drain Line Spit Open and Leaking`

[rdgallo]

Hi. I live in a house that is about 50 yrs old. Today my wife noticed a small amount of water lying on the floor on the unfinished side of the basement. I investigated and found that the (about 4 in in diameter) black cast iron horizontal run of drain pipe is cracked badly at the top of it for a length of about 3 feet. I have no idea why this has cracked and opened up like it has (it is not cracked at the seam). This drain is for my bathroom sink and toilet. It is the old cast iron, Okum/lead type drain pipe. Has anyone ever heard of this happening? If so, what is the best fix? I have a plumber called, but he will not be out until the morning. It is so hard to get a plumber to come out for an estimate. Most in my area want about $70 to show up and then will not deduct this off of their repair charge if they get the job. I would like to get a couple of estimates to repair this, but don't want to spend $140 before anything is done. Oh well, that is my problem. If you have any information or experience on this, I would appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks!

[LazyPup]

While cast iron pipe is extremely durable it does have on characteristic drawback, it is also a very brittle metal. The old style leaded hub connections made the installation very rigid and as a house would settle over the years it put stress on the pipe. This would in turn put undue stress on the pipe and occassionally the pipe will crack in the manner you describe.

In your post you described the problem in good detail so it is obvious that the point of failure is relatively easy to access which means this should not present a difficult problem to correct.

The preferred method of fixing this problem is to use a "Cast Iron Pipe Snap Cutter" to cut the pipe on both sides of the defective section, then install a new piece of pipe in between the two cut ends. Generally we would use schedule 40 PVC or ABS pipe to make the repair section, but the header on your post says you are in Illinois. Many areas of Illinois do not permit PVC or ABS but rather, they require cast iron pipe. Either way, the method is basically the same although the use of cast iron pipe may be a bit more expensive than what PVC or ABS would be. Once the damaged pipe is cut out and the new section of pipe is cut to fit the ends are joined together with No-Hub band connectors or Fernco Couplings and additional hangers are installed if needed.

Although it is impossible to anticipate any problems that they may encounter, sight unseen I would estimate that any plumber should be able to correct this problem within an hour or two at most.

[rdgallo]

Thanks, LazyPup for your response. Yes the pipe is accessible. I will not be replacing just a damaged section of this pipe. The crack goes the entire length of a section that has an okum/leaded flange on one end and a straight pipe on the other end that goes into a mating okum/leaded flange fitting. I assume the plumber will go ahead and cut the damaged pipe out and then remove the two ends from the leaded/okum seal and then install plastic, but I don't know. Last night I remembered being in my basement on the finished side and heard three distinct popping noises coming from somewhere and couldn't figure out where the noise came from. I assume the noises I heard were this pipe cracking at the time of failure. Again thanks for your response.