Washing machine drain cracked. I am looking for advice
My washing machine water exhaust tube is connected to a verticle drain pipe for water outflow. At the bottom of this pipe, there appears to be a P-trap section. Attached to the P-trap is a tube that runs all the way up the roof and also down to the ground. It believe that the tube that goes to the roof is used as a clean-out access to run a snake in case the drain is clogged. I noticed that there is a severe crack where the clean-out tube meets the junction of the p-trap junction section. The washing machine is in the garage.
My question are
1. Does anyone know or can recommend a plumber?
2. How much would this type of job would run me (estimate)?
3. Is this something that is DIY considering that I might have to run a new tube from the roof down to the P-trap junction and possibly replace that as well (maybe a little too advanced for me)
4. This may be a dumb question, would a very good metal adhesive work?
Thanks
- J
DIY'er advice:
The pipe you are referring to is the vent pipe. It doesn't hold water but that is a strange location for a crack in a pipe. If it was my house, I would replace the pipe myself. There are a few considerations when you do replace the pipe. The pipe will be strapped on a stud somewhere along the length going up to the roof and there should be a seal on the roof for the pipe to seal on. It might be a bit more difficult to seal that area if you have a foam roof, but not impossible.
If you were to have the pipe replaced by a plumber, have your roofer come by and check the seal on the vent through the roof.
Using an epoxy sealer to 'temporarily' seal the crack is a good idea so as to not let any bad gas into the house but don't consider that a permanent fix. It would have to be replaced if you were to sell the house for inspection.
It turned out that the vent pipe connected to the T-junction rusted pretty badly because it is made of galvanized steel and corroded over the years. The thread from the vent pipe adhered to the cast iron t-junction so it was impossible to put in a new threaded pipe without having some sort of equipment/tool to tap new threads.
Replacing the cast iron t-junction would have been a pretty significant job which would require removing the outter wall in order to turn the T-junction to unscrew it from the down pipe. This is definitely isn't something that I would/could do, so I came up w/ a work around.
The outer diameter of the cast iron T-junction hole where the 1.5" exhaust pipe fits is 2 5/8". I picked up a rubber 2" to 1.5" coupler at Lowes for about $5 and convinced it to fix over the 2 5/8" hole. I then secured the coupler by tightening the strap. No water leaked, so I am back in business. The good thing about this solution is that if I ever need to clean out a blokage, I can easily remove the coupler and have direct access to the downpipe with a snake.
The bottom line is if it doesn't fit, force it!
Thanks
- J
