# Cast Iron Garbage



## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

Pulled all this stuff (and more) out today. 



















Not in the best of shape...










The funny thing was that while we were digging this out we found lots of broken clay pipe. This was a very old building in the down town area, no idea how old but probably 70+. I guess somebody tore out the old clay and replaced it with cast at some point? If that's true, I'm thinking the clay would have faired 1000x better and would probably have been serviceable still. 






Paul


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

I figure 30 years of Draino did this :thumbsup:


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## user4 (Jun 12, 2008)

UnclogNH said:


> I figure 30 years of Draino did this :thumbsup:



Sulfuric acid drain cleaner, The thinning on the bottom of the pipe is a dead give away.


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## UnclogNH (Mar 28, 2009)

Killertoiletspider said:


> Sulfuric acid drain cleaner, The thinning on the bottom of the pipe is a dead give away.


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

Yeah because everybody knows natural use/wear thins the top out first:whistling2:


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

Killertoiletspider said:


> Sulfuric acid drain cleaner, The thinning on the bottom of the pipe is a dead give away.


 
The top of the pipe was actually the thin part. When I installed a cleanout earlier in the month I tried to snap the line and just caved the top in. The large cracks are running at the mid-way point on the pipe. There was a significant belly in the line so I can see why the pipe would rot at the water line if drain cleaner was used but the cracks weren't only in the bellied section. They ran for about 20 feet after the line had fall again.







Paul


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## TheMaster (Jun 12, 2009)

rocksteady said:


> The top of the pipe was actually the thin part. When I installed a cleanout earlier in the month I tried to snap the line and just caved the top in. The large cracks are running at the mid-way point on the pipe. There was a significant belly in the line so I can see why the pipe would rot at the water line if drain cleaner was used but the cracks weren't only in the bellied section. They ran for about 20 feet after the line had fall again.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Was it cracked on the city side of the belly or the building side? If on the city side I suspect sewer gas.


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

This is a picture of what was taken out a few weeks ago to install the c/o. The top is on top, bottom on bottom. You can see how thin the top was.














Paul


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## rocksteady (Oct 8, 2008)

TheMaster said:


> Was it cracked on the city side of the belly or the building side? If on the city side I suspect sewer gas.


 
It was cracked on the city side and in the belly itself. The top was super thin for the whole length.






Paul


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

Sewer gases are the #1 reason for cast iron thinning out on the top. 

A certain area in my area the vents are always destroyed on the plumbing system


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

UnclogNH said:


> I figure 30 years of Draino did this :thumbsup:


Or coke if it was a commercial building with a soda fountain in it.


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## PLUMB TIME (Feb 2, 2009)

Very common here on homes with septic systems.Many homes here that were built in the 60's and 70's (on septic) have dwv copper, all that I have seen are perforated and/or rotten on top.


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