# Adding C.O. to old non-circular lead bend in slab.



## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

I have to plug a lead bend in a way that I can open it to snake. There is a fold pushed in a bit enough that a red Marq-Two plug will not properly seal. I am thinking a 3" cast iron no-hub clean out caulked in .


I ordered 3" & 4" no hub clean outs, a 3" pvc clean out, a 3" pvc female adapter, and a 3" pvc plug. I should have ordered a 3" pvc coupling.


I just realized I can probably chip out the concrete around it push the fold out to make it circular again. Well schit.








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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Where are the pics? It's difficult to understand what you want to do.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Tango said:


> Where are the pics? It's difficult to understand what you want to do.



Sadly I do not have pics. You guys got many lead bends up there?








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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

None. Only lead for toilet flanges back 50 years ago and rarely nowadays in only in a few commercial places.


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

skoronesa said:


> Sadly I do not have pics. You guys got many lead bends up there?
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> ...



yes tons of them....but what you want todo by putting a cleanout into the lead probably wont work, your better off to chop back to the cast iron and put a proper cleanout in line...
question, how are you gona caulk cast into lead? without pics its difficult to picture what your talking about..
but a brass ferrel will caulk onto lead, new lead, something buried for any time, forget about it, replace the lead bend with a new one..


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

skoronesa said:


> I have to plug a lead bend in a way that I can open it to snake. There is a fold pushed in a bit enough that a red Marq-Two plug will not properly seal. I am thinking a 3" cast iron no-hub clean out caulked in .
> 
> I assume that the bend is no longer needed, but you want to make a clean-out at that location?
> 
> ...


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Well I did it. 3" no-hub c.o. into the flange of the lead bend. I forgot to take a pic of the hole before I put the c.o. in but it's just a 4" lead bend cut slightly above floor level and then the folds I remembered from when I plugged it a couple years ago were actually just the lip which would hold the brass flange, someone bent them over and in. I bent them back out and cut the lead flush with the top of the floor. I then hammered the inner diameter flat all around. The hole was slightly oval so I put a hose clamp on the end of the c.o. with the screw gear in the largest gap so my oakum wouldn't push out there.


This is the first lead oakum joint I have ever caulked and I can say three things for certain:


- It worked out great and I can guarantee it won't leak
- Much better than jacking up the floor to connect to the cast iron

- I will sleep perfectly at night if I never caulk another joint again


The biggest pita was that I used lead wool instead of pouring the joint. If there wasn't a hard wired smoke detector literally right above my head I would have used my blow torch to melt the lead so it could flow into place. I easily spent twice as much time caulking the lead wool in than the oakum.


I also used some water plug cement on an old floor drain that was toast. This area was a bathroom back in the day. The toilet flange was left open when I first saw it several years ago and used as a drain for an ice maker that used to be there. Every time the main line clogged it would back up the toilet flange and the floor drain and then flow down the stairs into a lower room with no drain. On one occasion the lower room filled with about a thousand gallons of sewage and they had to have a septic truck pump it out. The building is older than Bill Parr's grandfather who could have put the plumbing in when he was an apprentice.


Almost the exact same thing happened a month or two ago when the town main clogged. I put a marq-two plug in a couple years ago but with that most recent occurence it couldn't hold the pressure and lots of effluent made it out. I couldn't simply cement this lead bend up as the next closest c.o. for the original main line is ~80' farther back, with a 100' snake that don't jive. Also that c.o. is under some shelving and I practically have to lay on the floor to snake it which I have done probably a dozen times. Mind you I can't close those bathrooms when I do either. That issue was fixed a couple years back by me jacking up some slab and replacing some pipe and fittings in the floor of what used to be another bathroom.


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

skoronesa said:


> Well I did it. <snip>
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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

PLUMBER_BILL said:


> skoronesa said:
> 
> 
> > Well I did it. <snip>
> ...


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

PLUMBER_BILL said:


> skoronesa said:
> 
> 
> > Well I did it. <snip>
> ...


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

part of my plumbing test was to wipe a lead bend onto a brass ferrel...takes practice and you have to keep the molten lead temp down, too hot and you got problems.
I have soldered many brass flanges on lead bends and shower pan drains..
when doing lead to lead I heat the lead and coat with flux heat and then melt the solder onto the lead and sorta do a dance with the torch and solder to get it to stick but not burn through the lead..practice practice practice..


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Tommy plumber said:


> PLUMBER_BILL said:
> 
> 
> > But Bill, when we fabricate lead shower pans, we solder lead to lead. I've done it. Are you talking about lead to lead with shw. pans?
> ...


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

skoronesa said:


> Tommy plumber said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah, just heat the solder more than the base material.
> ...


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> skoronesa said:
> 
> 
> > steel pans for a shower? never heard of it and I dont think its code..lead comes in large sheets, or it use to, I use pvc liner now as lead is a bad word, along with asbestos...
> ...


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

skoronesa said:


> Well *I did it. 3" no-hub c.o. into the flange of the lead bend.* I forgot to take a pic <snip> o
> 
> This topic sort of got derailed.
> 
> ...


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

*Want some weekend reading?*

https://books.google.com/books?id=C...ce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

Tango said:


> ShtRnsdownhill said:
> 
> 
> > I bet the tile guy didn't care or didn't pay for damages. I bet the GC still uses him, he saves him a lot of money because he also does the plumbing.
> ...


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

PLUMBER_BILL said:


> skoronesa said:
> 
> 
> > Well *I did it. 3" no-hub c.o. into the flange of the lead bend.* I forgot to take a pic <snip> o
> ...


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