# Drum Traps



## pauliplumber

Just curious....

Why were drum traps so popular back in the day?

Is there any advantage over a P trap?


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## U666A

pauliplumber said:


> Just curious....
> 
> Why were drum traps so popular back in the day?
> 
> Is there any advantage over a P trap?


I have often wondered this as well PP, they are prohibited by code here as they have been as long as I've been in the trade I think. I see the odd glass bottle trap under old lab benches etc. In schools and hospitals, but don't think I've ever laid eyes on a drum trap in real life.


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## PLUMBER_BILL

pauliplumber said:


> Just curious....
> 
> Why were drum traps so popular back in the day?
> 
> Is there any advantage over a P trap?


You have to realize what was at the end of a tub on legs. 
An exposed waste 1-3/8". The tee that went up to the overflow
also went below the floor to a waste line. There was no trap abovethe floor, if a P trap was installed below the floor it was a major task to disconnect the waste to clean it out or replace it. The inventors of the day made a trap Drum Trap which prevented sewer gas from entering the room, but also allowed a clean out flush with the floor.

IMHO THAT WAS THE REASON FOR THE DRUM TRAP.

PS You can still buy them today in PVC/ABS from NIBCO although
the lid would not be flush with the floor.


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## pauliplumber

There's alot of old homes where I live and all of them have drum traps. I see them on tubs, lav, kitchen and laundry sinks. Almost everything in old homes here has a drum trap.

I used to always replace a drum trap with a new plastic drum trap, thinking there must be a reason for the original. I thought maybe if a fixture wasn't vented properly (like in ALOT of very old homes) a drum trap would help. Lately I've been replacing them with p-traps as they are code and about 1/5 the cost.


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## Tommy plumber

Maybe they were like interceptors.


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## nhmaster3015

Until a few years ago they were required on all lavs in the state of Maine. Story is that years ago the Governors wife lost her diamond ring down a lav drain at a rest stop on 95. The lav had a drum trap and they were able to recover the ring. The Governor was so impressed that he leaned on the plumbers board to make drum traps the law of the land. Personally, I think the story is BS. I suspect it had more to do with some buddy selling drum traps.


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## Bill

I myself have never seen one. They are against code anyways.


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## Plumber3653

Plumber Bill has it right. Claw foot tubs and accessability for cleaning. They are very common around here in brass and cast iron. They work well until they get too corroded and split or leak. Some of the brass that I've seen are still in unbelievably great condition. If maintained they provide a great access for snaking the drains and removing hair clogs in old drains. Drum traps are still allowed in some areas as long as they are 3" or 4". They may appear to be awkward but the design is sound with the exception that they clog up easier than conventional p-traps.


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## nhmaster3015

we pulled a lead drum trap out a couple months back. It trapped the leg tub and the lav. Had double 1 1/4" inlets and a 2" outlet, all lead. I love that old crap.


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## U666A

nhmaster3015 said:


> we pulled a lead drum trap out a couple months back. It trapped the leg tub and the lav. Had double 1 1/4" inlets and a 2" outlet, all lead. I love that old crap.


Thats wild, only lead I ever saw was in tradeschool


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## Redwood

My Sawzall Loves them... :thumbup:


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## ArkyPlbr

I have seen lots in old Military hospital built in late 1800's. They are made of quality brass with an odd trapping mechanism. I have one in the shop for display. Im sure they would be too expensive too use now, if you can find.


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## plbgbiz

There all over the place here. We even see them regularly under slabs. Although they were designed to be an accessible cleanout, most here are not installed where the cap could be removed, even when they were new.

Saw one with a chrome cap at floor level in the tile. Old home from early 1900's. Very cool. Not practical, but still very cool.


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## Plumberman

They make good weights for white perch jigs, I've melted down pounds and pounds of drum traps I have tore out through the years.


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## sigshooter71

We deal with them alot here. Some are in access panels behind the tub. When your snaking them you have to run the water slow. Or haul ass back & close faucet so it doesnt overflow. A lot of lead drains too tricky to snake.


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## nhmaster3015

I melt them down and pour mini balls from the lead.


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## Plumber3653

The thousands that still exist in the city and suburbs are in place mostly because of house design. Due to the steep terrain, houses were constructed a particular way and a great deal of cutting is involved in removing drum traps. The wood structure and piping downstream get butchered and in some cases the floors ripped up. This can be too much of a financial burden on home owners and they resign themselves to just having them cleaned and serviced. It is an unwanted, but necessary talent in this region to be able to breathe life into a drum trap that should have been put to rest decades ago. Never seen a lead drum trap, though. Just cast iron and brass.


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## Plumber3653

That drum trap looks like it was fabricated on site out of lead.


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## Redwood

Plumber3653 said:


> That drum trap looks like it was fabricated on site out of lead.


Yea doesn't it...


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## Plumbducky

I see them quite often, just replaced one on friday and will do the other one on Monday.

Never seen one in brass, just lead and cast iron


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## shock1964

They have been illegal as long before I started in the trade, but I still run into lots of them in older homes. I did though install lots of glass jar traps in a hospital a number of years back. Lots of stuff we do in commercial and industrial that is so different from residential work. Love the variety of stuff we get to see and work with.


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## U666A

shock1964 said:


> They have been illegal as long before I started in the trade, but I still run into lots of them in older homes. I did though install lots of glass jar traps in a hospital a number of years back. Lots of stuff we do in commercial and industrial that is so different from residential work. Love the variety of stuff we get to see and work with.


Yes, bottle traps are quite common here in labs and hospitals, usually made of glass


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## PAplumberTyler

In western pa there is a lot of lead drum traps guess that was the thing. I always replace them here its code. Most are covered by new floors so u don't know there is a drum trap till it leaks


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## mtfallsmikey

You mean to tell me that none of youse guys ever installed these? I sure did.

http://pdf.directindustry.com/pdf/nibco/copper-fitting-catalog/12637-123275-_36.html


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## Plumber3653

Well how about this. Can anybody tell me what the difference is between a drum trap, bell trap and bottle trap?
Just kidding, different areas of the country have different common names for the same thing.
I just wanted to stir the pot a little bit. :laughing:


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## plbgbiz

The only thing I was ever taught to call a "DRUM" trap were the lead drums with a brass c/o lid and long sweeping 1-1/2" lead pipe into and out of the drum. I have only seen this in crawl spaces and under floors serving tubs and showers on homes from the mid 60's back to the turn of the century.

I think the bottle/bell traps to which UA is referring would typically be the readily accessible trap on a sink type fixture.


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## easttexasplumb

This one was built into a lead shower pan.


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## SlickRick

easttexasplumb said:


> This one was built into a lead shower pan.


If that one is from Longview, F.A Faulkner prolly made it. He was the first plumbing inspector in Longview. All the plumbers had to use him for their lead work. Needless to say, lead was used there longer than most places.


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## easttexasplumb

Somewhere around foster middle school cant remember the street name.


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## Hairyhosebib

When I worked at Purdue from 1977 to 2000 there were a lot of old laboratories remodeled. The old drum traps were made out of lead and removed. Lots of lead drain pipe. It was replaced around campus with either KIMAX glass pipe or Duriron pipe or a blue color plastic drain line that had a nut and olive on the fittings. A grooving tool was used to cut a groove near the end of the pipe, a nut was slid on and the olive as we called them or locking collar was stretched over the end and set in the groove on the pipe. I can't even remember what brand that pipe was. It was imported though.


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## RW Plumbing

Hairyhosebib said:


> When I worked at Purdue from 1977 to 2000 there were a lot of old laboratories remodeled. The old drum traps were made out of lead and removed. Lots of lead drain pipe. It was replaced around campus with either KIMAX glass pipe or Duriron pipe or a blue color plastic drain line that had a nut and olive on the fittings. A grooving tool was used to cut a groove near the end of the pipe, a nut was slid on and the olive as we called them or locking collar was stretched over the end and set in the groove on the pipe. I can't even remember what brand that pipe was. It was imported though.


 
That was probably Orion.


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## retired rooter

A DOME(heavy duty brass cap) type drum trap with small thin threads really taught me a lession yrs ago.We cut the top off thinking we could get a new cap at supply house no dice ,hadnt been made in over 50 yrs .The old guy with me put a flat fit all cap on it.BAD mistake it leaked thru ceiling on to a chandeleer and the on a fancy dining room table.I was only 22 at the time and the old man with me should have been in an old folks home.Anyway boss sent old crew over,they CMA and I never forgot it A few yrs later I heard same old fellow blew one out with a water ram, destroyed another dining room ,aww such memories of drum traps.If only they had made 4in rubber test caps way back then ????


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## Hairyhosebib

I did a search. It is called Enfield. I have installed miles of this stuff

http://www.ayer.com/images/Enfield_Labline_FRPP_PP_Acid_Waste_Systems_AWMIUS1205052R_Price_List.PDF


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## retired rooter

retired rooter said:


> A DOME(heavy duty brass cap) type drum trap with small thin threads really taught me a lession yrs ago.We cut the top off thinking we could get a new cap at supply house no dice ,hadnt been made in over 50 yrs .The old guy with me put a flat fit all cap on it.BAD mistake it leaked thru ceiling on to a chandeleer and the on a fancy dining room table.I was only 22 at the time and the old man with me should have been in an old folks home.Anyway boss sent old crew over,they CMA and I never forgot it A few yrs later I heard same old fellow blew one out with a water ram, destroyed another dining room ,aww such memories of drum traps.If only they had made 4in rubber test caps way back then ????


http://books.google.com/books?id=ai...A#v=onepage&q=plumbing in havana cuba&f=false this book is a piece of plumbing history


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