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This is my shower drain pipe under my second floor bathroom.

enter image description here

It appears to be 1 1/2 inch copper. It also has a sleeve around it. I tried to scrape the sleeve. I don't think it is rubber. It appears to be some kind of metal. I googled it but couldn't find anything similar. Does anybody know what type of pipe this is? I am planning to connect it to PVC using a coupling. Do you think something like this would be okay?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fernco-2-in-x-2-in-x-2-1-2-in-dia-Coupling-PVC-Fitting/1000075331

Or since the pipe is 1.5 inch, would it be bad to use a 2 inch PVC drain? (going from smaller to larger pipe?) Thank you very much.

Emin Ozkan
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  • If talking about the sleeve on the left side, that is a metal pipe, probably steel if hard, lead if soft. The copper pipe is most likely just a short section soldered into the bigger pipe. It might be good to know approximate age of the pipes since they do not last forever, 60 plus years of use, it might be time to start thinking about replacement. – crip659 Mar 29 '23 at 21:52
  • Yes it is very soft, since I could scrape it easily. The house is about 60 years old. – Emin Ozkan Mar 29 '23 at 22:42
  • You are probably in the replacement age of those pipes to prevent leaking. It will be a good time now to do it with the access open, than to just add on a new small section of drain for the new shower. It might be years yet, but you want to rip open the new floor you will be putting down after. – crip659 Mar 29 '23 at 22:54
  • I agree the replacement would be better. The problem is the other end of the lead pipe ( one connecting to cast iron T) is still not easily accessible. Visible section of the lead pipe seems structurally okay. I don't know how the inside would look. – Emin Ozkan Mar 29 '23 at 22:58
  • It is possible to rent/buy small inspection cameras. They might give you an idea if it would be safe to keep those pipes(lack of deep pits in the inside surface of the pipe), long enough to get your money from the new floor/work. There is no hard and fast life spans for pipes, but yours is in the average for replacement. That copper pipe might be just to connect something or a repair section. – crip659 Mar 29 '23 at 23:09

1 Answers1

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If you are talking about the sleeve on the left side, that is a metal pipe, probably lead pipe.

It looks like the piece of coper pipe was soldered in. Be careful with flames there near all the wood, so protect it. During the process only heat the coper pipe till the solder flows.

Connecting to PVC instead of copper is whole different story. You would use rubber seals and compression method.

jsotola
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Ruskes
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