Plumbing Help

[MED]

My former tenants jacked up the bathtub in my rental house. The 1954 tub hardware was removed and it's missing. I don't don't know how to disconnect the drain because it is different then anything I ever worked on. I need to disconnect the tub, attempt to remove it, and check the line for blockages. The whole thing is not good.

edit: I am going to pick up a universal extraction tool and see if that can move the drain ring or not; there is no crossbar in it so my other removal tool won't work.

[Wulf202]

Picture?

[MED]

Picture?

I don't have any close shots of the pipes, but here is one of my walk through pictures

[Irving]

No access panel to the plumbing on the back side of that wall? My house is from the same era and has a drum trap. Easy to clean out if you have access to it, but impossible if you try to snake through the tub. That is where I would start.

ETA, I couldn't get my drain ring to move either. You can start with one of those bendy plastic sticks with spikes on them to clear the hair though. Does that drain take an immediate 90 degree turn?

[Wulf202]

Drum trap is likely. A camera would help. Usb cameras are cheap.

The part that is missing is called the overflow plate. It usually connects to a rod that has a plunger in the line with that type of drain. The plate would have had some type of toggle on it

[MED]

No access panel to the plumbing on the back side of that wall? My house is from the same era and has a drum trap. Easy to clean out if you have access to it, but impossible if you try to snake through the tub. That is where I would start.

ETA, I couldn't get my drain ring to move either. You can start with one of those bendy plastic sticks with spikes on them to clear the hair though. Does that drain take an immediate 90 degree turn?

Yes, I can get to the plumbing in the back; I haven't noticed a trap, but will look.

Drum trap is likely. A camera would help. Usb cameras are cheap.

The part that is missing is called the overflow plate. It usually connects to a rod that has a plunger in the line with that type of drain. The plate would have had some type of toggle on it

There was a lock ring to hold the overflow pipe. The plate screwed into the lock ring. Both the lock ring and plate are gone. I haven't seen anything like it at the hardware store. There wasn't a toggle and the drain was stopped with an old type pull plunger.

Is the Drum trap designed to be opened?

I can take a picture of the backside plumbing tonight.

[Irving]

The over flow plate doesn't have a toggle in this case. You can see the rubber stopper sitting on the tub in the picture. The plate just has a threaded bolt that screws in to hold it in place. This looks just like my tub. The drum tap is very likely rusted to all hell and heat may need to be applied to even get it open. With mine, the threads were so rusted the cap was never going to be able to be put back on. Let me know if that is the case and I'll let you know how I fixed mine.

[Irving]

Yes, the drum tap is designed to be opened, just like a pvc pipe end cap that threads on, but likely hasn't been opened since the 1950's. The code changed and use of those traps stopped, supposedly, by the 1970's. I went to home Depot looking for a threaded end cap, but the size is not standard and you won't find one. Instead I bought one of those plastic ones with a rubber band that expands as you tighten the screw. The size that fits inside is too small to get a good seal, and the next size up is too large. I happened to have an extra vacuum cleaner drive belt laying around that perfectly fit around the new plug and gave it just enough material to get a tight fit. Haven't had any issues with leaking in the few years since I did this.

[Wulf202]

There used to be a place on Brighton blvd that specialized in outdated and antique plumbing

[Irving]

There used to be a place on Brighton blvd that specialized in outdated and antique plumbing

It might still be there, my neighbors were talking about it.