85 year old cast iron pipe

[phishfood]

I had to cut out some of this last week. I was surprised to find it in such good shape.


Unfortunately for my customer, and the reason for me being there, the wiped lead joint next to it didn't fare so well.

 

[johnjh2o]

Lead pipe was a weak spot in the old systems. And most of the cast iron used was XH (extra heavy). As far as I'm concerned all this no-hub pipe is junk. It's what was called STD (standard weight) We have replaced many sections of no-hub in older commercial buildings.

John

 

[phishfood]

I haven't all that much experience with cast, but to my somewhat untrained eye, this did not appear to be any thicker that what I am used to seeing.

Tell ya what. I am starting an office building remodel either tomorrow or early next week that specifies cast iron and copper due to the drop ceilings being a return air plenum. I will measure the wall thickness of a scrap piece of no hub cast and compare it to the wall thickness of this stuff.

I bought a CI to Plastic transition band for this job. I noticed that when I tightened down the cast side of the band, the outer stainless sleeve crimped down a little bit. Was some of the older cast iron of a smaller outside diameter than the newer cast?

 

[johnjh2o]

The OD was the same it is the ID on the XH that is smaller. That is the reason there are different sized fernco donuts that are used in cast iron hubs. I'm sure you have run into that. Some have to be driven into the hubs while others fit very loose. The reason being the difference in ID of the two different hubs. Check the weight on a length of no-hub as compared to XH cast iron pipe.

John