Cast Iron Plumbing

[Harv1959]

I need an expert and correct opinion on cast iron plumbing. My house is 51 years old and a plumber has informed us that there is partial cast iron plumbing mostly in the master bathroom. He also indicated this is dangerous and given the age of the house, there may only be 5 years or so left of good life in these pipes and they would eventually have to be replaced.

SOMEONE please provide and accurate and correct analysis of cast iron piping, the dangers involved, the life capacity, etc.

I know replacement is $8,000-10,000 from estimates I have seen and that they would have to dig up our floors, etc.

Are there any alternatives or ways to prolong the life of cast iron piping?

 

[havasu]

There are millions of houses which were built in the 1970's with perfectly good cast iron waste systems. Get a few more experts to confirm this guy is just not trying to get the quick down payment for his wife's new Mercedes Benz.

 

[Harv1959]

There are millions of houses which were built in the 1970's with perfectly good cast iron waste systems. Get a few more experts to confirm this guy is just not trying to get the quick down payment for his wife's new Mercedes Benz.

Scare tactics...he said 5 years these cast iron pipes would need replaced. I'm interested in an expert opinion on the true life span of cast iron.

 

[havasu]

Here is what a Google search revealed.

50 to 65 years

There is some difference when it comes to assessing the life span of cast iron sewer pipes since more conservative estimates peg the range at anywhere from 50 to 65 years. More optimistic sources bump those numbers up to roughly 75 years, with some lasting a full century.

Keep in mind, living near the beach, where salt water penetrates everything, will be more damaging than living in the desert. Also, there are ways to sleeve cast iron and if or when you remodel, you can replace the cast iron at that time.

 

[Harv1959]

Thanks!

 

[Jim Jensen]

I have cast iron pipe, in my house, built in 1960, it is still mostly structurally OK, but I have had to replace some of it due to it corroding up inside so much it slowed flow and tended to get stopped up....

 

[packardv8]

dangerous ?? Any Florida experts here? I know FL does have more salt air on the coast, but as long as there isn't direct salt water externally or very corrosive water inside, cast iron soil pipe doesn't really have a finite lifespan. Up here, we're relatively low humidity and I've taken out cast iron soil stacks more than 100-years-old which showed no sign of failure and would most likely have been good for another hundred years.

Slightly OT, but a recent job opened a residential street and I saw a 100-year-old wooden water main still in perfect condition. I begged and tried to bribe the city crew to cut me out a section as a souvenir, but no go.

Jack Vines