Moving vent pipe for shower pan install

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Support your community
Plumbing Forums

Help Support Plumbing Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
J

JagerGSXR

Member
Joined
May 24, 2021
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
Location
Ohio
Hello,
I'm starting a home project of removing a bathtub and replacing it with a walk in shower. After weeks of trying to hire a plumber ( either booked for months or flat out don't want to do it) I come here in hopes someone can help me tackle this myself.
I need to move a section of vent pipe that currently runs through the void in the tub. Because the new shower pan will lay where the vent pipe runs up from the tee.
My question is, can I move the tee to the right, and run it up the same wall as the water lines? My plan is to run up through the floor, into the wall, and over to the exiting vent. I'm hoping not to have to move the section running up through the roof.
The first pic shows the tee that needs moved. The second shows the vent pipe running through the void of the tube.
 

Attachments

  • 20210524_173428.jpg
    20210524_173428.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 15
  • 20210524_181259_HDR.jpg
    20210524_181259_HDR.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 14
Yes you can. If that pipe is 1.5 inch pipe it needs to be 2" for the drain and it can stay 1.5" for the vent. Pipe it so the vent is vertical and stays vertical until you get about 42" above the bathroom floor. Don't run the vent pipe horizontally.
 
JG plumbing said:
Yes you can. If that pipe is 1.5 inch pipe it needs to be 2" for the drain and it can stay 1.5" for the vent. Pipe it so the vent is vertical and stays vertical until you get about 42" above the bathroom floor. Don't run the vent pipe horizontally.
Click to expand...
Yes the vent and unfortunately the drain pipe is all 1.5" od. The house was built in the 60's, and everything is copper, including the closet flanges. Fortunately the drains all work great, because replacing them would be near impossible with out a major renovation.
Also I'm finding it difficult to find fittings to go from copper to pvc. I'm thinking of using a furnco.
 
Go back to where the drain branch connects. Take a picture. We can tell you what should work.
 
Actually, I was hoping I could cut the exiting pipe just to the left of the tee ( pic 1 ) and use pvc from there to the new drain and vent. Pic 3 shows where the drain ties into. That's a mess I'm not comfortable cutting into or replacing.
 

Attachments

  • 20210525_181502_HDR.jpg
    20210525_181502_HDR.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 9
Your kind of screwed. Looks to be 1.5 inch pipe the whole way.

You need 2"pipe for a shower.

I'm afraid such a long run of smaller pipe could back up while you shower. With a low flow shower head it could possibly work fine... Or possibly not.
 
Luckily the drains all work great. We've been using the exiting tub as a shower for 11 years now. Even when my wife takes a bath, the drain swallows the tub water afterwards easily.
As for the furnco, I was thinking of using one, just wasn't sure if it was ok in this situation.
Thank you both for your quick replies! I appreciate it.
 
JagerGSXR said:
Luckily the drains all work great. We've been using the exiting tub as a shower for 11 years now. Even when my wife takes a bath, the drain swallows the tub water afterwards easily.
As for the furnco, I was thinking of using one, just wasn't sure if it was ok in this situation.
Thank you both for your quick replies! I appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Yes,I posted a link to a fernco coupling that will transition you properly from copper to pvc.
 
The instance where I've done this, the inspector gave his blessing as long as the shower heads were low flow. It worked. The run of 1.5"pipe was much shorter than yours. It traveled like 2ft into a 3"pipe.

Make sure to check back in and tell us how it works. Let us know if it shows signs of not keeping up.
 
If the tub didn’t back up when he used the shower then his new shower won’t either.
 
The water is "metered" when it goes down a tub drain by the size of the smaller hole. It won't be worth the larger shower hole. Now it's "metered" under the shower.

This can cause odd flow.
 
The sizing tables are going to change one of these upcoming code cycles. There will be things written about it by people that study it in lab conditions. I'm thinking the 2" shower requirement might be one of the changes.
 
JG plumbing said:
The water is "metered" when it goes down a tub drain by the size of the smaller hole. It won't be worth the larger shower hole. Now it's "metered" under the shower.

This can cause odd flow.
Click to expand...
The shower strainer restricts the volume. It’s roughly the same as a tub waste and overflow in area. It’s never been a problem for me and I’ve changed countless bathtubs to showers. It’s a big part of my business.
 
Maybe they don't call you back when they find out you messed up their plumbing, lol. :D
 
This guy's situation would be a good test. Copper pipe, minimum size, with more than one fixture running on that minimum size. I'd like to hear about it.
 
The hotel I'm doing we're doing this. Some of the room are back to back with a shower and a tub sharing a 2x1.5" double wye. I would have thought, if you full up the bathtub to the rim, and let er rip the shower that shared the wye would start to fill up. The run ended up being too short so it didn't happen. On a long run I think it would though.
 
JG plumbing said:
Maybe they don't call you back when they find out you messed up their plumbing, lol. :D
Click to expand...

I test everyone I’ve done and haven’t had a problem yet.
These people call when there are no problems, I could only imagine what would happen if the shower backed up around their feet, I’d be toast.

And as many as I have done I wouldn’t be able to go to the grocery store without seeing a customer. They even recognize me in a mask.
Crazy
 
I'd be happy to post a follow up. Just be patient with me. I'm doing this project evenings and weekends. As long as I don't run into anymore issues, I'm thinking 1-2 weeks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top