Peculiar hole in old lead drain pipe

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Jim Schlemmer

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Troy, NY
Hi all.

I was aggressively plunging our 2nd floor shower drain the other night as there was about 2 inches of standing water after my son got done with his shower. At some point my wife screams that there's deluge coming down from the dining room ceiling. Lucky me.

So today I started pulling the ceiling down to see what was up. Turns out that drain from the tub comes down into a 1 3/4" lead pipe which runs laterally to join up with a clean out and then on to a cast drain pipe. This lateral lead pipe effectively forms a trap for the shower drain. I determined that the source of the leak was a hole on the top side of the lead pipe, but it's a perfectly round hole of about 5/16" diameter. So it looks as though a plug of some sort may have gotten blown out by the plunging. (I hope the image goes through).

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Anyway, if anybody has a good idea of how to go about plugging this, I'd appreciate hearing about it. I have one of those Pow-R-Wrap kits but I'm not sure this is a lasting patch, though I'd rather not cut the pipe. Everything in there is very heavy duty and rigid.

Thanks.
 
I'm afraid there's no room to solder. I needed a mirror just to see the thing. Replacing the entire pipe would be a herculean effort given the space limitations and the way in which it connects to other pipes.
 
I understand,
I also understand you have no choice .
if you want that hole fixed you will need access to the bottom of the pipe
you could pull a bone head and simply screw a screw into the hole
that will last about a year till the screw rusts into and meanwhile hair is catching on the screw causing a clog

lead is soft, a no hub band will not work, when you tighten the band it will deform the pipe
not trying to be an AH
but the only quick fix is the spray crap they sell on TV at 2AM that holds a boat together
I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT, BUT,,,,
 
I’d rip it out and replace it, it’s old, is what the plumber in me would say. JB Weld will do the trick.
 
also a good epoxy would be a temporary repair. I use the 2 part they sell it at home depot. wear gloves and mix according to directions then push into hole and around hole.
 

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