Cracking loosed "rusted-in-place" cast-iron clean-out plugs.


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Old 03-12-12, 10:18 AM
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Cracking loosed "rusted-in-place" cast-iron clean-out plugs.

I live in a 1925 apartment building now a Co-Op , and I'd like to un-thread several cast-iron , "rusted-in-place " clean-out plugs in sanitary waste-lines so that if there is a clogged line , the clean-out plug for that line is easily removed.

Presuming the plugs have never been un-threaded in the last 50 years , how should this task be best accomplished ?---is there a tool for "gripping" the square "nut" on the face of the plug ? ; I ask this because the clean-outs are "Boxed in" , preventing gripping the nut with a wrench--- Once the plugs are removed , can the tap-threads of the cast-iron fitting be "dressed" or cleaned , say with a wire brush , and should a lubricant be appiled to the threads to prevent rusting ?
 
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Old 03-12-12, 01:52 PM
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if you can't get any kind of wrench in there for leverage, then your options are limited. If the plugs haven't been removed in over 50 years, then you're probably going to end up mangling the nuts trying to remove them anyway, which means that it's hammer and chisel time.

If you do end up with stripped or gouged threads, or if you can't find the correct-sized threaded replacement plug, then consider a rubber compression-style plug. It has "a washer on each side and a bolt running thru it with a wing nut on the top side. Simply insert into the drain pipe end and tighten the wingnut. This compresses the rubber causing it to swell out and plug the hole." I have replaced a couple of old cast iron plugs of strange thread sizes with the rubber compression plugs and they seal fine and are easy to remove when it's time for drain service.

Check out: http://www.doityourself.com/forum/pl...nout-plug.html
 
 

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