Hello everyone, I have had my P-2 since December and was wondering how some of you cut into cast iron when roughing bathrooms into a existing basement of a old house. I mainly have worked at Yale college dorms and have seen cast iron pipe crumble just by touching them. Do you usually just use a ratchet cutter to cut into existing pipe? Or an angle grinder to cut old pipe to be safe? Thanks.
Cutting into existing cast iron waste pipe.
Plumberman860
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Hello everyone, I have had my P-2 since December and was wondering how some of you cut into cast iron when roughing bathrooms into a existing basement of a old house. I mainly have worked at Yale college dorms and have seen cast iron pipe crumble just by touching them. Do you usually just use a ratchet cutter to cut into existing pipe? Or an angle grinder to cut old pipe to be safe? Thanks.
I grinder cut mine and used a couple ferncos to put in a Wye. A cutting blade on a grinder will wizz right through CI.
If the pipe crumbles I'd say it is time to replace it...
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Porta band.
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Thats what our plumber uses. Pretty cool how accurate it is. My personal favorite is the 9 lb hammer. When you finally break through you get a little facial splatter you never forget..plazaman said:
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I use a carborundum saw all blade that is designed for cast pipe. Works pretty well.
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Reminds me of my first home. Two weeks in and the drains are backed up. No money for a plumber so I hand dug a 4x4 hole down 3' to the sewer pipe because there was no clean out. It's all cast outside. Once I found the pipe I decided to use a sledge to bust into it...big mistake! It was like that scene in shawshank when he busts into the sewer line to escape..sh*t came spraying out everywhere.ohiohomedoctor said:
Pack a lunch for that is the worlds slowest way to cut cast iron.
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We always used snap cutters, they work real nice, fast and efficient. I remember in old days the guys used a cold chisel and a hammer, but only on new installations and you had to have access on all sides of the pipe not to mention you had to be real good at it.
Today we are much more advanced, I started doing a house demo and its all cast iron sewer pipe, and my plumber was using Rigid Press Snap to cut old pipe it was fast and easy I couldn't believe that.
Today we are much more advanced, I started doing a house demo and its all cast iron sewer pipe, and my plumber was using Rigid Press Snap to cut old pipe it was fast and easy I couldn't believe that.
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Cold Chisel? No way I would quit. WE are all so spoiled w/ our tools.
I would love to see that done 1 time. But I sure as heck won't even try.
My good old plumber loves his sawzall w/diamond blade (nowadays).
Sometimes it's really slow and I think: " just use the snap cutter".
But he warns me of the 1% of the time when a pipe could not break right.
Causing A PITA.
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I hear you, thank God I don't work with that stuff, as the Cold Chisel goes, these guys were good and right on the money, and the reason this method is very effective because cast iron is very strong and at the same time very brittle. So the way they did it same way as mason cuts the block or lime stone... they draw a line around the the pipe with chalk and then using using a hammer and a chisel they make marks around this line rotating pipe a few times around and the pipe will break perfectly along the line... but like I said before you have to have access all away around.Cold Chisel? No way I would quit. WE are all so spoiled w/ our tools.
I would love to see that done 1 time. But I sure as heck won't even try.
My good old plumber loves his sawzall w/diamond blade (nowadays).
Sometimes it's really slow and I think: " just use the snap cutter".
But he warns me of the 1% of the time when a pipe could not break right.
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Mephisto Tool Co. makes a chisel specifically for cutting cast iron, I have a couple of them.
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Wow!
I've cut CI with a hammer and chisel many times... however it was in school and it will only work well with old cast pipe with a seam. The new tru-spun pipe is too strong and you can't get a straight cut on it.
As far as old iron, I don't think twice about it. Ratchet cutter all the way. Most of the time it's against the wall so a grinder can't reach around. If it crumbles it crumbles. Grab the grinder.
And I never use ferncos for any reason. I use Mission transition couplings from SV to NH. Or a husky coupling which I like because it has 4 bands on it.
Keith
I've cut CI with a hammer and chisel many times... however it was in school and it will only work well with old cast pipe with a seam. The new tru-spun pipe is too strong and you can't get a straight cut on it.
As far as old iron, I don't think twice about it. Ratchet cutter all the way. Most of the time it's against the wall so a grinder can't reach around. If it crumbles it crumbles. Grab the grinder.
And I never use ferncos for any reason. I use Mission transition couplings from SV to NH. Or a husky coupling which I like because it has 4 bands on it.
Keith
Yup mission coupling all the way.
I have a sawzall blade for cast iron. Thats good when you can only get so far with a grinder.
Snap cutters are pricey and if you dont plan on using it alot its not a good investment imo
That ridgid cutter pictured above is sweet.
I have a sawzall blade for cast iron. Thats good when you can only get so far with a grinder.
Snap cutters are pricey and if you dont plan on using it alot its not a good investment imo
That ridgid cutter pictured above is sweet.
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Haha yeah that cutter has got to be thousands of dollars!Rich D. said:
I've used powered cutters for ductile pipe out in the street (12"-36" stuff) but that's just because you can't do it any other way. To have a powered unit for 4" is kind of silly. A decent cutter is like 300 bucks. Every plumber should have one, even if you pick it up used.
Keith
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