Can I convert my old metal soul pipe to plastic?

[Danturboc]

My mums house still has the old metal soil pipe outside and leading to the toilet, it's leaking quite badly where it meets the toilet and also looks abit of a mess outside.

I'm going to change it all and replace the toilet at the same time, can I just cut the old metal pipe towards the bottom and use one of the adapter pieces that slots in? Will that be ok and is there any reason not to do it like this?

Thanks guys

 

[Ian H]

You could cut it flush with the floor and use an S464 internal drain connector inside the old cast iron.

You may as well have a look down to the rest bend with a torch while it's all open.

 

[^woody^]

Man, dat pipe got soul.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Yes, but be careful taking the old cast pipe down, it is bloody heavy.

 

[bluebaron]

Stick it on eBay buyer removes collects.

 

[Ian H]

It would probably be best if you cut a window in it low down, put something (that won't fall down the drain) into the window to stop any broken pieces falling in, then take it down from the top.

 

[Danturboc]

That's a good idea

 

[John D v2.0]

Bloody heavy but apparently not worth anything as scrap. Our builders smashed it and chucked it in the skip.

 

[^woody^]

You may well find that unless the pipe is actually broken, any plastic pipe replacement will be inferior to the cast pipe.

 

[Doggit]

Having cut one out recently, I cut it with an angle grinder, forgot to put a plate in the cut, so when I wacked the pipe with a club hammer, I lost a couple of small pieces drown the drain, but the rest of the pipe stayed in place by the bolts in the wall, and it was just a case of breaking it off as I went up. I found it surprisingly easy, and much lighter than I expected it to be. The angle grinder wouldn't cut round the back (it was tucked in a corner), and I tried a reciprocating saw, and it completely ruined the blade, and that's why I wacked the pipe, and then had enough room to get the angle grinder in towards the back.

 

[Blagard]

The bottom of the cast iron pipe where it joins the clay will be rotten. If you are removing the top, pull out the last bit and get a new clean connection to the clay drain. Otherwise you leave the worse part of the stack in place with the possibility of it leaking unseen. I would use an angle grinder on any cement around the cast iron if necessary to release it. Stuff a sack or at least something into the pipe that you can later pull out with any rubbish that falls into the open pipe. The push in drain adapters are fine but if you have a good clay socket the full bore connectors are even better. http://www.plasticdrainage.co.uk/clay-cast-iron-adaptors-110mm-to-socket-8365.html

Also handy is an access pipe at low level unless you already have good access from a manhole

 

[noseall]

As said above, make a clean connection at the base of the pipe.
Buy your new loo and have it ready before re-hashing the SVP. You will likely need to tooth out a few bricks around the pipe that exits the WC as the iron pipe will have a big knuckle at the end of it. It will also likely be pitched at some ridiculous angle too, so you might have to remove some bricks above as to make your new WC connection angle more favourable.
Set up your loo in position along with any packers needed to allow for floor tiling etc. Build your stack with the WC in mind. Connect to the back of the WC via your pan connector, then brick up the hole. The horizontal pipe can be left long if needs be to allow for any wall tiling or insulation in the bathroom and can be easily trimmed up after.

 

[noseall]

You may well find that unless the pipe is actually broken, any plastic pipe replacement will be inferior to the cast pipe.

True but infinitely less user friendly/adaptable.

 

[Ian H]

The cast can go down a bit though so you may end up doing a bit of a dig to get it out. They usually have a bit of a 'bell end' on them to to make them hard to pull out.

This one was about 12" down in Tarmac and replaced due to roots:

 

[^woody^]

This one was about 12" down in Tarmac and replaced due to roots

Replaced without a proper rest bend by the looks of things.