Arnie Goetchius wrote:
Speedy Jim wrote:

Arnie Goetchius wrote:

I have a shower stall that is leaking through the ceiling into the
kitchen below. I have poured water from a one gallon water can
directly into the shower stall drain pipe and the leak occurs when I
do that. Based on the results of that test I don't believe the leak
is from any leaky gasket at the shower pan drain or bad grout around
the edge but a leak in the drain pipe it self and most likely in the
drain trap section.

Does this sound like a reasonable assumption?

My next step would be to remove a piece of the ceiling below the shower
in the kitchen. Depending what I find, I will either attempt a fix
myself or call a plumber. I have replaced traps in a kitchen sink but
don't know if that's doable in shower stall plumbing.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



You're on the right track. Make the opening and have a look.
If the house is old, chances are the pipe is galv iron and the
trap is cast iron. But could be other materials.

Your best hope is that the leaking part can be sawed out (Sawzall).
Then, get a couple of No-Hub couplings and splice in PVC pipe
and/or trap.

There are far too many variables you could run into to describe
in detail. See what you find...

Jim


I should have looked down the drain before posting. When I looked, I
found water standing at about 6 1/2 " below the floor of the shower
stall. If the trap was leaking, there would be no standing water that I
could see. By examining the inside of the drain tailpiece I found about
1/4 " hole due to corrision in the tail piece that is apparently causing
the leak. The 1/4 " hole is just above the standing water level.

The tailpiece is copper. Based on the rest of the house (35 years), I'm
guessing the rest of the drain pipe is also copper until it connects to
the main drain in the basement where it is 5" cast iron.

I might be able to plug the hole with some epoxee or "plumber's goop".
Another possibility is to shove a piece of 2" plastic pipe down the
tailpiece (inside diameter 2") until it meets the trap and thus covers
the hole. I don't know who long any of this would last. This could be
done without opening up the ceiling below.

I suspect that a really good permanent repair would be to replace the
tail piece in the shower stall and the trap as good measure. This would
require opening the ceiling and using my Sawzall as you suggested.

Question: can the tail piece of the stall be replaced assuming I can
find the right size tail piece? Can I assume it is mechanically similiar
to a tail piece in a sink although larger in size?

The tailpiece is likely 2" copper pipe. That would be std for shower.
The copper would be soldered into a threaded fitting.
If the copper is badly corroded, it will be very thin all around.
That doesn't bode well for any quickie repair.
And unscrewing the fitings may cause even bigger headaches if this
is a tiled shower base. If it's a molded (fiberglass) base, I would
replace the drain fitting and trap.

This is the kind of job where experience counts for a lot as there
are so many variables.

BTW, we used to think that copper waste piping had an infinite life;
turns out it is limited to 35-40 years in actual practice... :-(

Jim