I am replacing some 4-inch cast iron vertical and horizontal sewer drain
lines. This is in a 3-story, 3-apartment building that I own. The
horizontal drain line at the bottom that runs above the basement floor and
out to the street will still be 4-inches; I'm just changing it to PVC. But,
I want to change the vertical stack and the horizontal toilet lines to the
new stack to 3-inch PVC if possible.

Is 3-inch PVC for the vertical stack and the toilet lines that run to the
stack okay to use?

Len56 wrote:
I am replacing some 4-inch cast iron vertical and horizontal sewer drain
lines. This is in a 3-story, 3-apartment building that I own. The
horizontal drain line at the bottom that runs above the basement floor
and out to the street will still be 4-inches; I'm just changing it to
PVC. But, I want to change the vertical stack and the horizontal toilet
lines to the new stack to 3-inch PVC if possible.

Is 3-inch PVC for the vertical stack and the toilet lines that run to
the stack okay to use?

Probably not. You'd have to do a study of fixture units
but fixtures for 3 units probably exceeds the capacity
of 3" stack. (The rated capacity of 4" pipe is roughly 10X
that of 3")

Further, the use of PVC may be restricted by local ordinance.

Your call whether you ask the local authorities, who can give
you the true answer...

Jim

On Feb 28, 9:45�pm, Speedy Jim wrote:
Len56 wrote:
I am replacing some 4-inch cast iron vertical and horizontal sewer drain
lines. �This is in a 3-story, 3-apartment building that I own. �The
horizontal drain line at the bottom that runs above the basement floor
and out to the street will still be 4-inches; I'm just changing it to
PVC. �But, I want to change the vertical stack and the horizontal toilet
lines to the new stack to 3-inch PVC if possible.

Is 3-inch PVC for the vertical stack and the toilet lines that run to
the stack okay to use?

Probably not. �You'd have to do a study of fixture units
but fixtures for 3 units probably exceeds the capacity
of 3" stack. �(The rated capacity of 4" pipe is roughly 10X
that of 3")

Further, the use of PVC may be restricted by local ordinance.

Your call whether you ask the local authorities, who can give
you the true answer...

Jim

go with 4.

and be aware if you convert to PVC you will get NOISE COMPLAINTS.

every time anyone uses water everyone will hear the noise

In article , Speedy Jim wrote:

(The rated capacity of 4" pipe is roughly 10X
that of 3")

??

4" diameter pipe has 1.64x the cross-sectional area of 3" pipe -- so how is
the capacity *ten* times greater?

In article , wrote:
On Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:15:14 GMT, (Doug Miller)
wrote:

In article , Speedy Jim
wrote:

(The rated capacity of 4" pipe is roughly 10X
that of 3")

??

4" diameter pipe has 1.64x the cross-sectional area of 3" pipe -- so how is
the capacity *ten* times greater?

Plumbers use funny math ?
I assume he is talking about the number of fixtures it will serve.
Like the electrical code, they assume diversity, all the toilets won't
be flushed at the same time

Well, sure, but the same considerations apply to 3" pipe as well as 4". I
think your first answer is the right one. :-)

wrote in message
I am not sure where the "10x" comes from but there are 2 tables in the
Fla plumbing code (based on the ICC codes) that talk about fixture
units and the number of units for a given pipe size at a given slope
(about 1/2 way down)
http://tinyurl.com/d82oul

Thanks. I tried the link but it requires a login ID and password to access
the site.

Sorry, I can't figure out what you mean by "look at the top hit". The link
you provided takes me to:

http://www.ecodes.biz/eCodesLogin.html

I can't see how to get from there to reading any plumbing codes.

wrote in message
...
On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 10:53:25 -0500, "Len56" wrote:

wrote in message
I am not sure where the "10x" comes from but there are 2 tables in the
Fla plumbing code (based on the ICC codes) that talk about fixture
units and the number of units for a given pipe size at a given slope
(about 1/2 way down)
http://tinyurl.com/d82oul

Thanks. I tried the link but it requires a login ID and password to
access
the site.



I guess they don't want people doing direct citations without joining
the club
You can navigate from here, look at the top hit, 2007 code

wrote in message
...
On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 16:39:44 -0500, "Len56" wrote:

Try this
http://www2.iccsafe.org/states/florida_codes/

Thanks. That worked. (I tried posting this on 3/1/2009 but I didn't see it
here today so I'm posting it again).

On Mar 3, 2:34*pm, mike wrote:
On Feb 28, 5:40*pm, "Len56" wrote:

I am replacing some 4-inch cast iron vertical and horizontal sewer drain
lines. *This is in a 3-story, 3-apartment building that I own. *The
horizontal drain line at the bottom that runs above the basement floor and
out to the street will still be 4-inches; I'm just changing it to PVC. *But,
I want to change the vertical stack and the horizontal toilet lines to the
new stack to 3-inch PVC if possible.

Is 3-inch PVC for the vertical stack and the toilet lines that run to the
stack okay to use?

As an aside, you might consider using ABS drain pipe instead of PVC.
ABS will take abuse and hard knocks a lot better than PVC.

Put on some goggles and go after small sections of each with a hammer
and you'll see what I mean.

Do you often have people hitting your plumbing with hammers...?
Schedule 40 PVC is plenty tough enough for any residential situation.

R

On Mar 3, 2:42*pm, RicodJour wrote:
On Mar 3, 2:34*pm, mike wrote:





On Feb 28, 5:40*pm, "Len56" wrote:

I am replacing some 4-inch cast iron vertical and horizontal sewer drain
lines. *This is in a 3-story, 3-apartment building that I own. *The
horizontal drain line at the bottom that runs above the basement floor and
out to the street will still be 4-inches; I'm just changing it to PVC.. *But,
I want to change the vertical stack and the horizontal toilet lines to the
new stack to 3-inch PVC if possible.

Is 3-inch PVC for the vertical stack and the toilet lines that run to the
stack okay to use?

As an aside, you might consider using ABS drain pipe instead of PVC.
ABS will take abuse and hard knocks a lot better than PVC.

Put on some goggles and go after small sections of each with a hammer
and you'll see what I mean.

Do you often have people hitting your plumbing with hammers...? *
Schedule 40 PVC is plenty tough enough for any residential situation.

R- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Only if they're renters or those darned do-it-yourself home repair
types. )