Esteemed Netizoids,
We bought an 80-year-old 2-unit apartment building last year. We have some sort of canister in our plumbing that is in line with the bathtub drain. That is, the bathtub drain piping enters this thing, and there is piping on the other side that goes to the house drain stack. There is a cap on top of the canister that one can unscrew to get in and, I suppose, clean it out.
Side note:
I guess this canister was common in the old days. In our old condo we had this, and it got plugged up. We could not rod out the bathtub drain cuz the rod simply gets stuck in the canister. As well, we could not use caustic drain cleaners in that drain. The condo association gave us some enzymatic drain cleaner to use on a regular basis.
We have the same thing in our current house.
...End side note.
When we gut rehabbed our bathroom in our current house, the contractor left the old bathtub drain plumbing alone, presumably because the bathroom floor was concrete and it would be a big job to pull it up so as to replace the old pipe.
My question is: Is this old canister considered a problem? Is it no longer to code? Should the contractor have replaced it and the piping? And, finally, now that we're stuck with it, what's the best way to deal with it so as to keep our plumbing clear? I should mention that it's now impossible to get at the canister lid without pulling out the bathroom vanity, which would be a significant job I think.
Thanks for any advice.
We bought an 80-year-old 2-unit apartment building last year. We have some sort of canister in our plumbing that is in line with the bathtub drain. That is, the bathtub drain piping enters this thing, and there is piping on the other side that goes to the house drain stack. There is a cap on top of the canister that one can unscrew to get in and, I suppose, clean it out.
Side note:
I guess this canister was common in the old days. In our old condo we had this, and it got plugged up. We could not rod out the bathtub drain cuz the rod simply gets stuck in the canister. As well, we could not use caustic drain cleaners in that drain. The condo association gave us some enzymatic drain cleaner to use on a regular basis.
We have the same thing in our current house.
...End side note.
When we gut rehabbed our bathroom in our current house, the contractor left the old bathtub drain plumbing alone, presumably because the bathroom floor was concrete and it would be a big job to pull it up so as to replace the old pipe.
My question is: Is this old canister considered a problem? Is it no longer to code? Should the contractor have replaced it and the piping? And, finally, now that we're stuck with it, what's the best way to deal with it so as to keep our plumbing clear? I should mention that it's now impossible to get at the canister lid without pulling out the bathroom vanity, which would be a significant job I think.
Thanks for any advice.