Hi all, my first post here. I am building my own home and I am almost done with the rough in part of the plumbing. My dilemma is, how can I plug the bathtub drain and vent so I can fill the pipe with water for water testing? The bathtub has some drain linkage in the overflow that I have already installed, no big deal to remove it I guess if I need to.
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welcome to 'breaktime' and thanks for asking Qs.
Around here, rough-in means that. Putting in the tub is a bit previous, and I expect you'll need to have the plumbing inspected first. So, if you've got access to the u/s, cut the waste at a point where i'ts easy to put a coupling back in afterwards. Then glue a temporary cap in place and let it set up (4 hrs min). Or rent or buy a special expanding plug. You will need to fill the system with water, generally thru the vent, the height to which it is filled depends on your local BI or Building Code. So you see that ALL your wastes have to be plugged if they are new.
cheers
***I'm a contractor - but I'm trying to go straight!***
Right, they sell an inflatable bulb for the tub drain..about 8 bucks. Many places where I lived would allow a return of it after the inspection. No need to cut any pipe an cap it.
Always remember to remove ALL the vent stack plugs..a common problem from a hasty trim out is forgetting one or all of them. Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Insert your favorite George Harrison song HERE.
To add to what Sphere said, we use fiberglass tubs and you can get a screw in drain plug and cover for the vent that facilitates testing. A temp stack maybe 4' tall is installed at a to be installed sink (etc) location upstairs and the system main drain is capped off where it exits the house and then the system is filled with water. At some point in the process, the tubs are filled with water (to below the vent) to check for leaks, but the DWV system is not pressure tested. Once the testing and inspection is complete the temp main drain cap is busted out to drain the system. At the time the sewer line is connected, the end of the waste pipe with the busted out cap is cut off.
As the others have mentioned, you should cap all the fixture branches with solvent weld test plugs. For ABS, they are white and look like a Tupperware canister lid. They're less than a buck a piece.
Now, to isolate the building draing for the static water test, you will need the inflatable test ball- be very careful with this one. You can get hurt if it's not removed properly- there will be a fair amount of water pressure behind the ball.
You should have installed a test Tee in the main building draing where you would be installing this plug.
Good luck and be safe!
Jim
I don't know what your local code is, but most codes require a 10 foot static test. They don''t require the fixtures to be connected,[I.E. THE BATHTUB]. You have to plug off the pipe before it gets to the tub. They have what is called Dollar Plugs;[ OF COURSE THEY COST MORE THAN A DOLLAR], they are expanding plugs that have a wing nut on them. Pick one, expanding or glue; what one will be the most problematic. Lots of luck.