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CAST-IRON PIPE, WASTE

Description: Standard cast-iron pipe is heavy, thick-walled pipe with a variety of forms at the end. It may be straight on both ends or bell-shaped at one end (known as the hub or spigot end).

It is shaped with hubs so that it can be joined with hot lead and oakum, a fibrous material.

Newer cast-iron pipe is "hubless" -- both ends are plain -- and this permits much easier joining.

Cast iron commonly comes in 5- and 10-foot lengths and in 2-, 3-, and 4-inch diameters for home use.

Buying information: Because it is lighter and easier to work with, plastic waste pipe has displaced cast iron in many situations.

How-to hints: The old method of joining cast-iron pipe was to insert the plain end into the spigot end and seal it with oakum and hot lead, a time-consuming, difficult, and dangerous job best left to a plumber.

Hubless cast iron is joined by slipping the ends into a neoprene gasket with stainless-steel clamps; the clamps are tightened with a torque wrench to a specified torque. This is a far better material for the do-it-yourselfer. Indeed, plumbing codes may not allow anyone but licensed plumbers to work on old-style pipe.

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