Under-Sink Plumbing Q

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So late Fri. afternoon, I discovered much to my dismay, that much of my brass kitchen, undersink plumbing pipe was corroded and leaking. To the point of saturating the particle-board cabinet bottom. Great....

Sat. I went to a local HW store, with the plumbing in a bucket to get all new. I managed to make it work after busting some skin off my knuckles for a few hours. As luck would have it, I had dinner guests coming over at 6pm.

I still had two leaks though so today I went back to the HW store and encounterd an older employee who said I had the polyethylene washers in backwards. I didn't think so, so I looked on the back of a package and they show the 45° sides oriented as I thought. Turns out he didn't have the part I sought.

However, he said some things I wanted to verify with a plumber here.

1. Should I use a plastic sink tailpiece washer or a rubber one? Reason is that the plastic one constricts the 1-1/2" drain tube a bit around the circumference, resulting in slower sink draining. I think mine didn't even have one, resulting in a slow leak.

2. My disposal is on the left sink. Both SS sinks are the same depth, thus the plumbing isn't "symmetrical" on both sides. The drain pipe, downstream of the trap, is on the back wall, about 6" above the cabinet floor. I can post a pic of what I have. Q: What's the "best" way to plumb this or are their multiple ways to do it?

3. There's something very odd about the female fitting in one of the pipes. It's too shallow, and with the pipe being nearly horizontal, prone to leak. Tightening didn't seem to help. So I tried both new poly washers and a rubber one, tightened down firmly. The former seemed the most secure. I also used the yellow pipe-thread-dope on the end of the pipe, which helped.

When it rains, it pours...especially under the kitchen sink.

3.
 
Thanks for responding! I've taken some pics. Just finished cleaning up. Time for dinner. I'll post later. For now though, no more leaks and all drain pipe is solid.
 
Odd that the inlet in the wall is so low. That would make you have to drop everything down to that level (extra long tailpieces), then go through the trap and horizontal to the drain.
 
Yah the trouble with brass down tubes is that they wear from inside out and turn into foil . PVC drains are easy if you make a good one with an 1 1/2 trap I use rubber no hub connections top and bottom on the trap should I need to remove the trap to clear it.
 
Kitchen%20Sink%20008_zpsik8wxi9h.jpg


Here it is. Previously leaking where the two red arrows are pointed. The horiz. joint at the left-most arrow was the worst. I replaced the rubber washer inside and the nut. Still leaked. So I used a poly slip washer instead, with yellow pipe thread dope smeared around the end of the pipe, and cranked it down hand-tight. The joint finally feels tight.

The rt. arrow points to another small drip. I replaced this nut with a new one and added the washer mentioned above. It no longer leaks, but the photo below clearly shows the insert taking up quite a bit of space where the water drains. Doesn't really look right to me. Is it supposed to look like this or should I use something else here?

Kitchen%20Sink%20006_zpstbwpqx3t.jpg

(The chrome has all been worn off this sink drain after 34yrs., leaving the brass.)
 
Well I can definitely say that looks like an interesting installation. Typically, you would have a flanged tailpiece coming off of the sink basket to a tee that connects the garbage disposal (or other sink if it wasn't there). I hardpipe mine to all glue fittings except for the adapters to go on the tailpieces that connect to the baskets, so at most you only have two possible leak points. I've always thought that slip joint stuff was jankey. I've only seen rubber washers on metal piping and it's going to have to be more than hand tight. That elbow coming off the basket looks as if it would be hard to seal right. As far as the 34 year old basket, good luck getting that thing off without cussing like a sailor. I the the last time I had to sawzaw one off that was only 20.
 
My old original to the 1960 built house drains started leaking at the metal nut under the basket. Went to take it off and the basket fell apart.....
 
Yea, I now understand why flanged tailpieces are used! I'm liking the hardpipe idea on the right sink side to eliminate the joint in the horiz. run. I too have thought the slip-joint stuff "jankey". As long as all is vertical and gravity rules, it mostly works. That horiz. joint was tough. The 'accepting female end' is far too short. Then again, it wasn't designed for this use either. "Hand tight" here means really hand tight.

Didn't try to remove the old basket, just the nut holding the pipe on. Easily came off.

Thanks!
 
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