> ...the shower drain is lead sealed to the 2inch copper drain pipe.
Is it possible that the lead seal is not fused to the copper? I.e.,
that it was put in as lead wool and hammered into the pipe/Pb/concrete
space with a sewer pipe tool? If so, you might loosen it by finding
or making a mandrel that fits the pipe snugly and sticks up a foot or
more, then attaching some kind of rig that vibrates the mandrel fairly
furiously -- say, a hammer drill or small air hammer. A few minutes
or a couple of hours of vibrating might deform the lead enough to free
the pipe. (The copper should work harden from such treatment but the
lead wouldn't.) That might work even if the lead *is* fused to the
copper, provided that it isn't keyed into an annular or helical groove
or very rough surface in the concrete.
Or stuff some packing down the pipe to below the lead, pour in some
parafin wax to seal it and then fill the leaded part of the pipe with
nitric acid. (Of course, you lose the top of the copper pipe that
way, and may make a bit of a mess.)
Or find a piece of steel pipe that fits over the copper but inside the
concrete. Work up the end of the pipe with a chisel and file to be a
crude milling cutter. Weld it to a shank, put it in your 1/2" drill and
chew away the lead a bit at a time.
Easy! (It's *always* easy when it's sombody else's drainpipe and all
I have to do is think up hair-brained ideas. :-)
- Mike
--
Michael Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada .~.
/V\
[email protected] /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/ ^^-^^
--