Damaged drain plug - need to remove

[257WbyMag]

Got a knock on the door this evening from a neighbor saying that water was running from our back yard into the street. I walked out into the back yard to notice that our filter was draining water from the drain hole on the bottom. Turns out that the drain plug broke, leaving the threaded section in the threads and the top part of it laying off to the side. A couple of pictures to let you see what I am talking about.

[attachment=2:1e9npidb]DSCN0489.JPG[/attachment:1e9npidb]

Here's a pic of just the broken section...

[attachment=1:1e9npidb]DSCN0486.JPG[/attachment:1e9npidb]

Here's a picture of me putting a caliper to the intact plug so as to get an idea of the dimensions that I am likely going to need to work with to remove the broken threaded section from the bottom of my filter.

[attachment=0:1e9npidb]DSCN0491.JPG[/attachment:1e9npidb]

The only way that I can think to remove the threaded ring from the drain hole is to find something that is reverse threaded and large enough to get a catch on the piece in order to crank it out of there. Can anyone think of something that I can use to remove it? What, if anything, is out there that is either reverse threaded or that can other wise grab the piece from the inside to wrench it out?

 

[duraleigh]

Wow! Anyway to get the outer "female piece out?

 

[Charlie_R]

Do you have any scrap metal about 1/8" thick sitting around? You can sharpen one side of it and lightly tap it into the broken piece then use pliers or adjustable wrench to turn it out.

 

[Richard320]

If it's plastic, I would think a putty knife or a wood chisel would catch and allow it to spin out. Without the tension of the cap, they shouldn't be jammed too tight. Perhaps even heating the tool and melting it in so it gets a good bite?

There are extractors for mechanics, but I've never seen one that big. Plumbers have something, but it would likely cost as much as a new pump. They're called internal pipe wrenches.

I've actually had good luck removing stuff like that from engines by catching the edge with a really fine chisel and breaking the broken piece and pushing it inwards. But if the pump housing is plastic, I wouldn't try it.

 

[257WbyMag]

Wow! Anyway to get the outer "female piece out?

Nope. The female section is integral with the filter housing.

 

[257WbyMag]

Do you have any scrap metal about 1/8" thick sitting around? You can sharpen one side of it and lightly tap it into the broken piece then use pliers or adjustable wrench to turn it out.

I do and that isn't a bad idea.

 

[JamesW]

If you cut a notch into opposite sides of the broken piece with a hacksaw blade, then you can slip a flat piece of metal into the notches and use that to unscrew the broken piece.

Alternatively, you can cut through the broken piece down to the threads in 2, 3 or 4 places, and then pry out the pieces.

In either case, be careful not to cut into the female threads.

Another possibility would be to glue a PVC pipe or fitting into the broken piece and then use that to unscrew the piece. Be careful not to get glue into the female threads.

If you can't find a piece of pipe or fitting that will exactly fit inside the broken piece, you could find something slightly larger and sand it down to fit. You could tape off the exposed threads to protect them from glue before gluing in the piece. Only put glue on the male piece so that glue doesn't get pushed from the female piece into the deeper threads.

 

[257WbyMag]

Thanks for the help y'all. I ended up getting some 1.5 inch PVC, wrapping one end with sandpaper that I set in place with a touch of epoxy, priming and gluing the PVC inside the stuck threaded piece, and just twisted it out of there. Here's what it looked like after removing it...

[attachment=0:a6d21kog]DSCN0492.JPG[/attachment:a6d21kog]

 

[Charlie_R]

Great!

Glad it worked out for you.

 

[duraleigh]

Pretty slick, 257.

 

[JamesW]