From There to Here: Plumbing the Past 70 Years

Since this year marks the 70th anniversary of this publication, it is appropriate that we take a look back at what it was like when the magazine started. What the trade was like then, and how things have changed since then. Of course, this is a broad spectrum of changes to look at, so I intend to recall only the things that I, personally, did, saw and was trained in. Since I grew into the trades in the northeast (New York City and its environs), much of what I recall has that area’s flavor. Your experiences might be different.

First, let me remind my readers that the following is my recollection of some of the things that I was taught and saw growing up in the plumbing trade over the last 70 years. I can, and probably will, misremember some things. So, should I relate something that you know to be different than I portray it, please don’t go running around like your hair’s on fire and pointing at me to disagree! 

The Dim Mists

My first taste of what would become my vocation came in 1952 (I was six years old) when my dad and granddad were cutting in a water tap in the streets of Brooklyn. The water main was made of wood—one of the last I was later told.

At that time, in that place, cast iron and tubular lead pipe were used for drainage, waste and vent piping. Galvanized steel water piping was slowly giving way to threaded red brass. In order to connect a P-trap you had to “wipe” a lead joint between the lead tube coming out of the wall and a threaded brass ferrule. You screwed the trap directly onto the ferrule allowing for a bell-shaped chrome escutcheon to cover the connection. If your measurements were not “dead nuts” you either moved the sink or lavatory to adjust it or you started over again. Water connections were the same with chrome plated brass supply tubes which were NOT flexible attaching to angle stops and to the faucets.

Union Rules

In New York City at that time the unions held great sway when it came to materials allowed. Anything that might take away from the plumbers’ work was deemed bad and the unions fought like the “third monkey getting onto the Ark and it was starting to rain!” to keep that product from entering into the trade there.

Ten-foot-long cast iron was seen as witchcraft! Why? Because it took away one joint from the plumber! You see, at the time, five-foot lengths were the norm. Copper tubing was another no-no. Because it was “easier and lighter” than red brass and it didn’t require threading equipment (that’s my opinion, not fact... I really don’t know the reasoning). No Hub cast iron was the next hit on the parade. You can imagine the howls of protest when we no longer had to “yarn” and pack a joint with oakum, then pour molten lead into it, “tap it up” and move on. 

Heck, the only way I was taught to cut cast iron was with a “lump” hammer (a three-pound hand sledge which, when you missed and hit yourself, caused a lump) and a cold chisel. You hit the chisel around the pipe until it broke off. You might imagine how ecstatic I was when the boss brought a new Wheeler snapper onto the job site! That was around the mid ‘50s.

Eventually all those products were accepted and folded into the trade. When PVC and ABS came on the scene, the howls grew to such a cacophony you needed to hear it to believe it! PVC and ABS DWV were not allowed in residential use until the early ‘70s!  Commercial use until the late ‘80s or early ‘90s, even though the products were superior in many respects to the old cast iron product. 

Service 

Service work was always my favorite. It was usually intriguing, quick and a good use of my trade skills. Toilet tanks, back then, had brass ballcocks and Douglas valves as well as threaded brass overflow tubes. You used a set of lift “wires” to adjust the tank flapper ball so it would drop correctly. If the Douglas valve was pitted and corroded, allowing water to bypass, you could “dress it” using a drill attachment with a spongy sandpaper at the end. Instead of replacing the entire ballcock (remember, the supply tube was not flexible or easy to unscrew) you could replace the plunger inside of it and re-seat it. Floats were made of thin sheet copper.

I spent many an hour rebuilding faucets and tub/shower valves from a stock of seats and washers that we always had on hand on the truck. Usually, if you worked in a particular area, you knew what manufacturers products had be used in what type of home or apartment (Kohler, American Standard, Briggs, etc.) and so always had a supply of replacement repair parts on hand.

Then and Now

Times sure have changed, haven’t they? I didn’t touch on a tenth of the things we used to do then that we don’t do now. Today we use all sorts of space-age materials, electronics and other cutting edge stuff. Back then, we fixed things rather than replacing them. Service work today usually involves replacing rather than repairing (a different time) and selling new products to the ever “greedy for new technology” mindset of today’s customer. Sure, there are still instances where big steel pipe and cast iron are used, always in commercial/industrial applications, but those are becoming less and less common.

Is it any better than it was? In some ways yes and some ways no. Obviously, the trade has embraced the new paradigm of cutting-edge technologies and materials, but the skill set and knowledge of the plumber is still something that should be cherished, not denigrated. Knowing the how and why things work like they do is just as important today as it was seventy years ago.

The Brooklyn, N.Y.-born author is a retired third generation master plumber. He founded Sunflower Plumbing & Heating in Shirley, N.Y., in 1975 and A Professional Commercial Plumbing Inc. in Phoenix in 1980. He holds residential, commercial, industrial and solar plumbing licenses and is certified in welding, clean rooms, polypropylene gas fusion and medical gas piping.