Garbage disposal flange

[Steve Broady]

I am a little surprised that I couldn’t find any references to this here. I was at Lowe’s today and came across a sink flange for a garbage disposal. Cost me $20, and I see that you can get about the same thing on Amazon for $15, or $10 without the center plug.

I’ve heard of people using a sink drain flange to fit a column to the top of a boiler, and I was about to do the same. But then I saw this..

It’s upside down, obviously. The flange is the same as any other sink drain, but the opening appears to be just about perfect for a 3” ferrule. No cutting or modification needed. Just weld or solder a ferrule in place.

And if you remove the rubber gasket, the plug fits it perfectly.

If you cut the top off, it’s about perfect for a 1.5” ferrule. And since it’s tapered, you could also find a spot that’s the right diameter for any size in between.

[shadylane]

The distilling force is strong with this one.
He's now scrounging about in plumbing departments looking for Idea's.
And finding some good ones too.

[Steve Broady]

The distilling force is strong with this one.
He's now scrounging about in plumbing departments looking for Idea's.
And finding some good ones too.

Well, it doesn’t do much good to look for stainless and copper in the lumber department. Seems they hide it all over in plumbing. And since I spent the Whole. Damn. Day. doing plumbing repairs, I was in there anyway. Twice. Might as well at least have a look and see what’s hiding on the shelves, right?

I’ve ordered more ferrules, and will update folks when they arrive and I have a chance to see how well this all goes together.

[Saltbush Bill]

The distilling force is strong with this one.
He's now scrounging about in plumbing departments looking for Idea's.

Reminds me of this thread ......................... viewtopic.php?p=7733847#p7733847

[Yummyrum]

Hee hee , you’re becoming a master of matching off the shelf random stainless products to fit ferrules and stuff distilling related

Loving your work

I think Salty’s in the money .

[Steve Broady]

I finally got around to working on this little side project. Two rested projects, to be exact. The first was the disposal flange to 3” TC. This was super simple. The ferrule fit in too loosely, so I massaged the flange with a hammer to gently close up the opening until it was a tight fit on the ferrule. I could have done better at fitting the two together tightly, because I did have a few spots where the solder leaked out, but I managed to get a sealed joint relatively easily.

The second project was turning the stopper into a 3” to 1.5” TC adapter. This was a little more of a challenge, but still an easy evening project. I started by cutting off the “handle” and then pressing in a 1.5” ferrule. Simple enough. I did try just soldering the stopper to the bottom of the 3” ferrule, but I don’t like trying to solder a joint that’s not held in place by some physical means. As expected, that failed.

I then clamped a block of wood in the vise, and used that as an anvil to gradually work the flange on the edge down into nearly a cylinder. I kept going until it fit down inside the ferrule. Again, I could have done better, and I suffered some solder leaks because of that. With a little bit of work, I believe I’ve got it all sealed up.

In retrospect, I think the disposal flange is a great way to attach a 3” ferrule to a pot lid if you need to. However, the 3” x 1.5” adapter is probably more work than it’s worth, unless you need one and have the parts on hand. The cost of two ferrules gets close to the cost of a cheap adapter. It does work, and it looks kind of cool, but I don’t see myself doing this again. Once was enough for me.

[cob]

The distilling force is strong with this one.
He's now scrounging about in plumbing departments looking for Idea's.
And finding some good ones too.

Yes it is.

[ThomasBrewer]

How does this end up getting used? Cork gasket and bolts? If you have the solder and flux, it would seem easier to just solder the ferrule onto whatever you're ultimately using for a boiler.

[Steve Broady]

I have a really wonderful tool which can form a flange in sheet metal, and accept a 1.5” flange. Nice mechanical connection, which when soldered makes a very strong joint. I don’t have anything comparable for 3”. I know that sink flanges are a common thing to use to adapt from a pot lid to a column. I just wanted to experiment with this. I’m not saying it’s especially valuable, but I wanted to share it in case anyone else is interested.

[ThomasBrewer]

Right on. I think most folks using flanges use the threaded type and make a sort of bulkhead.