How to attach a pipe to a flat surface

fittingpipe

What type of fitting is used to attach a pipe to a flat surface such as a barrel or other container?

The reason I ask is because I have built a tray out of sheet metal that is intended to contain plants. I now need to tap a drainage pipe into the bottom of it for the excess water.

Best Answer

I haven't seen one for a small diameter pipe, but what you're looking for is some type of drain flange:

drain flange

The top is wider to hold it in the opening, the rubber washer is below to seal the connection, and then you use a metal washer and a nut to tighten it to the surface.

With a small diameter pipe, you can improvise this with a threaded pipe and a second nut (pardon the ascii art, this is a cross section view):

                        |     |
                nut  ===|     |===
      rubber washer ....|     |....
  surface --------------|     |--------------
       metal washer ....|     |....
                nut  ===|     |===
                        |drain|
                        |     |

The downside of the improvised version is the nut and threaded pipe will sit up a bit from the bottom, so this doesn't work as well if you need it to drain completely to the bottom.

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