Weird draining problem - Biting the bullet!

[Fireguy5674]

Also, the galvanized pipe was showing signs of leaking at the cast tee. Anytime I run into things like that, unless they look pristine, they get replaced. Very likely that is not in good shape and what Snoonyb says.

 

[Lancer525]

Yep, the leaking galvanized into the cast iron was the thing that did it for me. When I was growing up, my dad always took shortcuts to save money, because he was really tight with a penny, which caused my mom to argue incessantly that he would spend $50 to save $0.05, oftentimes calling him "pennywise and pound foolish", so I decided that when I became a homeowner, and had it to do for myself, that I would do the thing right from the beginning, and not just do anything halfway. Dad would have put some epoxy putty around the threads, and wrapped it with waterproof tape, rather than spend $1.75 for a new fitting.

Part of what I'm trying to do here is fix it one time, and never have to worry about it again until I die or sell the house.

Oh, and most of the other issues are resolving themselves, and it's probably going to be this weekend that it gets started. Sorry for the delay, gang...