Sealing disc used in hydraulic testing of plumbing system

A disc-shaped sealing device molded as an integral, unitary piece from polymeric material, wherein said sealing device is to be used with a plastic fitting in a drain, vent, waste plumbing system for temporarily sealing said system so that hydraulic testing can be done on the system, said sealing device comprising

• a circular disc having first and second substantially planar surfaces and a substantially circular perimeter;
• an angled flange extending outwardly and upwardly from the perimeter of the first surface of said circular disc, wherein the disc-shaped device fits snugly within a barrel of a plastic fitting such that the circular disc is coaxially received in the barrel of the plastic fitting and the angled flange mates with and lies against a bevel in the barrel of the plastic fitting;
• a lug extending downwardly from the second surface of said circular disc, said lug having a forward end, opposite sides and a back end that are joined integrally along mutually respective proximal side edges thereof to said circular disc;
• said lug being positioned with its forward end located no more than about one-fourth inch from the perimeter of said circular, disc and with the back end positioned inwardly from the perimeter of said circular disc so that a longitudinal axis of said lug that extends through the forward end and back end of said lug is displaced by a distance of between about one-eight and one-half inch in its closest distance to a center point of said circular disc;
• first and second elongate grooves formed in the first surface of said circular disc, said first and second elongate grooves having a common juncture positioned near the front end of said lug, with said first and second elongate grooves diverging from said common juncture and extending along the opposite sides of said lug to near the back end of said lug, and with said first and second elongate grooves then further extending from near the back end of said lug so that the first groove curves from the side of said lug that is closest to the center point of said circular disc, so that said first groove curves in a smooth curve around the center point of said circular disc to a point on the perimeter of said circular disc and then extends in an arc along the perimeter of said circular disc adjacent to said angled flange to a position that is no more than about three-fourths of an inch from the forward end of said lug, and the second groove extends from the side of said lug that is farthest from the center point of said circular disc in a smooth curve that is spaced from the smooth curve of said first groove, with said second groove extending to a point on the perimeter of said circular disc, and further with a terminal end portion of said second groove extending across an upper surface of said angled flange;
• and said first and second grooves provide means for removing the disc-shaped device in its entirety from the barrel by pulling on said lug which causes ripping along said grooves.

A method of hydraulically testing a drain, vent, waste plumbing system comprising the steps of

• (a) installing a disc-shaped sealing device in a barrel of a plastic fitting, said sealing device comprising a circular disc having a periphery that is circumscribed by an angled flange, with said sealing device being positioned so that the circular disc is received coaxially in said barrel and the flange mates with and lies against a bevel in said barrel;
• (b) installing the plastic fitting into the drain, vent, waste plumbing system;
• (c) filling the drain, vent, waste plumbing system upstream of the plastic fitting with water to hydraulically test the drain, vent, waste plumbing system;
• (d) pulling a lug on the circular disc of said sealing device to tear the lug from the circular disc and rip the circular disc in a generally spiral ripping motion to tear the circular disc into an elongate, substantially spiral strip;
• and
• (3) continuing to pull the lug and the spiral strip to sever the angle flange and pull the angled flange from the fitting as a continuous elongate extension of the spiral strip.