Any ideas?

[John]

I am refitting my bathroom and have a slight weep on the bath waste. The 'leak' is coming down the threads of the waste in the bath. From underneath (ignoring the U bend) I have the following senario from the bottom up.

Threaded section of waste Big White plastic nut Rubber Waher Overflow 'cup' Rubber washer Bath (8mm thick) Silicon sealant Top of waste outlet.

All items are new and as supplied with the bath.

This is the forth bath I have replaced in my life and the other three never gave me a problem and IIRC hhad the same or similar set up. Any ideas anybody please? It's driving me mad!!

Cheers

John

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Possibly between the bath chrome plate and the underneath washer&screwthread?

You nick the bath from the forth bridge then?

[The Wanderer]

Well, the first thing I'd try is to get rid of the silicon sealant and instead bed in the waste on a decent ring of Plumber's Mait

but should also be available from any good DIY shed or Builder's Merchant.

[Rick Jones]

The leak is between the underside of the top flange on the waste and the inside of the bath. All wastes that I've seen come with a gasket that fits here - usually soft foam so it compresses to be invisible.

sufficient. Maybe one of the washers you've put on the outside should go here, though that would suggest you're still one short.

If one of the existing ones is very soft and compressible, it's probably meant to go inside the bath. If you have to use sealant instead of a washer it would be better on the outside. For a start there's no continuous water pressure on the outside section of the waste, whereas there is on the inside when the bath is full.

HTH Rick

[John]

Thanks for the guidance. The bath came with only two rubber washers both black and identical, which is why I have sandwhiched the overflow 'cup' with them. I have used silicone between the underside of the waste and inside of the bath, and it was quite a decent contiuous ring and lots squished out when tightened up. I have taken it all apart once cleaned it up and redone it.. As The wanderer has sugested Plumbers Mait I may give that a try as I have some in the garage.

The bath does not leak when it has water in it only when the plug is pulled, so my thoughts were the leak was coming down from the inside bore of the overflow 'cup'.

Cheers

John

[The Wanderer]

Grrr! I do wish that people would give us the whole story. Save getting potentially wrong advice!

If the bath isn't leaking when the plug's in then it ain't likely to be the seal under the top flange of the waste where it meets the body of the bath. Having said that, if you're stripping everything out, then I'd still bed the flange down on PM.

Try a thin layer of PM each side of the upper washer above the overflow cup, and a slightly thicker layer around the pipe as you fit the bottom washer and nut.

[Christian McArdle]

Just stick lots of silicone between every surface in sight. I got fed up with assembling leaky wastes and so now, if I don't use up a whole tube, I've done something wrong! Since then, I haven't had a single leak!

Christian.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Actually, having used both I reckon silicone is the better if you know how to use it.

Plumbers mait is for people who don't.

Try followjg mny plumbers advice..."throw way everything that comes in the packet, and start again using quality parts and silicone everywhere".

I haven;t installed a single waste kit or a cistern in the last 4 years that didn't need some adjustment at some point due to minor leaks.

Thes days I star with te sssumption it WILL leak, and bed every sing;le surface on silicone, do up finger tight, wait 24 hours and then retighten.

Plastic distort so easily under load..you need pretty squidgy things to seal it..silicone is ideal.

[Rob graham]

I can't work out from what you say whether you have a washer that is a conical fit around the plastic waste pipe and where it pushes up into the metal waste. IIRC the big plastic nut on the end of the metal waste should compress a washer that seals the plastic pipe to the metal bit.

Rob Graham

[Ed Sirett]

The big nut is a loose running fit on the waste. Either PTFE or liquid thread sealant or LS-X etc. can be used on the threads to help. Try to put the tape or goo only near where the nut will end up as it will make doing it up a pain if it is over the whole length.

[John]

Many thanks for all the replies.

I did a bit of everyones suggestion. Plumbers Mait ring (Oooh Err Missus!), PM on the washers and PTFE tape round the threads and (fingers crossed) I think I've stopped it!

Cheers

John

[nemo]

If all else fails, self-amalgamating tape wound tightly around the outside of the pipe will do the job. It's the stuff that's used to waterproof the connectors on satellite dishes.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Christian McArdle" saying something like:

I'd agree with the general principle - but with the caveat of just enough silicone. Too much is as bad as too little, so just the smeariest smear needed to fill the irregularities and not enough to let the rubber washer squidge out when tightened. Having been caught out by makers' instructions to fit dry and found leaks afterwards, I've been using silicone for years and haven't had a leaky one since.