washbasin waste seal leaking !

[Neil Catley]

All, Just fitted new washbasin in the bathroom. I have screwed in the waste fitting and connected up the waste pipes. All looks ok, until I turn the tap on.... it appears as though as soon as the over-flow chamber gets full (as the chrome plug /basin seal is obviously not water tight and water leaks into the overflow chamber surrounding the plug hole fitting even at low flow) the seal where the waste screws starts to leak. It appears as though the large rubber washer between the waste screw and nut isn't doing its job. HELP !! I have tried all variations on tightness of this screw fitting but with no luck. Any tips ?? What am I doing wrong ?!

[Lee Blaver]

Try using silicone (Fernox LS-X is good) or maybe plumbers mait. Some suggest ditching the washer entirely and just silicone it, I usually leave the washer and silicone both sides of it myself though, seems to work well enough. Remember to give the silicone time to set before putting water down the waste ;)

Lee

[BigWallop]

Lift the whole waste outlet back out of the sink and smear some sealant around the underside of the grating section. Lay it back in the hole but don't squeeze it down.

Take the rubber washer and look at both sides of it. One side should have ribs running around it and the other side should be smooth.

Smear some sealant around the ribbed side and place it over the tail of the grating with the sealant on the upper side toward the basin.

Put the nut on the tail and, holding the grating gently with one hand, start to tighten the nut on to the tail.

When the washer touches the basin, press down gently on the grating and then line it up with the centre of the hole before tightening the whole thing up.

Don't use any wrenches on the fitting at all, as these waste outlets are best just taken to hand tightness and no more. Then leave the whole lot for a couple of hours, until the surface of the sealant has skinned over, before running water through it.

[Neil Catley]

Thanks for the tips - I'll give it a shot tonight.

[robgraham]

Isn't there a rubber washer that goes between the waste and the sink, i.e.above the sink?

Rob Graham

[Neil Catley]

nope. and its not on the diagram so I haven't just lost it ! If you think about it, you dont need one as the chamber around waste beneath the grill is designed to fill with water when the sink overflow has to kick in.

[Roger Mills]

I don't accept that!

If the flange of the waste fitting doesn't seal to the basin, what stops the water running out - by seeping round the flange into the chamber you mention - when the plug is in?

Roger

[Neil Catley]

I dont know - but there isnt one !

[Mark S.]

Had the same problem myself.

Did the smear of silicone under the waste itself and then reassembled all the bits with ptfe tape on every thread whether it looked to need it or not and not leaked since. :-)

Mark S.

[robgraham]

Well, the lack of provision of one doesn't stop the laws of physics. I can't see what's to stop water seeping around the waste if there is no seal above the sink and under the waste flange.

Rob

[Andrew Gabriel]

I just did the same, and had the same problem. The rubber washer was profiled and not symmetrical, but no h> robgraham wrote:

Mine came with a foam washer for this purpose, which squashes to just about nothing when you fit it. Without that, the sink would slowly empty when the plug was in.

[Neil Catley]

Always the simple things eh ?! I'll try this first before getting the silicon gun out. Thanks for the tip.

[whitehousefb]

Basically the wash basin is not fit for purpose and has been designed badly . Why can't a company like Pennine simply sort the issue out and do a recal l on all affected models - it quite frankly puts me off the company as it a ppears to not care about a major issue affecting the whole camper unit.

[David Lang]

Al basin wastes are utter s**te.

Get on of these

The answer to a maidens prayer.

[jones_michael_groups]

Having done this job a few days ago:-

In theory the waste should seal above and below the basin. If the overflow drains into the chamber below the plug, then having a perfect upper seal is less important than having a good seal underneath. If the top seal is impe rfect then the sink slowly empties. If the bottom seal is imperfect then th ere's water all over the floor.

I found that the rubber seal sealed well between the nut and the underside of the basin (a B&Q cheap basin) but water was leaking through the thread b etween the nut and the waste. A couple of dozen turns of PTFE tape round th e thread on the waste fixed mine.

Mike

[DerbyBorn]

jones_michael [e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

- Yes the thread is an important thing to seal.(In this case)

[Richard]

Especially one which is twelve years in the making.

[Graham.]

Our new friend Mr WhitehouseFB seems to have tagged onto this old thread in order to rubbish a camping equipment company.

The OP was just about a normal bathroom sink and no mention at all of camping in the thread until now.

Competitor? Ex employee? Disenchanted customer?

What do you say PlusNet customer whitehouse66.pndsl.co.uk

80.229.153.172 ?

[DerbyBorn]

As the slots for the overflow may well be above the bottom of the chamber there will be some water left behind which would leak out past the threads.