I ma thinking of replacing my bath tub drain which currently has the standard lever with one of those pop up types. I have never had one of the pop up types before. I understand that they are better, but I really wanted to hear from someone wh has had both to confirm. My main concern witha pop up type is that my current lever type does catch a lot of hair, that presumbaly would otherwise go down the drain and clog up my pipes (I would think?). Can anyone comment on one vs the other?
I own and have installed both. I will always go with the pop-up in the future. I do suggest that you not buy it at Lowes or HD as the version they sold the last time I looked is cheap and flimsy. Look for the Watco brand at a real supply house. All you get is the flange, washer and pop-up in heavy pvc. The flange top is chrome or brass. You then use your own pipe and fittings glue it together and forget it.
Hair has not been a problem. It seems to stick in the trap and easily removed with a 20" saw tooth snake.
When I bought my house, I replaced the rusted lever plug with a pop-up. It was a cheap one from Lowe's however, and has been replaced after two years. That said, it works fine when it works and getting the hair out is easy. Most of it catches in the drain assembly right under the plug and can be accessed by simply unscrewing the plug.
I read in a book that the pop up types drain slower than the lever types. So I installed a lever type last weekend. The drain has a grate over it that should catch hair. HD had some neat looking cable operated drains that are supposed to drain even faster but they were more expensive than I could justify for a basement tub that I'll never use.
One advantage of the lever is that you can open and close the drain with your toes.
This is important to me, because sometimes I've made the water too hot or too cold and there was no room to add more water.**
Also, when I'm ready to get out of the tub, I can open it with my toes, although for the last two winters, I've gotten out and let the hot water sit until it's cold. (it takes about 3 hours) I can't seem to waste the heat and the humidity.
The house is 26 years old, but I don't think the tub was used much the first 4 years. The spring rusted out when it was about 18 years old, and I couldn't find an exact replacement, but I had one that worked fine. Of course I could have bought the whole plate & lever, with the spring, for I think 3 or 4 dollars.
**I used plumber's grease to lube the hot and cold water faucets, so I could adjust those with my toes also, but that is not as easy to do as it was 5 or 10 years ago. I can still do it with two feet, but not with only one. I think that is still better than it was when I bought the house.
In Brooklyn NY the valves were on the side of the tub so I could just use my hands. This is typical in NYC. The drain in this 30's building was entirely outside the tub, a pipe that sticks up from the floor, with a tube that pulls up a bit and twists to drain or plug the tub. I taped the overflow, and untaped it when I moved out 10 years later. When taped, the tub was so big, I could float my whole 5'8"
180 lb. body without touching the sides or bottom.
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