Basket Strainer Waste Conundrum

[Sumgod]

Hiya and thanks for reading this.

Any info/experiences/insights you can offer are welcome.

It concerns a trivial tho annoying problem: double ceramic/pot sink with basker strainer wastes.

time these wastes begin to allow water to drain from the sink. This is not via the basket strainer itself, but the seal between the sink and the waste. Attempts to correct this by tightening the central screw are initially successful. However since the screw is metal and the 'banjo' beneath the sink is plastic, eventually the plastic fails and the banjo needs replacing. And then we start again!

The sink was new and 'professionally' installed 3 yrs ago . The 'seal' between the ceramic and the pressed steel waste was silicone. I've repeated using this when replacing the 'banjo'.

I've been trying to come up with some other way of installing these dratted wastes that won't involve continually having to tighten the screw and eventually reinstall them. I assume the problem comes from heating and cooling and the mix of materials (pot, pressed steel, steel screw, plastic).

In place of silicone between the sink and the pressed steel waste I've considered using: plumbers mate; or boss white and putty.

However I can't think of a way of ensuring that the metal screw into the plastic banjo remains tight. Any ideas?

Cheers - Chris

[The Medway Handyman]

I've come across exatly this a few times, as you say the screw is stronger than the plastic. Bad design.

I always seal sink wastes with Fernox LS-X both sides of the waste & each washer. Made for the job, leave it for an hour to set.

One thing I've learnt about sink wastes is that everything has to be in perfect alignment and be an 'easy' fit. The waste must be perfectly square to the sink base. If you have to use the slightest effort to align the pipe & the waste the bugger will eventually leak. I'd look there first & make sure that is spot on.

Second thing I've found is that people stuff things under sinks, like bowls, bucket etc. If something is pushed in firmly to get the door closed, it can often contact the waste pipe & push the waste out of true, which will cause a leak.

Thats the crucial bit really, any stress or strain on the waste will push it out of square and it will leak.

HTH

[Anna Kettle]

Not a final solution as such, but IKEA sell these wastes for about £1.20 each, so could you treat them as a disposable item?

Anna