Replacing sink drain-tailpiece

[fred1949]

I replaced the sink drain today & no matter what I do there is a drip coming from in between the bottom of the sink & where the rubber washer meets the bottom of the sink. I have the nut pretty tight. Is the something I could do to stop the drip? The drip is very slow. Should I buy a new washer? If so what should I ask for?


Thank you,
Fred

[pushkins]

Did you put plumber putty between the drain body and the inner lip of the sink ? This is often where I see small leaks coming from.
As well, did you reinstall the felt washer ?
You should have this combination: drain body, plumber putty, sink, rubber washer, felt/card washer, lock nut.

[fred1949]

There was no felt washer with the first kit. I just put a more expensive kit in & it is as you described except no plumbers putty because it had a rubber washer on top instead.

Fred

[pushkins]

....and did this new kit solve your problem, or is the "new" kit the problem ?

[fred1949]

Yep the new kit solved the problem. I wonder can you buy the big "washer" that goes on the bottom of the sink seperatly?

Thanks,
FRed

[HayZee518]

I think the rubber seal only comes in a it but maybe there's a broken package you might find one. anyway as pushkins said above, you install the tailpiece of any sink: waste outlet, plumbers putty, rubber washer, felt washer and locknut.

[Sail]

My husband let me replace a sink drain as the flange and pop up were pitted badly from the hard water we have, plus the ten years that well water was used that contains hydrogen sulfide. It would not hold water due to the pitted metal.

So, we went to a local Ace Hardware store and bought a roughly 12.00 dollar Orgill brand brass Pop up Drain Assembly. It didn't come with a felt washer. It did come with a top flange gasket and an underneath gasket (somewhat cone shaped and larger than the top gasket) as well as a plastic looking washer, and a metal lock nut.

I installed a thin rope of plumber's putty on the sink basin top, even though it came with a top flange gasket, I just wanted to be sure this was sealed good. I placed the pop up assembly from underneath through the sink hole, screwed on the flange, then pushed the flange down into the putty and holding it still so as not to turn the assembly, I screwed the lock nut in place, then used a wrench to tighten the assembly. I ran water to test, and it leaked where the threads were underneath the sink. My husband inspected it and suggested that the lock nut is what seals the threads, and not the rubber gasket, and that I should apply pipe thread compound to the threads, especially as I felt I was about to over-tighten the whole thing and mess it up. I did this, and that got rid of the leak. I then tested it again, and it seemed dry, but checking the unit in the morning, there was water collected where the pop up assembly screwed on to the plastic drain pipe that I removed from the original pop up assembly. I couldn't figure out where it was leaking. Then I spotted the leak when I ran more water. This unit, like others, has an extension screw-on add on tail piece made of a lighter, cheaper metal than the main body, which is usually cast metal. This was one joint I had overlooked, and so I unscrewed the thinner tail piece from the main part of the assembly and applied pipe thread compound, reattached the plastic drain body that includes the p-trap, and that solved the leak.

I wanted to mention this, as none of this was in the instructions, except to "apply putty to rim of basin bowl".
Regards, Sail

[HayZee518]

what we have here is two drain assemblies with two different installation procedures. a standard sink has the basket, rubber washer, felt washer, locknut, tailpiece, tailpiece gasket [looks like a plastic top hat with no top] slipnut.
lavatory waste drain with pop-up drain plug. parts for this is the sink basket with "male" thread, rubber washer, tailpiece with "female" threads, popup extension, actuator rod and ball, gland nut, maybe an O ring between the ball and extension.

[Sail]

I guess I have the latter. This was for a bathroom sink. I kept the old parts and took a picture to show where I applied thread compound. I should have learned from the old unit, as you can barely see where compound was used on the two threaded areas.

[Redwood]

I guess I have the latter. This was for a bathroom sink. I kept the old parts and took a picture to show where I applied thread compound. I should have learned from the old unit, as you can barely see where compound was used on the two threaded areas.

The center portion indicated IMHO is the most critical place to apply the thread compound. The compound should be where the rubber mack washer rides on the threads. This is the most common leak I see on lav sinks.