Plumbing Overflow – Help!

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

I'm deeply embroiled in doing up my son's new house, which has loads of minor defects and a few big ones!

Can anyone advise on how to replace this common fitting, which combines the sink overflow with the plug chain end.

It connects behind to a flexible plastic pipe, which then dumps overflow into the main outflow.

I suspect the fixture just screws in but the plastic is brittle and likely to break. Or it might be glued in , a press-fit, or special to this particular sink. Does anyone know how and if these can be replaced?

Ideally it's a standard screwed part, or I could make a non-standard one on my lathe. If changing it likely to go horribly wrong, I'll just leave it, because the fix is mostly cosmetic and the upgrading the kitchen is on the cards in the distant future when (or if) Son Of Duffer can afford it.

Ta

Dave

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

They usually screw in to the plastic "elbow" behind. usually come complete with the whole sink waste.

Edited By JasonB on 11/03/2021 09:31:48

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

As Jason says just unscrews not usually much more than finger tight.

Whole kit less than a tenner from Wickes, Screwfix, B&Q etc.

John

[Mike HurleyParticipant @mikehurley60381]

As Jason says – simply screws into the elbow ot the rear. Have a look at Screwfix's website and search for sink overflow fitting and it will make it clearer.

Hope that helps

******************

Journeyman beat me to it!

Edited By Mike Hurley on 11/03/2021 09:43:38

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Just change the chain? the triangle bit pulls out sideways

As a plumbing aside these are now easy to get on ebay

Had one for a couple of years now and they are lifesavers when you have multiple women flushing alsorts down the drains, which always seem to block at 0830 on a saturday or sunday morning

Edited By Ady1 on 11/03/2021 10:04:38

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Looks like Dave wants to change it as the chrome has worn off rather then just wanting a chain

Beware the above linked to unblocker as they do not mix well with push fit waste fittings!

Edited By JasonB on 11/03/2021 10:05:30

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by JasonB on 11/03/2021 10:04:34:

Looks like Dave wants to change it as the chrome has worn off rather then just wanting a chain

Beware the above linked to unblocker as they do not mix well with push fit waste fittings!

Edited By JasonB on 11/03/2021 10:05:30

And even less well with push fit fittings on pipes running into a very shallow roofspace on a single story extension that has later had a low pitch tiled roof built on top!

Please don't ask how I know as you do not want to see a grown man cry at the memory!

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

What a wonderful forum! I'm much more confident about tackling it now I know it's screwed and that the whole overflow unit can be replaced.

Every so often I come unstuck with DIY jobs when a simple part turns out to be unobtainium and the job escalates unreasonably . Like changing a tap washer reveals a badly grooved seat so the tap has to be replaced, but it's cemented into the sink, which breaks, forcing that to be changed, revealing the wall behind needs re-tiling and the whole bathroom has to be refurbished…

Many thanks,

Dave

[ZanParticipant @zan]

Lol been there done that ( almost)

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Dave – for future reference, one of these tap-reseating tools might be handy. Of course you don't get a refurbished bathroom, but it's a lot quicker.

Rob

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Of course most taps sold today do not have washers but a ceramic disc valve. If it starts to drip you simply replace the cartridge along with a few O-rings

John

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 11/03/2021 10:51:42:

Like changing a tap washer reveals a badly grooved seat so the tap has to be replaced, but it's cemented into the sink, which breaks, forcing that to be changed, revealing the wall behind needs re-tiling and the whole bathroom has to be refurbished…

Only when you try to remove the original tiles which in this house (1930s) are the small 3"x6" approx which, while some are cracked and some are missing, nothing short of a tactical nuclear device will shift the rest!

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Even the professionals don't always have it easy.

A friend who is, recounted to me once trying to replace a customer's toilet cistern. His normal, local but major-chain outlet could not oblige – "We don't stock that type, I'm afraid".

Pete – "What? There must be thousands of them around Yeovil! "

Builders'-Merchant bloke – "I know that, you know that; but Head Office doesn't and says we have to sell those ones" – pointing to a high shelf laden with dusty, cobwebby cisterns.

++++

Don't remind me, Dave…

My society used to rent a delightfully ramshackle workshop that had no water supply or drainage (so plastic containers, and luxuriant brambles); but did have a 3-phase supply.

One evening I switched on a bench-drill – flash! bang! 3ph fuse blown.

By the time the two of us present had replaced the fuse, we'd re-ground a damaged screwdriver on a1ph grinder so we could mend the faulty step-ladder so we could reach the steel conduit so trace and replace the faulty wire… then we locked up and went to the pub.

Without drilling the hole.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Get with the 21st century. The whole sink has to be replaced. If in a vanity unit that too is part of the shrink wrapped replacement part. Count yourself lucky it isn't the newer type of house for which the entire bathroom is the spare part.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Tap with grooved seat if of the washered type you need the monument tap seat cutter, still available ! For the ceramic valve 1/4 turn type By the time you have found the right insert they will have lauched the life boat , just buy a new tap. Noel.

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Posted by noel shelley on 11/03/2021 12:30:20:

Tap with grooved seat if of the washered type you need the monument tap seat cutter, still available ! For the ceramic valve 1/4 turn type By the time you have found the right insert they will have lauched the life boat , just buy a new tap. Noel.

Unfortunately that is so true, but does fit with the non siphon toilet flush that leaks after a couple of years – such an improvement over the old fashion lasts 15 years siphon powered by a sheet of plastic.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Sometimes, you do wonder in which direction progress is taking us?

Years ago, a ferrule carrying an E clip on my wife's car failed. The repair, according to local dealer, was a complete new throttle cable assembly. ("Fits all models, sir" )

It went to the breakers yard with a bolt drilled through, and some steel banding bent to a suitable shape.

Bigger profits seems to be the usual objective.

But I am a grumpy frugal old man

Howard

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

The plastic body for the pop up waste on the kitchen sink cracked.

A suitable replacement seemed to be no longer available. But a piece of brass was. After some turning and drilling, a kind friend powder coated it to match the colour of the sink.

It may be some time before that fitting fails!

Howard

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Dave, I have been known to cut a diaphram from a thick piece of polythene, and monument also do a small seat cutter for brass ball valves, Noel.

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Oh dear, didn't go well. Stuck tight, and cracks rather than unscrews. Left it for the time being…

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Not surprising. Lots of composites become brittle with age..

Looks like you are in the market for a new overflow, at minimum, or complete drain outlet assembly.

Search Screwfix, Toolstation, B&Q, Homebase, Plumb Centre etc

If you are lucky, you may find fittings that are compatible with e flexible pipe that is in situ.

Don't kick the cat!

Howard

PS  It might be worth lubing the threads with Vaseline before installing nto guard against a repeat in a few years time?

Edited By Howard Lewis on 13/03/2021 11:59:26

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 12/03/2021 21:56:11:

Oh dear, didn't go well. Stuck tight, and cracks rather than unscrews. Left it for the time being…

That's why they sell the whole thing as a kit. Just rip out the old one and replace the elbow, screw in cover and corrugated tube . The tube is just a push fit over the spigot on the waste outlet. They don't usually leak but the push fit doesn't inspire confidence in water tightness.

John

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

When I did the shower waste pipe the bumph sheet said to only use neutral setting silicone, as the normal smelly stuff causes plastic to go brittle. The plumber's merchant reckoned this was rubbish, and he didn't sell the neutral stuff, so I rang the manufacturers of the fitting. They were most insistent, and said they would be having a word with the merchant. The downside of the neutral stuff is it takes longer to set, but who's in a hurry.

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Only trouble with these 'simple' plumbing jobs is that you are invariably lying on your back halfway into a cupboard working on a fitting that is just out of reach and in semi-darkness. Deep joy

John

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