Shower drain plug - does this need attention?

[steveoelliott]

Hi,

 

Whilst cleaning the shower tray in one of our en-suites this morning, I noticed that the seal appears to be perished. I presume this requires unscrewing / re-sealing? Is it much of a job?

 

Thanks in advance...

[markc]

Can you get under the tray? 1, to see if it is leaking and 2, to assist or enable replacement.

seal shouldn’t perish but as this appears to have squeezed out the trap may have been turned, tearing or distorting the seal.

replacement is pretty straightforward if you can reach under to clean up around the hole and hold bottom of trap while re tightening.

[steveoelliott]

36 minutes ago, markc said:

Can you get under the tray? 1, to see if it is leaking and 2, to assist or enable replacement.

seal shouldn’t perish but as this appears to have squeezed out the trap may have been turned, tearing or distorting the seal.

replacement is pretty straightforward if you can reach under to clean up around the hole and hold bottom of trap while re tightening.

Possibly albeit a little awkward...

 

 

In fairness water pools around the plug and doesn't appear to seep in so most likely it is sealed but just the edging perished. Hopefully the previous owner / installer put plenty of putty on it. Do these literally just unscrew? I can imagine them getting disturbed by an overzealous cleaner!

 

As an FYI this has to be the worlds smallest shower room... have no idea what the previous owner was looking to achieve as personally I would have had an extra wardrobe with the space.

[markc]

Hi, drains are usually a two part affair where you screw top part into lower section trapping the tray and seal between. They rarely start to leak unless disturbed.

main seal is under the tray … seams strange to many but the top one does very little. Any water getting under top seal drops into larger bowl underneath, when this fills it’s seal should prevent water escaping under the tray.

[CAdam]

I echo markc, all the shower trays I've fitted, the seals underneath, most of time the top part is a bit of foam or plumbers mate, it does nothing. 

 

The only exception are former tray wastes, impey, akw etc, that's not this 👍

[steveoelliott]

1 hour ago, markc said:

Hi, drains are usually a two part affair where you screw top part into lower section trapping the tray and seal between. They rarely start to leak unless disturbed.

main seal is under the tray … seams strange to many but the top one does very little. Any water getting under top seal drops into larger bowl underneath, when this fills it’s seal should prevent water escaping under the tray.

Thanks.. So in the top seal is basically redundant. Having had a feel around, I see what you mean. If the top part did leak it would just fall into the bigger bowl underneath and it's how this seals to the shower tray that's important. I'm guessing that twists on from underneath.

[markc]

8 minutes ago, steveoelliott said:

Thanks.. So in the top seal is basically redundant. Having had a feel around, I see what you mean. If the top part did leak it would just fall into the bigger bowl underneath and it's how this seals to the shower tray that's important. I'm guessing that twists on from underneath.

You keep the underside stationary and screw the upper into it.

[steveoelliott]

12 minutes ago, markc said:

You keep the underside stationary and screw the upper into it.

Sorry to sound daft but can the underside seal be disturbed from above if somebody fiddles (turns) with the top part? Mine is tight from the top anyway.

[markc]

Just now, steveoelliott said:

Sorry to sound daft but can the underside seal be disturbed from above if somebody fiddles (turns) with the top part? Mine is tight from the top anyway.

It can yes. Although the two parts become difficult to move over time so a bit of fiddling shouldn’t disturb anything, in reality they can be a pain to remove without breaking them