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Three weeks ago I finally got my bathroom sink drain to stop leaking after 7 tries with different washers and plumber's tape.
I watched 4 different YouTube videos and the trick was swapping the rubber gasket for a wax ring meant for toilets, has anyone else had a weird crossover fix like that work way better than the obvious solution?
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drew69019d ago
I heard a plumber on a radio call-in show talking about this exact thing last month. Said for some old drains the rubber gasket is too soft and the wax ring gives a better seal because it's more forgiving with warped pipes. I tried it on my kitchen sink after the rubber one kept failing and it held for two years now. The downside is if you ever need to take the drain apart again you have to scrape all that wax out, which is a sticky mess. But honestly it beats replacing the gasket every few months. Just make sure the drain is dry before you put the wax in, otherwise it won't bond right.
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terrybennett15d ago
Oh wow, that's an interesting workaround I hadn't thought of for kitchen sinks. One thing nobody's mentioned yet is the type of wax matters a lot for this. The standard wax rings for toilets are a bit different than the plumber's putty or beeswax some people grab for sinks. I tried a toilet wax ring on a bathroom sink drain once and it worked okay but it got really brittle after a year and started leaking. A softer plumber's putty held up better in my experience. Also, make sure you're not using it on plastic pipes that get hot water regularly, the heat can soften the wax and break the seal over time.
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