How to Repair a Bathtub Drain

Bathtub drains use a brass stopper connected to the drain trip lever handle to open and close the drain. This allows water to either remain in the bathtub or drain from it. With time, you will need to adjust the linkage that connects the stopper and the drain handle to keep the stopper in the proper position. This is a simple adjustment to make. These steps will help you solve the problem of a leaking bathtub drain.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A screwdriver

1. 

   Use a screwdriver to remove the two screws securing the cover on the drain trip lever. Place a towel over the tub drain to avoid dropping screws into the opening.

2. 

   Slowly remove the trip lever cover and the linkage connecting to the drain stopper.

3. 

   Locate the two nuts linking the two components of the linkage rod that connects the trip lever to the brass cylindrical stopper. These are normally located in the middle of the linkage.

4. 

   Tighten the two nuts by turning each one clockwise direction until both the top and bottom nut have moved approximately one-eighth of an inch toward the drain handle.

5. 

   Hold the drain stopper linkage in one hand and allow the cylindrical stopper to rotate to a position perpendicular to the linkage. Then, reinsert the stopper into the opening from which it came. Feed the linkage back into this opening until the drain cover is flush with the tub wall.

6. 

   Replace the two screws securing the drain cover and push the trip lever to the upward position to close the drain.

7. Test the drain adjustment. Keep the trip lever in the closed position and run a small amount of water into the tub. The water should not drain from the tub. If water continues to leak past the stopper, repeat steps one through six to make additional adjustments to the drain handle linkage.

Tips & Warnings

• Depending on the age of the bathtub, you might need lubrication to free the two nuts on the drain handle linkage. Use WD-40 or a similar lubricant.

Resources

• Drain Mechanisims

[billygoat2]

on 7/20/2009 Hey your article totally saved me this past weekend!!! Thanks.

PS: there's also a video from thisoldhouse that was helpful to visualize the procedure.