Hi Please can someone tell me why some basin wastes have these holes in them??? I have an outdoor belfast sink and I'm sure that water is leaking through these holes. I'm tempted to gaffa tape over them or replace the waste if I have to, but I'd LOVE to know why the holes are there in the first place! Thanks
A slotted waste is use to allow water from basin/sink overflow to drain away. If you look at your belfast sink outlet their should be a slot from the overflow,also there is a proper Belfast Kitchen Sink Waste outlet available, the rim diameter is slightly larger. https://www.stevensonplumbing.co.uk/belfast-sink-waste.html
...and the thing with these wastes (in my limited experience) is that water gets to the external thread of the waste rather than straight through (as per Kiab's digram) and tends wick down the thread past the nut. Bit of sealant round the bottom of the thread where the nut clamps up sorts it out.
You're supposed to have a gasket in there to prevent that from happening. Don't you just hate it when some DIYer uses silicone or plumbers tape to seal stuff that seals perfect well with the correct components (e.g. gaskets, olives, etc.) ?
Even a gasket isn't 100% waterproof,if sink outlet is slightly out of true,like to bed them on sealant,which will seal any defects.
Fair enough, I did say limited experience in domestic plumbing (instrument fitter by trade and am more used to systems with slightly higher pressures), but with the ones I have fitted with the correct gaskets both leaked past the external threads. Sorted with a light smear of Fernox.
And 9 out of 10 of the cheap Chinese imports leak due to poor quality, same as the usless O-Rings supplied with CC toilets. 3 out of 3 sink wastes in my house leaked and 1 out of 1 toilet.
They will not seal with just a washer at bottom of basin. The proper way IS to use ptfe on the threads just where the nut will tighten. Or a silicone type sealant. I guess same could be said of plumbers non hardening putty, although I dislike it. To see a basin waste not sealer on threads with anything is a bit of a diy indicator I think. See it everywhere
I apologise profusely and stand corrected ... it appears that I must only ever have dealt with the better than cheap Chinese import stuff, so I have never had to resort to a belts and braces approach. This seems like an appropriate time for me to put in a plug for freecycling, recycling and upcycling. One of the main reasons I never deal with cheap Chinese stuff is that I find that I can get really good quality stuff second hand for a fraction of the price that even the cheap Chinese stuff costs. Most of what I fit in my houses is really excellent quality stuff but second hand ... like Grohe or Hansgrohe taps and showers for less than a tenner, like stoneware shower trays free on Freecycle, like solid oak exterior doors for £35, etc. In today's wasteful society, where so many people feel the need to redo their kitchens and bathrooms every couple of years, it's amazing the sorts of things they're getting rid of. They pay a fortune to buy a really top quality item that should last them for several generations, but then get rid of it after a couple of years because they crave the excitement of 'new'. One man's junk is another man's treasure.
The gasket (washer) just won’t seal on any basin or sink that has the internal overflow and waste fitting to match. Doesn’t matter if the sink and waste is top quality and a flat base. The water just will run down the threads as that part of waste is designed to be in water. On Belfast sinks or shower trays that have no built in overflow, the waste fitting needs to be the solid type (no slots) and just needs sealed on top below flange only. As KIAB said, you can get a large flange waste for to suit some Belfast sinks, and slotted or without slots, depending on which sink you use. When fitting any slotted waste, - ensure one of the slots line up with the vertical drop from the sink overflow, otherwise it will block solid and smell.
It is immoral to throw stuff away. Same could be said of buying cheap junk that you know won’t last. I believe in repairing things. A very selfish society we have
Another one who uses Freegle & Freecycle & rummages in skips. And the stuff I've had from skips,(especially building sites with permission) could have built a house twice over by now.
When using this type of waste fitting, you will need one of these jelly type sealing rings under the big nut. These jelly rings are to stop the water from running down the treaded portion of the waste which PTFE tape & silicon will not do.
How do you work out that ptfe tape or silicone won’t seal the threads fully? (Nothing wrong with using the simple solution of the “jelly rings” though). But a decent rubber washer and ptfe tape on threads is perfect and perhaps extra sealant if basin base poor. Been fitting basins and Belfast sinks for 40 years that way without any problems. The jelly rings are a more recent invention and when they didn’t exist all you used was washers (plastic and rubber) and sealant plus threads sealed with ptfe or other. Prior to that it was a hand made lead washer, putty and paste.
In the tap kit was parts as listed, ie, rubber rings of different thickness. The black large nut supplied was very wobbly on the thread. (as all the nuts were the same) I used plumbers mate, extra washers ptfe tape & silicon. Water still ran down the threads. After ringing manufacturer they realized the Jelly washer had been left out of the kit. Fit Jelly washer, no silicon of ptfe. Result.
The wobbly nut probably didn’t help. But it shouldn’t have taken much to seal the threads. Better to replace the plastic nut with a metal nut, ideally brass. Strangely some wastes come supplied with a quality nut, while others just get plastic. Nice if you can do without silicone or plumbers putty. Keeps it clean and easy to fit or remove later. Ptfe tape on threads at nut is fine though
I always save all the decent condition brass nuts I remove, or any new that are surplus. Come in handy and no cost. Taps are a good example of needing brass nuts, - good to be able to tighten bath taps tight without the very troublesome extra work later to have to disconnect the pipes to the tap to replace broken plastic nuts.
I had some out of skip other month,load of old taps all with brass back nuts,just too good to pass over.
Can’t blame you! Easy money for a little time spent. Brass is fairly cheap as scrap metal, but brass taps tend to be heavy. £££££££££££££££££££££££££££s