Our bathtub apears to have an issue with the drain. When I push the little knob to lift the stopper for the watter to drain, it pops right back out and closes the drain. Basically, if I want to drain the bathtub, I have to hold the knob in in order for the water to drain. Is this a major issue to fix, and if so, about how much would it cost to hire a plumber to do it? Thanks ahead of time for the help / advice.
It is not a huge deal to repair or rebuild those tub drain linkages. It can be a pain but probably not beyond the skills of the average DIYer as long as it can be repaired without replacing the whole overflow/drain assembly. Below is a link showing how these work that I think does a pretty good job of explaining how things work. I'm not associated with Lowe's, beyond spending an inordinate amount of time on the weekends running back and forth between there and Home Depot.
You need to replace this little lever. If you remove the two screws that hold it in in place you will be able to pull out the entire guts of the drain device. Quite often the little spring that keeps the handle in place weakens and this issue occurs. Simply replace the lever with the new spring on the back side. Do this by removing the little cotter pin that holds the rest of the metal bar to it. You will find also that there is a screw thread attached to this. This can adjust the height of the stopper when the lever is pushed one way or the other. Once you have it in the correct spot. Re-fasten it back onto the tub.
Posts: 1440 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 31 January 2006
