Leaking Bath Overflow

[dbgray]

Hi All,

Looking for a bit of advice. I have just moved house and the bath overflow leaks (found this out by waterfall in kitchen).

The overflow is a rounded knob that twists to pop-up the plug. The overflow is very loose and I can not detach it. The is a hole in the side of the overflow knob with a screw inside that I assume I need to to remove to get the overflow off. This screw looks like a hex screw and has corroded badly. I can't remove it even with WD40 and am afraid that the screw head is trashed now with all my attempts.

Would it be possible to use something like gripfill to hold the overflow in place with a sealant on top?

Cheers

 

[hi1]

Are you saying the head of the screw is hexagon shaped like a bolt or has a hexagon recessed into the head, an Allen keyed screw?
If its a bolt then you may be able to tap a socket on to it, next size down or if metric an imperial size which may grip enough to remove the screw. If its an allen bolt then if you have a screw driver with a flat blade which fits across the widest part of the hexagon shape this can also give enough of a grip to turn it out, Gripping the screwdriver with mulgrip pliers or indeed swan neck pliers might just give your enough torque to get the screw out. If neither work you may have to consider drilling the head of the bolt off, and possibly into the thread to enable the knob to be removed. You will probably find a nut under this knob which is supposed to hold the overflow and plug opening mechanism in place, these work loose as the plug is operated over time. If the thread securing the knob is damaged and you can't put a new screw in to keep it on then the whole mechanism will have to be replaced, bath panel off if there is no access panel. Much simpler with a plug and chain.
I don't think grip fill would take the turning action over time and i don't believe it likes to be wet, like it would get in a bath. Good luck.

 

[TicklyT]

Something like LS-X would probably be better suited than grifill, but IMO neither will work if you can't get at the overflow fitting in the first place.

A torch and a small mirror may help you establish the exact type of head on the problem screw.

There are screw extractors available:-

One of those may be useful if it is a socket head screw, or if you can drill a hole in the end of the mangled screw head.