Leaking Shower Tray / Drain...

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Hello,

I hope someone can help me, just found water running down a wall directly below our shower room. The shower is a square cubicle with the drain in the front right corner of it, near the door. Only bought the house a couple of months ago and so still finding all of these lovely problems :mad:

Apologies if I provide a lot of irrelevant info, rather too much than not enough :)

I have removed the front skirting from the front of the cubicle base (joists running away from you) which reveals the shower drain (tight on space) the pipe runs away from it (almost invisible) then takes a right angle down and under the boards where it links up with the main bathroom waste pipe.

The piece of floor boarding directly below the shower drain was soaking (small puddles of water on it etc and fairly black) looking with a torch I can not see any water towards the rear wall, actually looks bone dry, so I presume the water is running from the drain area and onto the ceiling below and finding its way to the back wall. If you stick you hand round the drain to the right the grooved nut that connects the pipe to the drain assembly is wet to the touch so almost certainly is the cause of the leak...

The main question is, is there a trick to getting to this joint and replacing the washers, or whatever is likely to be the problem without what I am dreading which is removing the cubicle, then the tray etc... The following provides a better picture, please note on image 2 the gap between the joist and the shower drain is a lot smaller than it looks:

shower_leak_1_small.jpg

shower_leak_2_small.jpg

shower_leak_3_small.jpg

shower_leak_5_small.jpg


Thanks in advance.
 
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Right, u may not beable to tell just where the leak is as water allways runs down. It is either on the seal where the chrome waste & trap are sealed to tray or where waste pipe leaves trap. If its the waste pipe leaving the trap then if u can tighten the large nut a little it may cure it its full into socket. (May need to buy a basin Spanner to try to tighten it. The jaw type ) If it is the waste seal u will need to remove the centre chrome grate from the waste, then pull out the inner tube that creates the trap. this may need turnning a little before pulling out. Then u need to undo the chrome waste from out of the trap anti-clockwise. There very hard to grip, first try jamming your 4 largest fingers inside the waste,bending them as tight as u can to grip the inside & try to undo it .When u do get it out u may be able to remove the tray to dry it off so it can be all siliconed back in place. BEFORE U TRY ANY THING have u tried runnig the shower head in the tray only to confirm that is where it leaking.
 
Thanks,

Yes the leak is definately coming from the threaded joint between the waste pipe and the trap. My hand would not fit but the girlfriend was able to tighten the ridged nut a little but there is a lot of thread showing on the trap which it could tighten on to. The connection between the shower tray and the tap is dry as it the top of the joint in question. When looking closely you can see a lot of water scum that has worked its way out of the thread.

The basin wrench I have has one 3/4 inch and one 1/2 inch jaw type connection on it, no where near enough to get round the plastic nut on the waste pipe... it looks like there may we enough space to get a tool in there but it is knowing which will do the job...
 
there`s a tool like a chain wrench but with a rubber strap called a boa :?: ...that`ll do it........never bought one meself but seen them :oops:
 
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Got one of those for crimbo looks really cool, only use i found for it was on my boys moped :) . maybe ill put it on ebay.
 
I have found some of those in various sizes on the tooled up uk website, the only one which 'may' work is the baby one but its a long shot.

If I am able to get enough purchase on the nut to turn it, would it be wise to loosen it off and add anything to the thread before re-tightening it? I would normally use ptfe tape when I fix taps etc but that is a no go in the tight space.

Obviously any other suggestions are welcome...
 
The reason that this is leaking in the first place is because there's no easy way to tighten that nut. You might be lucky and find that tightening it now stops is leaking, but I would want to get the joint apart and examine the rubber seal, renwing it if necessary.

It looks like an ordinary type of trap with 40mm pipe and a 'multifit' type of connection; if so then a McAlpine rubber seal will fit. There's no point in using PTFE on this joint, especially on the threads because they play no part in sealing the connection.

Boa wrenches are good Nige, but I can't see any way to apply one in that tight space.

A serrated-jaw-type of basin wrench is the tool you need to use, with a suitably large jaw of course. The largest Monument jaw will cope with 50mm, so you're just about there.

So, these would do it:

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=6664&MAN=Monument-341j-Adj-Fitted-2-Jaws-Wrench-diy
...and:
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?Referrer=IndexSite&PID=6669

PS There's one other tool that would tighten the nut, but you'd have to spend about £25 and then cut down the handles to fit in that space. They're made by Rotherberger and called Sanigrips:

70416.jpg
 
Yer never gona get a plier type wrench on that nut but the basin spanner with the 3/4" jaw will fif cos i do it . just got to hook the end of the jaw on to one of the ribs on the nut & jar the splines on the shaft against the nut.
 
bab said:
...first try jamming your 4 largest fingers inside the waste,bending them as tight as u can to grip the inside & try to undo it .When u do get it out u may be able to remove the tray to dry it off so it can be all siliconed back in place.
bab - did you mean to write "trap", not "tray"? :eek:
 
Thanks for the input - looking at it, getting it apart properly will require removal of the cubicle, unscrewing the chrome drain then removing the shower tray (if it wants to come away). Then undoing the joint, replacing washers etc then putting it all back together? I presume I can connect the waste pipe to the trap with the tray removed, then attach the tray later on, so ensuring the joints are sound?

Alternatively I will pop out now and try and find a tool similar to that listed above and give it a go... a few quid to give it a try is probably worth it, might just save a big job!
 
meep said:
getting it apart properly will require removal of the cubicle, unscrewing the chrome drain then removing the shower tray (if it wants to come away).
I'm surprised that you think that.

Firstly, as you know, you can remove the chromed flange from above. Then if you buy the Monument tool and the large jaw then you can undo the plastic multifit nut.

With both of those off the trap will just tumble right on out!

Replacing the multifit washer will then be a doddle, as will cleaning the underside of the tray, the top of the trap, etc.

Rmoving the tray would inevitably involve some re-tiling at the bottom, so, as bab has already said: "BEFORE U TRY ANY THING have u tried runnig the shower head in the tray only to confirm that is where it leaking."

I echo that - there is rarely anything wrong with the trap-to-tray seal. I've only ever seen one weep, and that's where the flange on the trap had cracked and made it loose. :eek:
 
Ok, fair point, yes I have tested the leak, the water definately escapes from the joint between the waste pipe and the trap. The trap is def 100% OK as is the rest...

Last night I spent some time drying it all up and then retesting to ensure I was right, a lot of thread is showing on the trap to pipe connection from what I can see.

I have just bought a collection of 40mm trap/waste pipe washers etc so I should have what I need when it comes apart. Will follow your advice and get those 2 items, been in 4 h/w shops today but no joy.
 
I wouldn't even park the car near a hardware shop for a Monument basin wrench - selling this type of tool is the preserve of an out-and-out plumbers' merchant. And even they might have to order the large jaw...
 
Yes, it would seem that way. ordered them from Tooled Up. That should just about complete the plumbing toolkit I have had to purchase lately, nearly every tap joint in this house has had to be re-fitted, the bath waste unit also leaks and is next on the list, added to this shower now I think the chap who installed all this stuff 2 or 3 years ago was taking the wotsit...

Will update this thread when they turn up and I give it a go :)
 
Well the weekend fell in the wrong place for the delivery, but the tool and larger attachment turned up today and I have just finished sorting out the joint.

Unfortunately the space it too tight to actually remove the trap (probably would come out if the base was unscrewed) but the tool allowed me to undo the joint, clean it up, reposition it all and tighten it up far further than it was before.

I have just run the shower for a good 15 minutes with no drips... hopefully a success!

Thank you for the advice, excellent tool to have in the toolbox!
 

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