In this article, I’d like to touch on the subject of a bathtub drain leak that a Youtube viewer requested. He asked me if I could talk a little bit about the classic standing barrel waste and overflow that I was weaned on while coming up in the trade.The majority of the work I performed was and still is in Brooklyn, New york.

We have many multi-family dwellings here in Brooklyn and when a call would come in for a bathtub drain leak, nine out of ten times it would be because some part of the bathtub drain rotted out and was leaking to the floor below. Back then we had huge built-in bathtubs that weren’t fitted with overflow holes like the modern ones of today.

The tubs were filled by means of a Standing Barrel Waste and Overflow which consisted of a tall chrome barrel which was approximately the same height as the tub, a waste tee and a bathtub shoe and strainer. Inside the chrome barrel was the plunger that would stop up the water when you wanted to take a bath.

The water would rise inside the barrel and to protect against a possible overflow, the inside plunger had built-in overflow hole. They worked well but to remove and replace them was a bit of job, four to five hours to be exact. In most cases, the long tub shoe would rot out or a section of galvanized pipe or the cleanout plug on galvanized tub trap would blow out. Why would you put a plug on a buried galvanized trap? Go figure!

The distance from the trap to the main cast iron drain line was pretty close, approximately 12″‘ to 18″ which was made up of a series of galvanized fittings and nipples.You often didn’t have much room to maneuver everything cause you had to deal with a beam that was always in the wrong place. But I learned how to make these seemingly impossible repairs by master mechanics would really knew their craft.

We live in different world, as the materials and techniques of today make repairing a bathtub drain leak much easier than it was back in the day. But Be warned! if you plan on coming to Brooklyn to repair a bathtub drain leak, we still have plenty of the Classic Standing Waste and Overflows in use. So check out my video and screen-cast tutorial on the subject and if you have any specific questions on the subject, please forward them to info@bobsplumbingvideos.com or leave your comments below.

Hope to Hear From You Soon,

Regards & Happy Plumbing!

Bob.