ᐅ Bathtub drain valve - not closing properly

Hello everyone,

I’m new here and hope you can help me.

A few months ago, we bought a semi-detached house. Now we have a problem with the bathtub: the water drains no matter if the control knob is turned to the right or in the neutral position. I don’t know how to operate the drain valve in the bathtub itself because when I search online, I can’t find anything similar. The bathtub is fully tiled without an access panel, so we didn’t want to open anything before we were sure there might be another way to fix this.

Do you have any ideas? The water drains in every position of the control knob, but always very, very slowly.

Good luck

I'm not entirely sure. To me, the lock looks defective. I've never seen anything so sharp-edged in a bathtub before. Normally, you should be able to pull the part out, and underneath there is an adjustment screw. It is obviously too long and should be screwed in. If that doesn't help, you should call a local professional.

Hello,

thank you for your reply. I have now removed the rotary knob and took some photos. I also suspected that the two parts in the first picture actually belong together, but I wasn’t sure. I also tried to gently pull it out, but I didn’t want to risk damaging anything if it is supposed to be like that.

There is a fairly high probability that the rubber ring is old, somewhat brittle, and "calcium encrusted." Replace it, and the seal should close properly again. We had a similar closure with the same issue in our previous townhouse.

hampshire schrieb:

There is a high likelihood that the rubber ring is old, somewhat brittle, and has scale buildup. Replace it, and the closure should seal properly again. We had a similar closure with the exact same problem in our previous townhouse.

Thanks for your reply. Just to be clear, if I remove the lid so that the white part with the screw is visible and turn the rotary handle, nothing happens—the water flows away freely. Does that mean the "lid" is what holds the water in the bathtub? If so, I don’t understand what the rotary control is supposed to do?!

The rotating element on the bathtub edge operates lift rods that raise and lower the drain stopper. If it does not, then the screw on the stopper is misadjusted or the lift rods are not properly connected.

The stopper has a snap-on cap for better appearance and a smoother surface. Although it can be turned, this does not affect its function.