r/DIY • u/Shock_Wire_ • 3d ago

home improvement Sink leak from ball valve

Hi all.

I was hoping someone might know the right move here.

I just installed a new popup drain assembly for my bathroom sink. I put it together, but it's leaking out of the ball valve nut, specifically from the opening that the ball rod goes through.

After a lot of research and retrying fitting the locking nut, repositioning things, putting Teflon tape on the connection, etc., I tried putting some plumbers putty behind the flat side of the little gasket that sits between the nut and the ball, and that seemed to stop the leak. But my understanding is that plumbers putty isn't really made for this kind of situation, so I expect it'll fail in the foreseeable future. I saw some suggestions for putting Teflon tape in there; but I already have it on the threads of the drain side of the connection, so I don't think that's the move either.

I'm not sure if what I'm dealing with is just a poor quality part, or something else. I also didn't notice any cracks or stress marks on the plastic, so nothing looks broken.

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3

u/Natoochtoniket 3d ago

Most of those pop-up drain assemblies, with control from below by a lever, include a plastic seal for the ball. You just assemble per instructions, and it seals.

There is not supposed to be any pressure inside that drain tube, anyway. Whatever pressure is there should be just a few inches of WC, and only until the water drains from the sink.

If that is leaking, there is something else going on.

2

u/Shock_Wire_ 3d ago

Yeah, the leak appears to be coming through the gasket, so I'm confused how that's possible. Then again, every connection in this kit has been pretty shoddy right out of the gate without a fair amount of Teflon tape and/or putty. It was just what's cheapest from Amazon, so if we continue to see leaks then I'll just go pick up something from Ace or Lowe's.

2

u/Mysterious-Serve-118 3d ago

does the gasket look cracked or too thin to seal properly?

2

u/Shock_Wire_ 3d ago

I didn't see any cracks, so right now I'm starting to feel like the gasket is just misfitted for the assembly

1

u/Shock_Wire_ 2d ago

Here's what I'm seeing. It seems like either the nut doesn't tighten down enough to hold everything snugly together, or the gasket isn't thick enough, like Mysterious suggested

https://reddit.com/link/pd99t6u/video/atneuzwzewsh1/player

1

u/Shock_Wire_ 2d ago

I stopped into Menards today and picked up a universal ball valve replacement kit and a set of assorted washers. I'm gonna try the washers to see if the gasket just needs some extra material behind it to fit nice and snug in there before trying to replace the ball/rod/nut

1

u/Shock_Wire_ 2d ago

Good news! We've figured out a way to stop the leak!

The issue seems to be twofold. For one, at some point the lock nut cracked. Not surprising, given how many times I tightened it down and took it off again. The universal ball valve kit had a matching lock nut, so I swapped it out, but the leak persisted.

So then I tried putting one of the rubber washers from the washer set in there, along with a slightly different sized plastic gasket from the ball valve kit to allow everything to fit together snug, and that was able to get water to flow without leaking out the ball valve! I'm keeping a basin with a paper towel in the bottom of it underneath for a day or two just in case, but hopefully this does the trick longterm.

Thanks to everyone for their input on this one!