Can somene explain tub foot design

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Rocknroj

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Installing new plumbing and keeping old tub.. I noticed inside the ABS tub foot that there is a plastic baffle. It looks like the pipe extending downward and leaving about the bottom half of the shoe clear for water passage.

Does anyone understand the purpose for this and have time to explain..

Thanks in advance..

Also, when attaching to the foot, the pipe tends to want to slope upward but I am guessing this is just symptomatic of an old house with lots of settlement issues.. So I adjusted with a downward pitch during glue. Hope I did the right thing..

And finally, the foot is black, stamped ABS, and says use silicon caulk only. I used plumbers putty to seal the top part of the drain, rubber gasket on the bottom.. Does plumbers putty react with ABS?
 

hj

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I don't even know what you mean by a "baffle" since I have never seen a drain that looks like that. Putty would only be a problem if the screw in part were plastic which is not likely. But if it is, you do not have a very good drain system.
 

mcgcsp

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I don't even know what you mean by a "baffle" since I have never seen a drain that looks like that. Putty would only be a problem if the screw in part were plastic which is not likely. But if it is, you do not have a very good drain system.

I had that exact question when trying to diagnose a slow shower/tub drain on a new tub. When you look in the horizontal part of a bathtub drain shoe you can see where the vertical part of the shoe comes down half way into the horizontal section effectively creating a bottleneck and reducing the pipe size to one half at this point (right at the 90 bend). This is pretty much standard on all new shoes brass or pvc. Would there be any problem with cutting this out? You will see the same thing even if it is a one piece PVC.

Any ideas?
 

Leejosepho

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I have something similar in my kitchen sink drain, and I have assumed that is something for restricting the far bowl a bit so the second one can drain equally well when the two are draining simultaneously. In the case of a tub, I would guess the intent is to restrict the flow a bit either so the overflow can help serve as a vent or so it will not make gurgling noises while a full tub is draining.
 

hj

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If I am reading this right, what you see is the result of having to make a drain strainer which will be long enough to work in the majority of tubs. When installed in a thinner tub the drain piece MUST screw in further, creating what you call a baffle. If you were to cut the excess off, you would remove the only means of attaching the sealing device, AND make installing the piece difficult, or impossible.
 

mcgcsp

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HL,
Well maybe........ But even the one piece PVC or even brass shoes are restricted here as if to accomodate the vertical basket threading but are not threaded. Some of these PVC I looked at at HD are not threaded and not intended for a basket(?) just a screen but still the "half baffle" is there. Well I got good ol' Mr dremel out and took it out so there is a nice round opening at the 90 (after adjusting the basket spokes so they were away from the opening). Tub drains like a Rocket! Any thoughts? Make sense? I mean me...
 

Rocknroj

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So you say that you removed that funny baffle and it improved your drain flow and before you removed it you were having problems?

I am curious as I haven't closed things up yet.

Thanks
 

hj

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If you are saying you took an aftermarket generic strainer of some kind, which was not unique to your drain "elbow", and modified it, and it worked, then good for you. But, from the original question, using the manufacturer's drain strainer, it will not work, and it should not hinder the drainage to any noticeable extent anyway.
 
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