Overflow leak?

[Carrie]

Hi,

I rent a condo and currently have a leak from our bathtub down into the ceiling of our dining room. My landlord says that water is not supposed to go over or be near the plate. But I have always taken baths wherever I have lived and never had a leak result from filling the tub full.

From reading plumbing info online, it seems like if the overflow plate is properly sealed then a leak should not occur even if water goes over the plate. Is this true?

Thanks!

[liquidplumber]

Yes, thats correct. There is a gasket that is supposed to seal the overflow drain fitting against the back of tub. The leak that you are talking about does happen occasionally altho not real often in my experience.. More common would be the tub boot (the drain in the tub) itself, or the valve leaking. But the overflow gasket could be the source of your problem.

You could test the theory by pouring water directly over the overflow plate but not letting any of the water hit the drain. you'd need to catch the water in a bucket or lay some plastic in the tub to eliminate the tub drain as the issue. Also, you'd need to get the water from some fixture other than the tub so as to eliminate the tub valve as the source.

[hj]

Overflow leaks are VERY common, because the gaskets will dry out and crack, assuming they were even installed properly in the first place, which a lot of them are not. IF the overflow was NOT supposed to be tight, then there would be no reason to put the hole in the tub.