Proper Sink Basket Strainer Installation
Our kitchen was completely remodeled last year, with all work done by licensed contractors. This morning I found water under the kitchen sink, and found the basket strainer was loose. The strainer is a good-quality Delta unit, and was installed with plumber’s putty between the strainer and the sink, and then with a rubber gasket underneath between the sink and the strainer nut. I’m questioning the use of plumber’s putty for this application, because as we all know, the warmer plumber’s putty gets, the softer it gets. Unless a very small amount is used, hot water in the sink will soften the putty, causing it to squeeze out, eventually increasing the clearance between the seal and the sink. My theory is the plumbers used too much, and after a year, enough squeezed out to cause a leak.
I effected repairs with plumber’s putty, but after tightening the basket nut, I put some hot water into the sink, tightened the strainer nut, scraped off the putty that squeezed out, tightened some more, scraped some more, etc., until I wasn’t getting any more putty squeezing out. However, wouldn’t something like a silicone sealant be better for this application? It’s much less viscous and once set wouldn’t be affected by extremes of temperature. None of the searches I did used anything but plumber’s putty…
Thank you.
Replies
Plumber's putty is the standard, and for 99.99% of installations it works just fine.
Proper Sink Basket Strainer Installation
Thanks, Dan, that's what I've found, but I think there's a danger of leakage if too much is used.
What material is the sink? Plumber's putty is only for metal sinks.
Proper Sink Basket Strainer Installation
Thanks, Mike, it's a stainless steel sink.
I just replaced a drain basket yesterday with one that has a deep crumb basket. It came with a foam ring and a rubber ring. I used the rubber and plumbers putty to instal it. The basket nut was plastic and I most likely over tightened it because it was fine and so I did a test and it was leaking like I never tightened the nut. I guessed that the use of the spanner wrench was too much so I hand tightened and it was fine.
Perhaps the plumber did the same thing by putting too much stress on the nut. They do not need much pressure to keep from leaking. Of course if it is not a metal sink like mentioned then silicone is the way to go. Removal will not be as easy as with plumbers putty.
That's weird -- I'm certainly no plumber, but I've installed/replaced several baskets with no problem. You just roll out a "worm" of putty maybe 1/2" diameter, loop it around the basket flange, then drop the flange in place. Tighten firmly, until most of the putty has squeezed out, then scrape away the excess.
Proper Sink Basket Strainer Installation
You might be right, Condoman. This gasket appeared to have a thick paper backing, and this paper was wet and was falling out. Possibly this backing was broken and squeezed out from being overtightened during the initial installation. When I was going through the procedure I described to squeeze out as much putty as possible, once I noticed the gasket was squeezed out from behind the nut, so this happening during the initial installation is a definitely possibility. I still think the repeated heating cycles the sink undergoes caused the putty to repeatedly get very soft, and little by little, get squeezed out. The basket nut may have been properly tightened when installed, but with the gradual loss of putty, it was no longer tight.