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SoCal_Kevin's avatar
SoCal_Kevin
Explorer
May 30, 2016

Sink Leak Fix

I recently noticed a leak from my kitchen sink. It was coming from between the sink and the strainer / drain. As I took it apart to fix it I found the way the strainer / drain was originally installed was with a thin rubber or plastic seal. The seal went the way of the dodo. As you can imagine after all these years, it was dry and brittle and not doing its job. I fixed it with some plumbers putty. Easy.

The reason I am posting is a reminder that if your rig is... shall we say, "mature" then you may want to proactively fix this too. It is a leak waiting to happen...
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    SoCal Kevin wrote:
    I recently noticed a leak from my kitchen sink. It was coming from between the sink and the strainer / drain. As I took it apart to fix it I found the way the strainer / drain was originally installed was with a thin rubber or plastic seal. The seal went the way of the dodo. As you can imagine after all these years, it was dry and brittle and not doing its job. I fixed it with some plumbers


    Two part answer.. part one: DITTO, only I did not use plumber's putty I used Dap Quick Seal

    Part two: The store advised that you should not use Plumber's Putty on plastic drains, Seems plastic and Plumber's putty do not mix well.. Who'd a tunk it.. They suggested teh DAP.

    Part 3 (OOPS I did say 2 part)
    Turns out I had a second leak in my fresh (Cold) water line, one of the couplings.. Well I ended up re-writing a song

    When the Shark Bites, Into PEX dear, Water leaks, go away...

    (No that is not the actual first line but it gives the idea).
  • xctraveler wrote:
    We came back to our coach after two months of travel away. Turned the water back on and the kitchen faucet leaked steadily. Naturally this was Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend and we were recovering from a a five our flight and three hour TZ change.

    I turned off the city water and decided we would use the pump, only turning it on when we need water to reduce the amount of water leaked. it is 36 hours later and the leak appears to have stopped! I suspect a connector dried out and is now tight with the moist gasket. Will turn city water back on in the morning to see how it goes. Would love to fix it, maybe even replace the fixture, but it will wait for now. Need to service the engine and components and replace the tires, that comes first as long as the joint stays tight.


    Follow up on the kitchen faucet set. The leak continued so we elected to replace with a new set with "pull down" nozzle. When the old faucet came out, it was clear that the original installer had twisted the braided sheath at the fixture. That became the source of the leak. I bet mine was not the only one with that issue coming out of the factory that month.
  • Plumbers putty comes in handy. I've fixed them with liquid gasket too from auto stores.
  • We came back to our coach after two months of travel away. Turned the water back on and the kitchen faucet leaked steadily. Naturally this was Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend and we were recovering from a a five our flight and three hour TZ change.

    I turned off the city water and decided we would use the pump, only turning it on when we need water to reduce the amount of water leaked. it is 36 hours later and the leak appears to have stopped! I suspect a connector dried out and is now tight with the moist gasket. Will turn city water back on in the morning to see how it goes. Would love to fix it, maybe even replace the fixture, but it will wait for now. Need to service the engine and components and replace the tires, that comes first as long as the joint stays tight.
  • Good fix! Better than new. RV builders cut corners on installs that take labor or skill. No plumber would think of not using plumbers putty on a sink strainer / drain.

    Thanks for the Post.