Tired of Bathtub Fix Gadgets that Don’t Last?

Everywhere you look, it seems there is a quick-fix gadget for something, and chances are, you get what you pay for. Trying a new gimmick may give you what you need for the short term, but most likely, it won’t last. If you want a bathtub drain and stopper solution that will last, look no further than Watco tub repair products. Watco is known for providing high-quality tub repair parts that last, so you won’t be looking for another quick fix in a month or two, and the best part is there are many affordable options. 

Watco has been a name trusted by professionals for decades, recognized for high-quality bathtub plumbing fixtures, waste drain products, and tub stopper solutions that are easy to install.  If you want to repair your bathtub drain or replace your stopper, Watco has quality tub repair products that you can install yourself without calling a plumber. 

Watco’s SimpliQuick® Tub Fix Solution

If you are tired of looking at a bathtub drain that is dingy or corroded, you can update the look of your tub with a shiny new bathtub stopper in just minutes. The Watco SimpliQuick® Tub Fix White Finish can install right over your bathtub drain with a universal fit for most tubs. This tub stopper replacement comes with your choice of installation methods, including a silicone adhesive to install over drains with missing crossbars. This means you don’t have to remove your existing drain just because you can’t screw in a new tub stopper.

The SimpliQuick® Tub Fix White Finish is one of the quickest, and easiest bathtub drain repair solutions available for a tub stopper and includes a mesh grid drain cover that helps to prevent hair and foreign debris from falling into the drain. You can get the Watco SimpliQuick® Tub Fix White Finish at FixMyDrain.com, where you can also see easy-to-follow videos on how to remove your current bathtub stopper.

FixMyDrain.com offers Watco’s leading bathtub drain and stopper replacement solution along with the Innovator® Snap-On White Finish Overflow Plate and a matching finish. Upgrade your bathtub today in just minutes with a quality bathtub stopper replacement that will last. Check out the Watco SimpliQuick® Tub Fix White Finish today and forget about quick-fix gadgets that don’t last.

How To Stop Toilet Gargling When Taking A Shower

Have you ever noticed the toilet making a gargling sound when you take a shower? This can happen for a few different reasons and is something that you should take care of as quickly as possible. If your toilet gurgles when showering, you may have a plumbing problem that will get worse and require costly repairs, and a blocked sewer vent can also create health problems.

Here are the three main reasons why your toilet gurgles when showering:

• Your drain pipes are blocked

• The main sewer line is blocked

• Your vent pipe is blocked

Blocked Drain Pipes

Something blocking your drain pipes is one of the main reasons that this happens. Bubbling in the toilet may start if your drain is partially blocked, although if water no longer flushes down the toilet, you could have a completely blocked drain. Many things can cause a blocked drain, such as hair, soap residue, oil, grease, and other contaminants. 

Blocked Sewer Line

The drain pipe for the toilet is connected to the main sewer line under the house. If you notice multiple drains in the house are slow or clogged, the main sewer line could be the culprit. This can occur if tree roots infiltrate your pipes, if your pipes are losing structural integrity, if there is a build-up inside the pipes, or if something is blocking them like flushable wipes (which should not really be flushed), or if objects like toys get flushed or accidentally fall down the drain. Harsh drain cleaning chemicals with sulfuric acid can also corrode your pipes.

Blocked Vent Pipe

A vertical vent pipe that exits on your roof is connected to the main drain and sewer pipes to allow gas and air to travel safely throughout the drains without causing a disruption in the water flow. Your toilet may start to bubble if the vent pipe is obstructed and the plumbing system does not function properly. An obstructed vent pipe can be caused by tree branches, leaves, small animals, birds, even a tennis ball landing on your roof. 

A vent pipe is meant to remove gases and sewer odors from the house and if the vent pipe is blocked, the gases will escape through other drains in the home. If you start to smell sewer gases you should have this fixed immediately as health issues could result such as nausea, drowsiness, shortness of breath, and headaches.

How to Stop Toilet Gurgling When Showering

One of the first things you can try if this happens is to use a plunger in your toilet, although this will only help if you have a blockage close to the surface. You should first attempt to plunge the toilet, although if a blockage is deeper down in your pipes this will not work. After you plunge the toilet, also plunge the shower drain. If you still hear the toilet gurgling when running the shower, consider cleaning the vent pipe and sewer lines.

Clean the Vent Pipe

Make sure the vent pipe has a screen to prevent debris from falling inside and causing obstructions. You have to get on the roof to see the vent pipe and you can clear most obstructions that you can see on the outside and take a garden hose with you to flush water down the vent. See if you can hear water pushing the clog down the drain and if this doesn’t work you can try a sewer snake through the vent pipe and then make sure it is covered and protected properly. Call a professional if you are not comfortable getting on your roof.

Clean the Sewer Lines

A clogged sewer line can cause the toilet to gurgle. If the previous fixes did not solve the problem you may need to call a professional sewer repair service. If the problem is tree roots growing into your lines they can use large equipment to get through the pipes to remove the clog or they may suggest hydro-jetting to clean the sewer lines.

It is important to take care of the plumbing in your house to prevent costly repairs and health issues. Be sure to get all of your bathtub drain parts including drain waste products and bathtub stoppers from Watco, available at FixMyDrain.com 

How To Keep Soap Scum Out Of The Drain

We are all familiar with soap scum, that unpleasant white residue that clings to our shower stalls and bathtubs. What you may not realize and what you cannot see is the soap scum that clings to the inside of your drains and pipes. Soap scum is one of the largest reasons for clogged drains.

How Does Soap Scum Form?

Soap scum forms when soap comes in contact with water, particularly hard water with a high mineral content. The fatty acids found in soap react with the minerals in hard water to create what is called lime soap, also known as soap scum. Soap scum can still occur in households with soft water, although soft water does help to cut down on the amount of soap scum. 

Problems from Soap Scum Build up

As soap scum builds up over time, it attracts mold and mildew and can clog your drain. This buildup reduces the space that your water has to exit your tub drain causing your drain to get blocked up or drain very slowly. Soap scum will accumulate additional contaminants like hair which turns into an even bigger clog.

Not only is soap scum bad for drains, but it can also contain a host of bacteria. In this case, soap scum is not only a nuisance but is also unhealthy.

How to Treat Soap Scum

The most important thing you can do to keep soap scum out of your tub drain is to use a simple mesh grid drain cover over your bathtub drain. This helps to prevent soap scum, hair and foreign objects from entering your drain, clinging to your pipes and causing a clog. You also want to flush your drain with hot water regularly as that will also help to loosen soap scum to exit through your drain.

Installing a new bathtub stopper with a drain cover is a good way to help prevent clogged drains from soap scum or any other contaminant. Watco offers easy to install replacement tub stoppers that come with a mesh grid drain cover to protect your bathtub drain.  FixMyDrain.com offers the SimpliQuick® Tub Fix solution, which is an easy to install push pull stopper with a universal fit and a five-year warranty.

FixMyDrain.com is your one stop for the Watco tub fix solution, a simple tub stopper replacement with a mesh grid drain cover. Choose a matching overflow plate to upgrade the look and function of your bathtub with beautiful, matching new fixtures. Get your SimpliQuick® Tub Fix solution today and help protect your drain against excessive soap scum and hair entering your drain.

The Main Bathtub Parts And How They Work

Every homeowner should understand the different bathtub parts and how they work for easy tub repairs if something goes wrong. Understanding the parts of a tub also makes it easy to upgrade your bathtub with new replacement stoppers or tub fixtures. The main parts of a bathtub besides the tub itself include the means to supply water to the tub, and the framework of plumbing pipes and drains to control the flow of water.  

The basic parts of a bathtub include: 

Water supply - the water supply is the pipes that bring the water to your tub with a hot water and a cold water supply pipe. 

Diverter pipe – a diverter pipe is often used to connect the hot and cold water supply to come out of the same faucet. They are used in many sinks and tubs and to send water to the shower. If you suddenly experience low water pressure, it is a good idea to check your diverter pipe.

Shut off valves - in newer homes built within the last 40 years, many fixtures will have a separate stop valve to shut off the supply to the fixture. In case of emergency, without shutoff valves, you would have to shut off the main supply to the house. If you do not have separate stop valves on your water supply, you may want to install them in case of emergency.

Tub faucet - your tub might have a separate faucet for hot and cold water control or it could have one handle to control the temperature from both hot and cold water supply. Your faucets control the flow and temperature of water entering the tub.

Bathtub drain - the tub drain is a key component of any bathtub, allowing for easy draining of water. The body of the tub is typically designed so that water will run towards the drain to exit the tub. A drainpipe is affixed under the drain to take your tub water to the main waste drain. If your drain is clogged, it is usually from a buildup of hair or debris and it may be a good time to change or tub stopper and make sure that you have a drain cover. 

Tub stopper - your bathtub stopper holds water in your tub and can easily be controlled to let water flow out of the drain. If your tub stopper is not holding water, you should replace it with an easy to install product like the SimpliQuick® Tub Fix by Watco. This is a very simple tub stopper replacement with a high-quality product from a trusted name like Watco.

Overflow pipe - the overflow drain sits up high just a few inches away from the top of the tub, usually directly above the tub drain, and sometimes with a lever sticking out to control a trip lever stopper. The overflow drain protects against overflowing if the water is accidentally left on or gets too full. Watco provides a patented snap-on Innovator® Overflow that will retrofit any one-, two-hole or even a trip lever overflow.

Other plumbing pipes under the tub include the trap, also called in S-bend, which traps water in that part of the pipe to prevent gasses from passing into your home while still allowing wastewater to flow out of the house. 

To learn more about replacing the most common bathtub parts like a new tub stopper or an overflow plate, FixMyDrain.com offers quality tub repair and replacement parts from Watco that are easy to install.

FixMyDrain.com has everything you need to replace your tub stopper in minutes, even if your tub drain is corroded or missing crossbars. The SimpliQuick® Tub Fix is a quality push pull stopper that allows for easy, high flow draining with a reliable, watertight seal. Check out FixMyDrain.com for quality bathtub repair parts with easy to follow videos that show you exactly how they work and how to replace them.

How To Convert a Lever Bathtub Drain To a Push-Pull Drain

If your bathtub stopper is operated by a lever sticking out of your overflow plate, you have a trip lever type of bathtub stopper.  The lever is connected to a plunger which falls to the junction of the bathtub drainpipe and overflow pipe to block water flow when you flip the lever up. Consequently, flipping the lever down flips the plunger up and allows water to drain. 

A trip lever bathtub stopper can become less effective over time, allowing water to flow even when it should be in the plugged position. This can be due to the linkage that can become corroded and the plunger itself can accumulate soap scum, hair or debris and may even get stuck or break off and disconnect from the linking rod which will cause serious problems when you cannot drain your tub.

Replacing a trip lever tub drain with a push-pull drain is often a good idea and is easier than you think with modern tub repair products from well-known brands like Watco and a little direction in how to convert your lever bathtub drain to a push-pull drain. 

How to Remove Your Trip Lever Stopper

To remove your trip lever tub stopper, you’ll need a screwdriver to remove your overflow plate, and some old rags or towels handy. Remove the visible screws on the overflow plate which should allow you to lift up and pull the linkage and stopper out of the drain along with the overflow plate. This is what the towels are for as this is likely to be messy, so lay everything on your towel to protect your tub. 

How to Install a New Push Pull Tub Stopper

Watco offers the SimpliQuick® Tub Fix, a revolutionary push-pull stopper with a universal fit to install over nearly any tub drain, even drains that have broken or missing crossbars. The SimpliQuick® Tub Fix installs over broken drains without even having to remove the existing drain, with the silicone adhesive method that provides a permanent, watertight seal and easy, high flow draining. 

No more wasting hot water as it slowly drains out of your tub from a faulty trip lever, plunger style stopper. This Watco tub stopper replacement is the easiest DIY solution on the market and FixMyDrain.com shows you exactly how to install it with easy to follow videos. Consider replacing your overflow plate as well in the same beautiful, matching finish to really upgrade the look of your entire tub. 

FixMyDrain.com offers high-quality Watco bathtub drain repair products along with easy-to-follow video instructions.  We are the premier online retailer for quality Watco tub repair and lavatory drain repair products. Check out the SimpliQuick® Tub Fix today for the easiest way to convert your lever bathtub drain to a push-pull drain.