overflow

[kurt]

I almost walked by it this afternoon.....

A bath sink lacked an overflow outlet; is that "legal"? (I know it's stupid.)

[Richard Moore]

Kurt,

If it's not legal, then there's an awful lot of high-end kitchen and bath stores breaking the law.

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As for stupid...how many people overflow their kitchen sinks? No overflows there either. In a lot of cases the small overflows in vanity sinks wouldn't keep up with fully open faucets anyway.

Stupid is walking away from any sink with the faucet open and the stopper closed, overflow or not, and you just can't legislate that.

[chrisprickett]

FYI- the technical term for bath sinks is "lavatories" (only meant to bust Kurt's stones!)

Here's the story I heard (relating only to cultured marble lavatories)

The cultured marble industry always had a very difficult time with overflow quality control. There was a percentage that leaked no matter what they did. It was determined that there is no "official" requirement to have an overflow, so they just stopped drilling the hole for the overflow! I like to call that "value engineering".

If you look at the underside of cultured marble lavatories, from around 00' to 03', you'll see that the mold for the sink still has the overflow there, just no hole. After 03' there was retooling of the molds and the overflow was eliminated.

[kurt]

Busted.

I think I just had a brain fart; for some reason, this simple little thing got me, even though I see the expensive silly stuff all the time.

I think I need a vacation....

[Jim Baird]

The only code requirement I know for relating to this is an air gap between the faucet and the "flood level rim" of the fixture.

When there's an overflow, I guess the overflow opening has to be engineered to maintain the "flood level", but lacking the opening flood level means the rim of the sink where the flood cascades to the floor.

[Bradd Judd]

Ok Kurt, this has got to be my last thread I respond to tonight.......(my eyeballs are poping out, and I have an inspection in 5hrs.) Ummmmmm.........If I remember the peoples republic of illinois code (IPC) Illinois Plumbers Code, It's somthing like this......An overflow vent,hole, whatever, shall be equipped to ensure that "potable water" will never come in contact with drainage,or sewer water.......Somthing like that so we don't get all those nasty micro-biological creatures on the faucet which would basically be contaiminated and continue to fester, even after the clog or drainage issue was addressed! OK , I'm going to bed now!!!! : )

P.S. have you attended the Peoples Gas Class yet??? It's excellent!!! i'm really going to bed this time.

OK, I lied....I just saw what Jim said above...thats the issue with the overflow.[:-paperba

I'm really, really going to bed now !!!!!!

[paul burrell]

A couple of years past I remodeled two baths in my home. Bought two vanity sinks at a local builders supply. After they were installed I noticed one had overflow and one did not? Since I tend to be feeble minded at times I only use the one with overflow.[:-graduat

I see these vanity sinks in upper end homes and since they are legal I just tell the buyer what could happen.

Paul B.

[Chris Bernhardt]

If sink overflows are not required are bathtub overflows not required also?

Does anyone check overflows if they are there? Most I see can't keep up with faucets anyway even at a moderate flow.

When I use to manage apartments I had a case where a lower unit was getting a lot water from the unit above in the bathroom. Seemed it had been going on for a couple of hours. Finally considering it an emergency as the tenants above did not appear to be home to anyones knowledge I pounded on the door of the appartment several times for a minute, got out the pass key and cracked the door open and yelled "Maintenance!", stuck my head in and yelled "maintenance!", then stepped inside and yelled "maintenance!", then seeing that no body was responding I started heading for the master bedroom bathroom which is where the source of the leaking was occuring all the while yelling "maintenance!". Master bedroom door is closed... so I knock on it, wait, crack it and seeing nobody there so I go in. Master bedroom bathroom door is closed. So at that point I decided that nobody was home and proceeded to burst in to the master bedroom bathroom where lo n behold the tenant and his wife are in the tub. [:-bigeyes Luckily the shower curtain was closed so I couldn't see anything. The husbands says "Excuse me!" The polite way of saying "What the F blah blah blah". I was stunned. I must looked like a deer in the head lights after all that yelling and pounding trying to make my presence known to avoid exactly this kind of situation. I explained to him quickly that the water from his tub was somehow making its way down to the unit below and got the hell out of there. Later we found that it was due to a faulty tub overflow. The wife kept refilling the tub when the water got cold.

Chris, Oregon

[Bob White]

I always check them.

The photos below are from a 11 month old home, All four tub overflows were still blocked.

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I usually fill all sinks and tubs to the overflow, and a little before I go into the basement or crawl, I go around the house and pull all the plugs at once. If there are leaks, I can usually find them.

[chicago]

So basically what you guys are trying to say is an over flow is needed only when the spout can go below the rim due to cross contamination possibility.