Delta Acrylic Bathtub Drain Sealant

[Mandinca]

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to comment because I had the same struggle making this Delta 400 tub drain seal correctly. I agree, the Delta instructions are POOR regarding the drain. As everyone mentioned, beneath the tub there is a layer of black plastic, and there's an air gap between the two layers where the drain passes through. First attempt, mine leaked like crazy. I had only sealed between the drain and the top side of the tub, which is normal; but with this application, the water made its way back up the threads and leaked between those two layers.
My solution was to put a thick bead of plumber's putty (non-petroleum based for the acrylic tub) between the drain and tub, AND ran a thick line of Blue Monster Thread Sealant around the male threads. I let it sit for 24 hours before testing it, and it now holds perfectly. I hope this helps someone else, because it was incredibly frustrating!

View attachment 51091

I have this exact same issue. Can you recommend a non petroleum based putty to use - whenever I search all I get is results for "non staining" rather than "non petroleum".
Also, Home Depot sells two versions of the Blue Monster, one with PTFE - which did you use ?

Lastly, your drawing shows blue monster in two locations....or is the lower location just representing where the threads will be when the drain is screwed down ?

 

[wwhitney]

I don't think anyone has suggested this yet: what about just cutting a larger hole in the black layer only? I.e. a hole a bit larger than the outer diameter of the tub shoe, so that the tub shoe gasket can seal directly to the white inner tub. [The manufacturer should change the design to do this for you.]

That should work as long as the black layer isn't so thick that the drain pipe would then hit the black layer. From the close up photo in post #4, seems like that wouldn't be a problem.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Mandinca]

I don't think anyone has suggested this yet: what about just cutting a larger hole in the black layer only? I.e. a hole a bit larger than the outer diameter of the tub shoe, so that the tub shoe gasket can seal directly to the white inner tub. [The manufacturer should change the design to do this for you.]

That should work as long as the black layer isn't so thick that the drain pipe would then hit the black layer. From the close up photo in post #4, seems like that wouldn't be a problem.

Cheers, Wayne

I thought about doing this too but my tub is installed, the black layer is also very close to the acrylic layer and I would be cutting in a confined space - the last thing I need to do is slip and go through the acrylic....maybe if I'm really careful with a Dremel.....would give me an excuse to finally buy one.

Does anyone know what "non-petroleum plumbers putty" is ? I can't find it anywhere.

 

[wwhitney]

Does anyone know what "non-petroleum plumbers putty" is ? I can't find it anywhere.

I assume it is referring to an oil-free, non staining putty like:

https://www.oatey.com/products/oatey-stainfree-plumbers-putty--934748176
https://www.oatey.com/products/hercules-sta-put-ultra-929395705

Cheers, Wayne

 

[Mandinca]

I assume it is referring to an oil-free, non staining putty like:

https://www.oatey.com/products/oatey-stainfree-plumbers-putty--934748176
https://www.oatey.com/products/hercules-sta-put-ultra-929395705

Cheers, Wayne

Thanks, I have Sta Put but nowhere on the package does it say that it's stain free.
Mine is not the sta put "ultra" though and, in fact, the directions on mine say "do not use sta put in direct contact with marble, granite or other porous stone, ceramics or manufactured substitutes, use Hercules Sta Put Ultra on these materials.

Not a word about acrylic....

 

[Reach4]

I have this exact same issue. Can you recommend a non petroleum based putty to use - whenever I search all I get is results for "non staining" rather than "non petroleum".

https://www.oatey.com/products/oatey-stainfree-plumbers-putty--934748176 says "Oatey® Stain-Free Plumber’s Putty is an oil-free, non-staining plumbers putty ".

I interpret oil-free to mean non-petroleum. I looked no further. This may be a characteristic of all non-staining plumbers puttys.

 

[JeffreyS]

Bought this same tub from HD, got it installed, mortar bed underneath... Everything seemed to be going well... I used DAP 3.0 under the drain and (perhaps my mistake) some random lock-tite blue thread stuff I had laying around. Twisted it in, not ultra tight, but until the drain wrench stopped turning easily.. wiped up the excess DAP and patted myself on the back.. Came back a couple days later to pour some water in to see if it leaked, and was greeted by the drain being cracked everywhere... There were no cracks when I put this on, so I'm assuming either somehow I used the wrong DAP, or the locktite I put on the threads of the drain reacted with the acrylic or something. you can see the blue color of the locktite I used has made its way into the picture... So, to avoid this happening again, can someone tell me what caused this?

 

[Terry]

LOCTITE LIMITATIONS
▪ Not for use on plastic parts, particularly thermoplastic materials where stress cracking of the plastic could result
▪ Not for use in pure oxygen and/or oxygen rich systems and should not be selected as a sealant for chlorine or other strong oxidizing materials
▪ If two inactive metals are used, use of a primer is required
▪ Not for use in applications requiring “food safe” locking and sealing of fastener

 

[JeffreyS]

Its been a really good lesson to really pay attention to the details! Thanks for the reply.... In a question before, someone posed the question about Blue Monster... one with PTFE, one without... Would that cause this same issue? I want to put the DAP under the drain, and then something on the threads to avoid leaking, but not sure what product to try with attempt #2...

Also, does anyone here know if that black base part is removable from the tub? I figure if i can separate the tub from the base with a hard yank or something, i can more easily swap this one with a new one since the existing tub is mortared in pretty solidly...

 

[JeffreyS]

Since no response regarding which blue monster to use, would teflon tape accomplish the same thing or is there some other thread sealant that will not cause cracking around the drain of an acrylic tub? Thanks,