Noisy Freestanding Bathtub Draining Problem

March 16, 2020

Author:

This blog post is in response to some service inquiries involving noise and disruptions in the freestanding bathtub draining process. Some of these queries have come from non-Aquatica clients seeking answers to what some believe to be a mysterious unsolvable problem. The common symptoms might be as follows:

Once freestanding tub draining is started, it can no longer be stopped. It is not possible to close the drain clicker until the bathtub drains completely.
A lot of noise is coming from the floor plumbing.

Here are some potential installation-related issues that might lead to these type of problems:

A bathtub plumbed with 2” pipe and 2” trap instead of 1.5" pipe and 1.5" trap.
A vertical drop from the tub to the trap of around 30” or even more.

The cause:

The drop causes an increase in the velocity of the water, and it sucks air in through the bath overflow. The air and water mix is emitting the noise.

The Problem Mechanism and Sequence Of Resulting Issues:

The drain's sealing gasket is getting sucked down and is interfering with the closing. This would also explain how you hear the noise at first, and then it might stop, and then you might hear it again.
This might be caused by the sealing gasket getting sucked down, which slows the water draining, which then stops the noise. When the sealing gasket goes back to the normal position, it allows the water to start draining faster again, which then starts the cycle all over again.

Conclusions

This is an installation-related issue. A different drain might alleviate the problem, but there is no guarantee whatsoever. You will need to speak to your plumber to get this fixed.

Practical suggestions,

Freestanding bathtubs