Why is My Sink or Basket Waste not Holding Water?

Have you ever filled the sink up with water, ready to do the washing up, you walk away to grab the remaining dishes, and come back to a sink where half your water has gone?

Your sink is slowly draining of water once it has been filled, you check under the sink but there are no visible leaks - an immediate thought is that there is a fault with the basket waste or seal. A plumber may have even already advised that you need a new basket waste.

In 99% of cases a faulty basket waste is not actually what causes the water to drain. Follow our easy steps to discover if the issue does lie with a faulty seal and what to do if not.

Checking the basket waste

The basket waste, more commonly referred to as the plug sits in a metal flange. When the basket plug is pushed down the black rubber seal on the underside of the basket waste makes contact with the flange forming a seal.

Push your basket waste down as normal to form the seal. Fill your sink carefully with a little water so that it covers just the top of the basket waste. You do not want the level of water to go over on to the top of the metal flange which sits within the bottom of the sink.

Water will now either drain away or remain where it is. If you discover that the water is draining away, then your basket waste is faulty, and you do need a new basket waste. You can choose from our range of basket wastes here.

If you find that the water stays where it is then there is nothing wrong with the basket strainer waste/plug as it is forming the seal needed to contain the water in the sink.

So, what exactly is the problem? Why is the water draining away?

If the water is draining away but not through the basket waste seal, then the sink waste has been installed incorrectly. The water is able to drain away between the metal basket waste flange and fireclay sink as it has been 'dry fitted' - fitted without any waterproof seal, such a silicone between the sink and the waste flange. The water leaks out underneath the waste flange and travels out through the waste pipe as normal so there is no visible leak even though the water is draining away when the basket waste is pushed down.