On Mar 25, 11:22*am, Steve Kraus
wrote:
Concrete slab or not, there has to be some way to get to the drain
pipes under there. *It's not like they poured the floor after the tub
was installed. *Unfortunately as a last resort, you'll have to remove
the tub. *Hopefully you wont have to do that.

No, there is no access. *The tub drain goes down into the slab then
sideways to a drum trap adjacent to it (there's an access plug). *The tub
is boxed in on three sides by walls and as I've said, the head wall is back
to back with a similarly installed tub in the other lav.

Why not take off the overflow pipes and see if you can get it out from
there.

What pipes? *I dont know if the overflow is a pipe or cast into the tub..
Seems like the latter since the plug has to drop down there from the
overflow opening which is where the control trip lever is...so it can't
just any old pipe. *It has to have a precise fitting where the plug blocks
the water flow when it's down and unblocks when it's up.

I'm having a problem understanding what you have in there. *See if you
can find a webpage with a drawing of the thing or exploded view.
There is likely one on there. *Then post the url. *It sure sounds like
a popup stopper to me??????

No, it's not a pop up. *You do not see anything move other than the trip
lever that you push up or down and that is located at the overflow drain
cover. *The drain itself has no moving parts. *It's just a little grill
covering the opening.

Thank you for writing but I'm hoping to hear from someone familiar with
this type of drain. * As you asked here is a diagram. *It's the one on the
right. *As you see, there is no visible mechanism other than the trip
lever, which is similar to that of the pop up drain on the left.

http://www.mrdrain.com/images/tubs_04.png


It is unfortunate you do not have access, but it sounds
a lot like you have made the problem worse by trying
to force something you couldn't see and therefore be
able to determine what to use to get it unstuck properly
and now the rod which operates the plunger has broken...

The overflow (the faceplate with the lever for the drain
on it which also allows excess water to exit) is attached
to the overflow tube... There is a fitting (which as you
noted is a precisely fitted one as it is made of brass)
where the waste arm (which is how the drain lets water
out of the tub) connects to the overflow tube and down
to the rest of your home's drainage piping after going
through a trap... The plunger which holds the water
in the tub is a brass tube with thick walls which rides
up and down in the fitting mentioned above...

For the connector rod to have broken you either pulled
way too hard or it was badly corroded and was going
snap soon anyway even if you had not disturbed it...

How long has it been since these tub drain stoppers
have been used ? Brass does eventually tarnish...

Your attempts at putting chemicals down the overflow
haven't been successful thus far because very little
of what you are adding is staying around long enough
to do anything other than add chemicals to your local
waste water stream that require treatment...

Since you say you have a drum trap (assuming you
know this for certain and that it isn't just a clean-out
access point for the under slab drain line) you need
to open up this trap and drain it of water... You need
to plug the lower pipe opening in it to block the drain
line from the tub... Then add whatever chemicals you
think will free up the seized plunger and add water
until you have a couple of inches standing in the tub
(this is so that the entire fitting where the plunger
lives gets filled) and let the chemicals soak to see if
you can free the plunger...

If you can't free it up you are looking at having to
have a plumber come in and break up one of the
bathrooms to remove one of the tubs to get access
to the plumbing -- such a plumber would be able
to fix both drains and you should replace basically
everything when you have it opened up since
the costs involved with such an invasive procedure
would dictate you replace everything that can be
reached while the floor/wall is open...

Hopefully you can resolve the matter on your own...

~~ Evan