Bathtub Stopper Not Working? Find Your Type and Fix It

Graphic: summary of this guide, made by our team from the cited sources.

Step 1: which stopper do you have?

Moen sorts tub drains by how you operate them. These are the common kinds, and what usually goes wrong with each:

Type	How it works	Usual failure	Where you fix it
Trip lever with a stopper in the drain (pop-up)	Lever on the overflow plate moves a lift rod that raises the stopper	Hair under the stopper, stopper height wrong	Pull stopper out of drain, adjust jam nut or linkage
Trip lever with only a strainer in the drain (plunger)	Lever drops a weight inside the drain tee behind the overflow	Linkage too short or too long, kinked linkage	Remove overflow plate, adjust or replace linkage
Push and lock (push-pull)	Push the knob down to close, pull up to open	Worn seal, loose stopper on its pin	From inside the tub
Lift and turn	Lift and rotate the knob to open, rotate and push down to close	Worn seal, stripped or loose pin	From inside the tub
Toe touch (foot-actuated)	Press with your foot to open and press again to close	Seal wears out; Watco sells a replacement seal	From inside the tub

Quick test: if the lever on the overflow plate moves and something visible in the drain moves with it, you have a pop-up stopper. If the lever moves but the drain only has a flat strainer, you have a plunger drain.

Graphic: made by our team from the Kohler, Watco and Danco instructions linked on this page.

Trip lever with a stopper in the drain: clean it and set the height

This is the type most people mean when they say the stopper "doesn't work." Kohler's version uses a lift rod behind the overflow, with a spring and a lift toggle, to push the stopper up and let it drop.

1. Flip the lever to open and lift the stopper assembly out of the drain.
2. Clear the hair and soap off the stopper and the part below it. This alone fixes most slow-draining or sticky stoppers.
3. Put it back with the lever in the closed position, as Kohler's installation guide specifies, then open the lever. Kohler says the stopper should rise about 3/8 inch (10 mm) above the strainer.
4. If it does not rise enough, or does not seal when closed, take it out and loosen the jam nut under the stopper. Kohler: turn the nut counterclockwise to raise the stopper, clockwise to lower it. Tighten the jam nut and test again.
5. If the stopper alone cannot be adjusted far enough, the lift rod behind the overflow needs changing. Remove the overflow screws, pull the lift rod assembly out, loosen its locknut and turn the turnbuckle: counterclockwise lengthens the rod, clockwise shortens it. Tighten the locknut, reinstall it and check the clearance.

Trip lever with no stopper in the drain: adjust the plunger linkage

Here the part that blocks the water is hidden. A brass weight (Watco calls it a drop cylinder, Danco calls it a plunger) hangs from the linkage inside the overflow pipe and drops into the drain tee when you close the lever.

• Tub will not hold water: the plunger is not dropping far enough to block the tee, so the linkage needs to be longer.
• Tub drains slowly even when open: clean the plunger first, since hair wrapped around it is common. If it is clean, the linkage may be set so long that the plunger still partly blocks the tee when open, so shorten it a little.

How to do it:

1. Take out the screws on the overflow plate and pull the whole assembly (plate, lever, linkage and plunger) straight out of the overflow hole. No wall access is needed.
2. Clean hair and slime off the plunger and the linkage.
3. Change the length. On the Danco trip lever, you turn the threaded rod up or down to set the plunger height, then tighten the lock nut to hold it (Danco instructions). Watco's Quick Adjust version uses a nut on a threaded rod at the linkage clevis, and its Slip Lock version has a release button for sliding the drop cylinder longer or shorter.
4. Reinstall it. Watco's instructions warn to make sure the brass linkage is not kinked.
5. Test with the tub filled. Watco says the drop cylinder should bottom out inside the tee slightly before the lever reaches fully closed, and a slow drip from inside the tee is normal and acceptable. If water drains noticeably, lengthen the linkage one more step.

Replacing a trip-lever linkage follows the same route: the new assembly goes in through the overflow hole and is set to length the same way. Bring the old one to the store so the type and length match.

Push-pull and lift-and-turn stoppers: tighten, reseal or replace

These sit directly in the drain on a threaded pin. Watco's lift-and-turn parts sheet shows the pieces: a knob, a threaded pin, a ring, the stopper itself, a seal about 1-1/16 inch across, and the strainer body it all threads into.

• Stopper wobbles or will not stay down: it has worked loose on its pin. Snug it back down by hand; if the pin threads are stripped, replace the pin or the stopper.
• Tub slowly drains with the stopper closed: the seal is worn or hardened. Watco lists replaceable seals for its lift-and-turn, push-pull and foot-actuated stoppers, so you may not need a whole new stopper.
• Stopper is stuck closed: hair is often packed under it. Unscrew it, clean the pin and strainer, and refit it.

Buying a replacement: match three things

The most common mistake is buying a stopper that does not fit the drain you already have. From Watco's replacement stopper sheet and parts lists:

1. Operation type. A push-pull stopper is not a lift-and-turn stopper, even if they look alike.
2. Pin size. Watco offers stoppers for 3/8 inch, 5/16 inch and 1/4 inch pins.
3. Strainer threads. If you replace the whole strainer body, Watco makes coarse-thread (1.865 inch, 11.5 threads per inch) and fine-thread (1.625 inch, 16 threads per inch) bodies. They are not interchangeable.

Taking the old stopper, or a clear photo of it next to a ruler, to the store solves most of this.

When the stopper is fine but the tub still drains slowly

If the stopper lifts fully (or the plunger is clean and set right) and the tub still drains slowly, the clog is further down the drain. Hair past the tee is common. A bad smell along with a slow drain usually points to buildup in the trap; our guide to why a bathtub drain smells bad covers cleaning it. If the tub clogs again every few weeks, see why a drain keeps clogging.

When to call a plumber

• Water shows up on the ceiling below the tub or on the floor beside it, which can mean the overflow gasket or the drain shoe under the tub is leaking. That needs access to the pipes behind or below the tub.
• The strainer body is corroded, cracked or spins when you try to unscrew the stopper.
• The overflow plate screws are seized and the assembly will not come out.
• You have replaced the stopper and linkage and the tub still will not hold water.