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Post By doingitmyself
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11/14/14, 11:58 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: B.C.
Posts: 694
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Permanently plugging an old bathtub drain for use as a trough?
I've got an old bathtub I'd like to use as a trough for the cows, but the floor drain is missing.
I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a way to permanently plug that hole?
Not sure what will work for a patch all winter.
The plastic drain plugs from hardware store don't fit due to missing chrome gasket....or maybe due to the cold temps and plastic/rubber being inflexible during winter.
To complicate things, it is now freezing out and will be for awhile.
Please see pic.
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11/15/14, 12:08 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Central S. C.
Posts: 8,005
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Measure the hole and go to an auto parts store and get a universal rubber expansion plug that will fit it. Another option is to carve a wooden bung from dry wood that will fit it, drive it in with a mallet. It doesn't have to fit tight, just secure. When you fill it with water the wood will swell and make a tight fit, and as long as you keep it covered with water, the plug won't rot.
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Vicker
If you're born to hang, you'll never drown.
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11/15/14, 12:13 AM
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hillbilly in training
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Missouri
Posts: 255
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You could probably also just clean the hole up and use silicone to glue the plug in place. I don't think it would go anywhere once it cured and was under water.
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11/15/14, 12:19 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: B.C.
Posts: 694
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Great ideas, thanks heaps!
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11/15/14, 01:13 AM
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: Jefferson
Posts: 526
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duct tape the bottom and fill the hole with slow set epoxy.
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11/15/14, 05:06 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Frederick, MD
Posts: 1,494
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Heck a fine screen and bondo will work...
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11/15/14, 05:13 AM
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Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 1,945
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I don't know what would work, but i'd want to try and find a way to keep a plug in it, and set it up on some blocks or something so it could be drained for cleaning easier. just my thoughts. good luck 
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11/15/14, 05:41 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: True Northern California
Posts: 13,456
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gibbsgirl
I don't know what would work, but i'd want to try and find a way to keep a plug in it, and set it up on some blocks or something so it could be drained for cleaning easier. just my thoughts. good luck |
Yup- this. Baling a tub to clean it would be a pain. Not an uncommon one but why go there when you have options. A metal tub is not easily tipped on its side.
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11/15/14, 06:38 AM
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: Jefferson
Posts: 526
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Then why not a drain flange with an L bend out to a capped pipe. Remove the cap to drain the tub.
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11/15/14, 07:33 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Bartow County, GA
Posts: 6,778
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Love old bathtubs!
I also use them as feeders - not much hay strewn around on the ground, and it was a natural way for the critters to feed (head down) Easy to clean if you place blocks under one end with the non-plug end higher than the drain side so water can drain easily.
For a waterer, I cut a square from an old tire larger than the hole and to cover the hole, then hammered in a rubber tub plug from the store. Using pliers, I could remove it when I wanted to scrub the tub.
BTW: both ends are placed on pavers with the non-plug end one paver higher than the plug end for easy draining.
Just sold my place to a Wisconsin farmer and he asked that the tubs stay, so they must be OK to use that way.
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Only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible
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11/15/14, 07:44 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 1,722
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Simple just drop it on the ground and fill it up after a while it will be plugged.
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11/15/14, 09:41 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Western New York
Posts: 1,305
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Every once and a while our tub would crack due to the water freezing and then it wouldn't hold water. One tub lasted several years, the next tub only lasted 2 or 3 years. As to plugging it, on the bottom a block of wood with a hole in the center, a bolt through the hole, on the inside of the tub a washer and nut, tighten it down so the wood is tight against the bottom and the nut and washer are tight on the inside.
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11/15/14, 10:33 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: B.C.
Posts: 694
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AmericanStand
Simple just drop it on the ground and fill it up after a while it will be plugged.
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Strangely this has been working for years, and just this last summer the calves and possibly bull have been bumping into it and draining it. I put a golden up tarp underneath previously, didn't drain a bit!
It does need to be on blocks so I can tip (or drain if I go that route) meaning can't do that any more.
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11/16/14, 07:23 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Michigan
Posts: 904
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At our local old engine show there was a cast iron tub under a wooden windmill tower. Each year we would just use kwik-crete to seal it up then after the show a few taps with a hammer would bust it out.
Now we had to pour the well full to plug it so it is just a tub on it's side last I remember it.
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11/17/14, 09:18 PM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: WISCONSIN
Posts: 6,694
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put a 90 on it , add a adapter for a hose put a section of hose on it , put a hook on the end of the hose to put over the edge of the tub , want it drained lay the hose down , don't look at the hole as an issue ,it is a drain for when you need to clean it out
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11/18/14, 07:36 AM
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: New York bordering Ontario
Posts: 4,785
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__________________
-Northern NYS
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11/18/14, 08:12 AM
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de oppresso liber
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 13,948
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AmericanStand
Simple just drop it on the ground and fill it up after a while it will be plugged.
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That's all we ever did. Never had one leak for more than a week.
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11/18/14, 08:22 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Alabama
Posts: 11
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When I was growing up my dad used about 10-15 old cast iron tubs and some of the newer models. He would get a piece of wood and carve a plug and use some old rags around it. The wood would swell and not leak. He also used a flat piece of aluminum and leather from an old shoe and put it in the bottom of the tub and a small screw and nut on the out side with another piece of aluminum. Used them for about 30-35 years.
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11/18/14, 09:00 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,567
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Any of that, Or just go to the hardware store and get a tub drain shoe, gasket, flange, and stopper. Your talking about $15 for the stuff to do it right and then its done forever (pretty cheap watering trough) plus you can open the drain for cleaning up tub or as mentioned above put a hose adapter on the shoe plumbing. Then you can use the tub to catch and hold water from a roof gutter to use for watering with a hose as long as its not up hill of course. LOL
Billy Bobbing it up would work but that stuff generally comes back to bite ya on you backside at the worst possible time.
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