Have you ever decided to draw yourself a bubble bath after a long day with the kids, running them to all of their extra curricular activities, making supper, and finishing up your paperwork for your job? And then all of sudden there is a disaster in the other room and you have to leave the bathroom while it’s still filling up and come back to see that it didn’t overflow. Because if it did overflow you would be thinking is there a plumbing company near me to fix this.

However, due to the overflow drain that is installed in your bathtub you didn’t have to worry about all of that water ruining your flooring when you had to step away to take care of the many things that you as a parent have to take care of.

What Exactly Is an Overflow Drain?

Have you ever noticed that little round metal opening right under the bathtub faucet? Well, that is what we called the overflow drain. They are equipped on bathtubs and sinks in fact they are there to essentially collect excess water and direct it to the plumbing pipes.

It’s the one little addition to your bathtub that is there to solely minimize the chances of the water overflowing out of the bathtub essentially causing a flood throughout your home. Some people call this fixture the wastewater drain.

Not only does it drain excess water, but the overflow drain actually speeds up the whole draining process when the tub or sink is full of water or it can actually help to maintain a minimum level of water.

Bathtub Overflow Drain

Usually, parents will start a bath for their children or another family member, then walk away or begin to multitask while the tub is filling up. This overflow drain is a very helpful drain as it actually helps to prevent the water from completely overflowing and essentially causing a flood within the bathroom.

Sink Overflow Drain

You may not have noticed but there is an extra hole in your sink. However, if you don’t really make it a habit of completely filling up your sink you may not have really noticed it or its function.

Whenever the sink is filled and the water meets this overflow drain, the water that’s filling up will start to flow right down that drain directly into a tube that is sealed ( the overflow channel) which is inside of the walls of the sink basin itself. Afterwards that water makes its way down into the main drain pipe.