Cabinet Knobs and More

Communicable Diseases

June 1st, 2007

In these days of TB scares, it’s important to know similar dangers that can be lurking in common hardware.  This came to a head when we visited an antique supply house a few years back.

We happened upon an old clawfoot tub and outfitted it with era hardware, including the crossed-knobbed, two-handled valves pouring out the one spigot and an external tube that controls how you drain the tub.  I seem to remember that we almost had to get the external tube because of the sizes of the holes and fittings.

Well, the rub comes in that external tube.  See the accompanying diagrams to understand what I’m talking about.  The tube has a cylinder that you lift up or put down.  When the cylinder is down, it blocks the drain, so the tub can fill - including the drain tube that has remained moist since the last bath.  To empty the tub, you simply raise the cylinder in the tube and most of the water flows past the cylinder and out the drain.

The problem is that the stopper effect takes place deep in the bowels of the contraption, at the seal.  Moisture can linger for days in the drain tube, setting up an environment for ugly cultures to grow.  If they do and you then fill the tube, you can get … well, I won’t go into the gory details.  Suffice it to say you could be sitting in some ugly and unhealthy stuff.

The solution for us was simply to use a rubber stopper instead of seating the cylinder in the tube.  The solution for you is simply not to buy such an arrangement but rather to purchase modern hardware that is by law designed to be sanitary.  (Such laws didn’t exist when the antiques were manufactured.)

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