Take a More Luxurious Bathtub With a Bathtub Overflow Cap
Sitting in a shallow, quick-cooling bath is the opposite of relaxing. Instead of basking in a pool of hot water up to your neck – God, dream – you have to choose which parts of your body you want to submerge in water, strategically alternating between them so that the exposed parts don’t get too cold.
The only permanent fix to this problem is to replace the dull little bathtub with a bathtub specially designed for soaking, but for obvious reasons this is not suitable for most people. Until you can live up to all your bath fantasies , you can add a few extra inches of soak to your existing bath with a cheap overflow drain cap – provided you use it correctly. (If you don’t, it won’t do anything at all.) There are two secrets to getting the most out of the drain cap, and luckily they are very simple.
Use for baths only
Suction cups work best when both they and the surface they are applied to are clean and dry. To do this, remove the overflow cap after each use so that it can dry completely before the next. Do not leave it on while you are showering or hand washing your laundry ; it will just be covered with lather and stop working.
On that note, you’ll also want to remove any leftover residue from the tub and the lid itself before sticking it on, especially if you love a bubble bath (or a bath bomb). Soap and water will do the trick, but if you’re impatient, just quickly wipe both surfaces with rubbing alcohol – it dissolves almost everything and evaporates quickly, leaving a clean, completely dry surface.
Position it correctly
For best results, you should always align the top of the lid (the part with the larger hole) with the top of the drain hole, not the bottom. This creates a nice air bubble around the tip of the drain, which is the key to keeping the rising water in the tub. Press down firmly on each small suction cup to make sure it is secured. For a visual guide, watch this video from the (incredibly named) YouTube channel Bathsofdistinction:
Overflow caps are not exactly sophisticated devices, but it takes a bit of engineering to get the most out of them. Now that you know how to do this, you can take more relaxing baths whenever you want.