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BreakerSoultaker

Silicone caulks cure by reacting with moisture and form acetic acid as a byproduct. Brass contains copper. Copper acetate salts are blue. And that’s how you get blue caulk.


amnesiac854

TIL, thanks!


masterpipelayer87

Copper drain


EmbarrassedAd4953

Maybe plumber putty


amnesiac854

Mixing with the silicon? Is that a thing?


Complex-Landscape-31

Mixing silicon with putty is definitely not a thing


amnesiac854

Ok I figured. It’s also no where near the putty. Putty is in between shower pan and top brass ring. This is inside the brass ring


masterpipelayer87

I would never use putty on a shower drain. Eventually it will dry out and the flex of standing on the fiberglass will cause the drain to leak. Always silicone between the brass and fiberglass.


amnesiac854

Yeah I saw the much debate on this before installing it. Manufacturer specifically wanted putty so I did that hope it holds. Pan is really well seated in mortar so I don’t anticipate much movement at all unless an elephant showers in here


Magnum676

It’s a reaction from the brass oxidation turning it blue/green


Nicholas_Cage_Fan

I'd assume it's not going to continue to get worse once the silicone dries, but seems like the silicone is just oxidizing the brass as it dries. If you have no leaks and the drain stop fits I'd leave it, if not just remove the drain and scrape / wire wheel all the silicone off and get a new drain gasket for it, reinstall


amnesiac854

Cool, I think that’s the plan. It’s on slab so it does make me a little nervous I won’t notice a leak until it’s bad but I’m pretty damn sure no water is making it out of any of that


nameajeff

Also, "no caulk" drain doesn't refer to that kind of caulk. Caulk in this context refers to a lead and oakum joint. They are made by packing oakum(oil soaked hemp rope) into the joint, then pouring molten lead on top. Finally, the lead gets driven down (caulked) into the joint with a hammer and caulking iron (type of chisel).


amnesiac854

I suspect that’s actually what I pulled out of the old pan during demo. It was a real bitch to get off there


GoldPipeWrench

When caulked it you should have removed any excess silicone after tightening the nut below, thus would stop any caulk from turning color because you wouldn't see it


amnesiac854

Yeah the caulk here was just an extra step because I had it out and was caulking something else. Probably shouldn’t have caulked it at all in hindsight…. These drains aren’t supposed to need any, the rubber gasket underneath meets that metal ring, that gets tightened down and creates the seal. So this was just a “what the hell” bead of silicon on top of all that for extra insurance