Overflow Bath Fillers

An overflow bath filler fills your bath straight through the overflow outlet, so you get a clean bath edge with no taps perched on the rim. On the concealed type there is no spout or handle on the filler itself. You control the water from a separate concealed bath or shower valve, and the kit handles the fill, the overflow and the waste in one.

You will find round and square designs here, and the fillers in the guide below come in chrome, brushed brass, matt black and gunmetal. If you would rather keep a tap you can turn, the bath shower mixer taps are the simpler swap.

What to look for in an overflow bath filler

An overflow bath filler does three jobs in one fitting: it fills the bath, it acts as the overflow, and it drains it. The Litchfield kits in this guide are all the concealed type, which means the bath fills through the overflow outlet and you turn the water on and off at a valve set into the wall, not at the bath. That is the bit people miss, so it is worth getting straight before you buy.

Concealed means you are choosing a valve as well. A concealed waste and overflow filler has no tap and no handle, and nothing on show but the overflow cover. The bath fills through the overflow and you run it from a separate concealed valve. It is the clean, minimal look, and the right call if you want nothing cluttering the bath edge. The honest trade-off is the fit: you are choosing the valve as well as the filler, and the valve has to be plumbed into the wall. The Litchfield Purity Bath Filler Waste & Overflow at £104.99 is the plain round version of this type, built from brass and stainless steel with a clicker waste included, and its spec says outright that it needs a concealed valve to control the water. Budget for the valve and a fitter who has plumbed one before, and there is no nasty surprise halfway through the job.

Round or square is purely a looks call. It does not change how the filler works, so match it to the rest of your fittings. Round suits most bathrooms and sits happily with round taps and shower controls. The Litchfield Round Bath Filler Waste & Overflow in Brushed Brass at £109.99 is the round option in a warm brushed brass, and it comes with a 600mm overflow hose. Square is the sharper, more contemporary look for a suite with square fittings. The Litchfield Square Bath Filler Overflow Waste at £99.99 has a chrome square overflow, connects to a concealed shower valve, and is also the lowest price of the fillers in this guide.

Match the finish to your taps, not the bath. Pick a finish you can carry across the taps and shower controls so the metalwork ties together. For a darker scheme, the Litchfield Round Bath Filler Waste & Overflow in Matt Black at £104.99 is the round matt black option, again in brass and stainless steel with a clicker waste included. If black feels a bit stark, the Core Overflow Gunmetal Bath Filler with Click Clack Waste at £119 comes in a matt gunmetal finish with the click-clack waste built in and a corrosion-resistant build. Four of the five fillers here are Litchfield, so if you want the rest of the metalwork from the same brand, start with the Litchfield range.

Clicker, click-clack and sprung clicker wastes are the same idea. The wording varies from one product to the next, so do not let it throw you. In practice they all work the same way: press the cover to open the plug, press it again to close it, with no chain and no separate plug to lose. The Purity, brushed brass and matt black kits all list a clicker waste, and the Core has its click-clack waste built in. What else comes in the box varies by model, so check each product page for the exact contents before you order.

Check the valve and the bath before you buy. A concealed filler does not control its own water. It runs from a separate concealed bath or shower valve, chosen and plumbed in alongside it, so factor that into the budget and the plan for the job. If the same valve is running a shower as well, it needs to be able to feed both, so check that before you order. The filler also doubles as the bath’s overflow, so it goes in the bath’s overflow hole. Check the bath you are fitting it to, and if you are still choosing one, start with the baths range. As for speed, how fast the bath fills depends on your water pressure and the valve feeding the filler, so a low-pressure system will fill more slowly whichever filler you pick.

Quick answers

What is an overflow bath filler? A fitting that fills your bath through the overflow outlet instead of through taps on the rim, so you get a clean, tap-free bath edge. On the concealed type there is no handle on the filler itself. You turn the water on and off at a separate concealed valve in the wall, and the same fitting also handles the overflow and the waste.

How does a bath filler waste and overflow work? The water comes into the bath through the overflow cover near the top of the bath, rather than out of a spout. The overflow still does its normal job of stopping the bath flooding, and most of the kits in this guide pair it with a clicker or click-clack waste at the bottom: push to open, push to close. On a concealed system you control temperature and flow at the valve. It is one fitting doing the fill, the overflow and the drain together.

Do I need a separate valve for an overflow bath filler? For the concealed type, yes. A concealed waste and overflow filler has no tap of its own, so it needs a concealed shower valve to control the water, plumbed into the wall. The Purity’s spec says so outright, and the Square and matt black Litchfield kits are listed as connecting to concealed shower valves. Put the valve on the list at the same time as the filler.

What is the difference between a bath filler and a bath filler waste and overflow? A plain bath filler just fills the bath. A bath filler waste and overflow is the all-in-one: it fills the bath through the overflow, acts as the overflow, and includes the waste, the plug mechanism at the bottom, in the same kit. If you want one fitting to do the lot and a tap-free bath, the waste and overflow version is the one you want.

What finishes do overflow bath fillers come in? The fillers in this guide cover chrome, brushed brass, matt black and gunmetal. Match the filler to your taps and shower controls rather than the bath, so the metalwork ties together. The round shape comes in brushed brass (£109.99) and matt black (£104.99), there is a square chrome option at £99.99, and the Core in gunmetal is £119.

Is it hard to fit an overflow bath filler? The concealed type is more of a planned-in job than a quick swap, because you are also fitting a concealed valve into the wall and plumbing the fill through the overflow. It is well within a competent plumber’s remit, but it is not a 20-minute tap change. Kit contents vary by model, so check the product page for what is supplied before your plumber turns up. If you want the simplest route, a bath shower mixer tap is the easier swap.

What is a bath overflow cover? The visible round or square plate that sits over the overflow hole near the top of the bath. On an overflow bath filler that cover is also where the water comes in, so it does double duty: it hides the overflow and acts as the filler outlet, in whichever finish you have picked for your taps.