Shower not Draining

syngindub

Hi There,
Can anyone recommend a product to clean a shower drain. Water takes ages to drain from the shower base.
I have tried a hanger to clear our excess hair or whatever is causing the blockage but no luck. Tried standard bleach also and no luck.
Hoping someone might be able to suggest a product that might help.

Thanks

Alun

Forget nasty, toxic chemicals .. get a 'drain bomb', essentially a plunger on steroids. It's like a giant syringe with a rubber seal on the end that you fill with water and force down the plughole. Do that a couple of times and you'll be sorted. You can get them in most big DIY chains like Woodies or B&Q.

Additionally on most shower trays you can remove part of the the trap to get rid of trapped hair (usually the main cause along with soap gunk). On ours, you just flick the cover off with a screwdriver or something, reach inside and there's a tab which you twist and pull upwards (might need a pair of pliers if it's stuck a bit) to remove a plastic tube. You can then clean this off separately. It might take some experimenting to find out how to remove it, but it's definitely worthwhile.

Hope this helps.

syngindub

going to give that Drain Bomb thing a go when i get home.
cheers Alun

Alun

syngindub wrote: »

going to give that Drain Bomb thing a go when i get home.

No problem .. make sure you try and remove the waste trap thingy too if you can, it makes a huge difference. You wouldn't believe how much hair and gunge gets stuck in there.

syngindub

removing the waste trap. I believe this is going to cause me some difficulty. I'll give it a go anyway..hate DIY

Alun

syngindub wrote: »

removing the waste trap. I believe this is going to cause me some difficulty. I'll give it a go anyway..hate DIY

Here's a handy guide ...

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-clean-a-shower-waste-trap-261340/

syngindub

Alun wrote: »

Here's a handy guide ...

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-clean-a-shower-waste-trap-261340/

Had a look at the video. Mine is not designed like this as far as i know.
I'm not sure it's possible for me to pull out the waste trap at all. It's a metal one so not sure if it's supposed to come out or attempt to pull it out.
I noticed that the water drains through a small gap to the top of it hense i can't get the hanger through it.

Alun

syngindub wrote: »

Had a look at the video. Mine is not designed like this as far as i know.
I'm not sure it's possible for me to pull out the waste trap at all. It's a metal one so not sure if it's supposed to come out or attempt to pull it out.
I noticed that the water drains through a small gap to the top of it hense i can't get the hanger through it.

Usually with the ones with a metal cover where the water drains down the sides, that piece either just lifts off or unscrews AFAIK.

syngindub

Alun wrote: »

Usually with the ones with a metal cover where the water drains down the sides, that piece either just lifts off or unscrews AFAIK.

Good man Alun, I'll check that out later and keep you posted on my progress

Joey the lips

syngindub wrote: »

Hi There,
Can anyone recommend a product to clean a shower drain. Water takes ages to drain from the shower base.
I have tried a hanger to clear our excess hair or whatever is causing the blockage but no luck. Tried standard bleach also and no luck.
Hoping someone might be able to suggest a product that might help.

Thanks

With the greatest respect to the previous replies none of these will work.Most showers are fitted with whats called an easy clean shower trap. you pop off the top use a pen or something plastic dont stick it in as such just use it as a lever. then pull the inside of the trap out and clean it. It will work fine then. No cleaning products required,





Just stick the pen in the spoke bit and it pops out. Then pull the insert out and clean it. There is usually a lot of hair trapped so if you have a sensative gag reflex wear gloves.

Joey the lips

syngindub wrote: »

going to give that Drain Bomb thing a go when i get home.
cheers Alun

Dont use a drain bomb its not as safe as you think and as the fitting is compression there is a risk of blowing it apart and that will rightly mess you up

Alun

Joey the lips wrote: »

Dont use a drain bomb its not as safe as you think and as the fitting is compression there is a risk of blowing it apart and that will rightly mess you up

We're talking about a slow draining shower here, not something that's completely blocked. I've used one on mine several times in the past 5 years with no problems at all. Stop scaremongering.

Alun

Joey the lips wrote: »

With the greatest respect to the previous replies none of these will work.

No-one ever mentioned using chemical cleaners, in fact I recommended against them.

Most showers are fitted with whats called an easy clean shower trap. you pop off the top use a pen or something plastic dont stick it in as such just use it as a lever. then pull the inside of the trap out and clean it. It will work fine then. No cleaning products required,

Just stick the pen in the spoke bit and it pops out. Then pull the insert out and clean it. There is usually a lot of hair trapped so if you have a sensative gag reflex wear gloves.

Which is just what I said. My experience though is that in addition to this a lot of hair and soap slime carries on down the pipes and coats the inside of the pipe out of reach of fingers and other implements, which can also slow down the draining of water. The drain bomb is great for clearing this stuff out.

syngindub

will see if i can pull that trap out first, clean it and see if that makes any difference. I've a feeling that's all that needs to be done. That picture looks accurate to my setup. Only difference being the cap is plastic

Joey the lips

Alun wrote: »

We're talking about a slow draining shower here, not something that's completely blocked. I've used one on mine several times in the past 5 years with no problems at all. Stop scaremongering.

Excuse me but scaremongering! Read the instructions that come with it. It cannot be any clearer, There is a very strong risk of blowing a compression fitting apart, This is a fact and its the only reason that this should be used on plumbing where you can get access to check for leaks afterwards, You cannot do this with showers.

and just because you have not got problems does not mean its right,

Joey the lips

syngindub wrote: »

will see if i can pull that trap out first, clean it and see if that makes any difference. I've a feeling that's all that needs to be done. That picture looks accurate to my setup. Only difference being the cap is plastic

This is plastic aswell its just chrome coated, Its a better picture than the white. Let us know how you get on.

Alun

Joey the lips wrote: »

Excuse me but scaremongering! Read the instructions that come with it. It cannot be any clearer.

I've got the thing in front of me here with the instructions written on the side of it, and there is no mention of this at all, none whatsoever. The only safety item is to not use it in combination with chemicals. That's clear enough to me.

Joey the lips

Alun wrote: »

I've got the thing in front of me here with the instructions written on the side of it, and there is no mention of this at all, none whatsoever. The only safety item is to not use it in combination with chemicals. That's clear enough to me.

I am going to make it simple because its childish for me to go on like this, Use this if you wish but no plumber will use this in a shower situation because if you do any damage it will not be easy to rectify if you blow the fitting apart.

I imported these and specificly written on ,mine was "not to be used on compression joint showers or places where access to plumbing is not possible"

I have no way to prove this at the moment but the logic is simple to understand you generate a force of 30PSI in these. That is the same force that blows up a car tyre. Imagine what this would do to a fitting on a shower!


Finally here is the thing. If you follow my instruction you actually would never need one because the shower wont block

skingtile

i do of course realise that all posts are done with the best of intentions,
but posters should really recognise professional advice when it is offered, Joey the lips has offered by the book sound advice, dont blow anything up, it could end up costing a pretty penny. also are all your other wastes working efficiently.
www.bathroombliss.info

Alun

Joey the lips wrote: »

I have no way to prove this at the moment but the logic is simple to understand you generate a force of 30PSI in these. That is the same force that blows up a car tyre. Imagine what this would do to a fitting on a shower!

Where do you get this magic figure of 30PSI from? It'll only produce as much pressure as my puny frame can physically push the plunger in with, and clearly if I feel too much resistance is being offered, and the plunger isn't moving then clearly, I have enough common sense accumulated over my 52 years on this earth to know not to over do it. I'm talking about using it in a situation where the drain isn't completely blocked, just slow running and the effect of a fast running flow of water created by such a device, as opposed to the slow gravity fed flow from a shower tray will clean any remaining gunge that you can't get at through opening up the trap. And regardless of what you say, in my experience, just clearing the trap, although it will certainly make things much better, isn't as good and long lasting as using the drain bomb. I don't have to be a plumber to be able to notice the difference when I do.

And, just to be clear, I'm not talking about the chemical 'bombs' I've seen mentioned on here in the past, just what is in effect a glorified sink plunger.

Joey the lips

Alun wrote: »

Where do you get this magic figure of 30PSI from? It'll only produce as much pressure as my puny frame can physically push the plunger in with, and clearly if I feel too much resistance is being offered, and the plunger isn't moving then clearly, I have enough common sense accumulated over my 52 years on this earth to know not to over do it. I'm talking about using it in a situation where the drain isn't completely blocked, just slow running and the effect of a fast running flow of water created by such a device, as opposed to the slow gravity fed flow from a shower tray will clean any remaining gunge that you can't get at through opening up the trap. And regardless of what you say, in my experience, just clearing the trap, although it will certainly make things much better, isn't as good and long lasting as using the drain bomb. I don't have to be a plumber to be able to notice the difference when I do.

And, just to be clear, I'm not talking about the chemical 'bombs' I've seen mentioned on here in the past, just what is in effect a glorified sink plunger.

What do you want me to say to you. Clearly your set in your ways. A plumber will not use these on a shower tray... Simple!! nothing else to say!

syngindub

skingtile wrote: »

i do of course realise that all posts are done with the best of intentions,
but posters should really recognise professional advice when it is offered, Joey the lips has offered by the book sound advice, dont blow anything up, it could end up costing a pretty penny. also are all your other wastes working efficiently.
www.bathroombliss.info

everything else is working as it should.
calm down lads

skingtile

any idea how long shower tray in situ you have old type trap

syngindub

got this sorted earlier. removed the plastic white waste trap. I didn't realise i could remove this so cheers to all who contributed earlier.
There was a mass build of hair and other crap. discusting stuff.
Eventually got rid of this and shower working great now. No more quick showers before the thing fills up..yipee

Thank you all

skingtile

thanks for reply, its good to hear how it ends

Alun

Glad to hear you got it sorted. Personally I blame my wife for it all .. my hair isn't long enough to clog anything up. She refuses to clean it out though because it's so smelly. Go figure

syngindub

i'm blaming the misses but sayin nutin. impossible to win these arguments

Joey the lips

syngindub wrote: »

i'm blaming the misses but sayin nutin. impossible to win these arguments

Get her to clean it. Guaranteed it will sort it!

argosy2006

is the pipe that drains it viewable from outside? check the out door pipe , it could be blocked at the very end of the pipe,