Shower Tray Slow to Empty

Poulgorm

My shower tray does not drain away freely - annoying.

I have tried pouring various chemicals down the drain hole, but no discernible improvement.

What I need to do is seal the outlet of the pipe outside, where it discharges into the sewer. Then I need to fill it with a suitable chemical and leave it sit there for 24 hours. That should give it time to dissolve all hair, soap, grease or whatever is partially blocking the pipe. Then flush it out well.

I calculate that it will take about 5 litres of chemical to fill the pipe (from the outlet, right up to the shower tray).

So what is the cheapest / best available chemical I can use ?

Thank you, in advance

Joey the lips

Is your shower tray pooling..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Gb3EWnb5o


No chemicals required... You have a good day

L5

theres a mr muscle drain cleaner ,comes in a grey bottle.its got 2 chemicals together in seperate compartments, when you pour it in they mix and react. id recommend it. had the same problem ,tried bleach etc, nothing. this stuff expands in the pipe and you leave it in for an hour or so, then just rinse it out. fantastic stuff!

Poulgorm

Joey the lips wrote: »

Is your shower tray pooling..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Gb3EWnb5o


No chemicals required... You have a good day

Not that easy, I'm afraid. The trap is clean. problem is further down the pipe.

dak

Buy a drian bomb from Woodies. Its a suction pump and works every time for me. Usually its hair stuck down the pipe !

Joey the lips

dak wrote: »

Buy a drian bomb from Woodies. Its a suction pump and works every time for me. Usually its hair stuck down the pipe !

The drain bomb is good but i would not use it on a shower tray. Its not rec on fittings that can blow a part and are difficult to get to to put back together.

YouTookMyName

Fill a bit of water in the tray and

marvsins

I use caustic soda works great http://www.buy4now.ie/woodiesdiy/productdetail.aspx?pid=12084&loc=P&catid=101.12.29

dnme

Open up the drain if you can, a lot of shower drains twist and release. Sounds like you have a hairball down there.
Easy to pull out with an old fork, bend one or two of the prongs outwards, if need be tie it to a stick, have a good poke around down there and it should pull up. Go easy on the chemicals if you can, a lot of them are awful to be pouring down our drains.

Poulgorm

dnme wrote: »

Open up the drain if you can, a lot of shower drains twist and release. Sounds like you have a hairball down there.
Easy to pull out with an old fork, bend one or two of the prongs outwards, if need be tie it to a stick, have a good poke around down there and it should pull up. Go easy on the chemicals if you can, a lot of them are awful to be pouring down our drains.

The shower is on the concrete ground floor - access to the drains would involve taking up the shower tray - floor and wall tiles would be messed up - not something to undertaken lightly.

I will have to go down the chemical route, I think. I will try the Mr Muscle compound recommended in an earlier post and if that fails, the caustic soda route.

Not nice for the environment, I know, but the slow drainage is very annoying - and will get worse.

The problem with the chemicals is (I think) that they don't have enough contact time with the grime and hair (or whatever is causing the partial blockage). So, I think I will cut the pipe outside, seal it up temporarily, and then pour the chemicals in. Leave it for a few hours, release the temporary seal and reconnect the pipe and flush it through.

Unless somebody advises me otherwise...

dnme

Poulgorm wrote: »

The shower is on the concrete ground floor - access to the drains would involve taking up the shower tray - floor and wall tiles would be messed up - not something to undertaken lightly.

I will have to go down the chemical route, I think. I will try the Mr Muscle compound recommended in an earlier post and if that fails, the caustic soda route.

Not nice for the environment, I know, but the slow drainage is very annoying - and will get worse.

The problem with the chemicals is (I think) that they don't have enough contact time with the grime and hair (or whatever is causing the partial blockage). So, I think I will cut the pipe outside, seal it up temporarily, and then pour the chemicals in. Leave it for a few hours, release the temporary seal and reconnect the pipe and flush it through.

Unless somebody advises me otherwise...

You are misunderstanding me. I am talking about taking up the shower drain cap and / or filter. Just the plastic bit that the water flows into. See if you can open that, you might be able to lift a plastic grid, then there may be an assembly below that that can be released by twisting and pulling. If you can get access to the drain, thats what I am talking about.

If you have a hairball down there, Mr Muscle won't do much good.

NIMAN

I seen stuff in B&Q recently that says 100% guaranteed to clear any blockage.

It also said that if you swallow any of it, it could be fatal, so that scared me off:D

Joey the lips

marvsins wrote: »

I use caustic soda works great http://www.buy4now.ie/woodiesdiy/productdetail.aspx?pid=12084&loc=P&catid=101.12.29

You should not use caustic soada in the shower tray

1. If it comes back up it will stain it

2. If it pools later it will burn the feet of who ever is usuing the shower at the time.

Bear that in mind if you have kids...Feet might not be the only thing burnt.

cnocbui

Poulgorm wrote: »

Not that easy, I'm afraid. The trap is clean. problem is further down the pipe.

That would be a first. Sometimes you need a hook at the end of a bit of electrical cable or wire to hook back under the lip of the outlet at the bottom of the trap. Sweep the hook around the rim and you might suddenly find a lot of hair.

In the unlikely event it really is clean, you could rod the pipe from the outside with one of those flexible cables with a spiral wire on the end you can screw into the hairball/slime mold combo and pull it out.