A plea to the plumbing experts

squibs

My shower was fairly clogged, so I decided to clean it. There is a regular cover for the drain at the top (which looks like a minature alloy wheel for a car. Below this is a plastic cylinder about 5 inches long which slots down into the drain hole. At the bottom of the drain hole, is the outlet which runs off to the side - just beyond finger reach. There wasn't any gunk to speak of within reach.

So I removed the two bits and added the granulated drain cleaner and some water. I returned in 20 mins, as directed, to the overpowering smell of ammonia. I washed the lot away and the blockage was gone, but I cant get the cylinder back down the drain now. I can't see why not - everything looks okay, but it only goes down 4 of the 5 inches.

1) What is the puropse of the cylinder, and how necessary is it?
2) Is it likely that the drain cleaner has damaged/warped the plastic in the drain?

Thanks all.

nagero

Is there a groove or notch it is catching on?

I think mine would only go down one particular way.

nagero

gregos

squibs wrote:

What is the puropse of the cylinder, and how necessary is it?

The cylinder is absolutely essential. It's what creates the air-lock that keeps out sewer gases and smells. You're probably just not aligning it properly. Keep trying because you must put it back. The drain cleaner is unlikely to have warped the trap unless it generated a huge amount of heat.

squibs

Yup there's extrusions on the cylinder and corresponding slots in the drain. It always went back in easily before.