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Unclogging shower drain

X

Xavier434

Lifer
I have been using Liquid Plummer for my shower drain for years now, but lately it has not been working too well. If the drain gets clogged and I use Liquid Plummer it will unclog the drain, but it gets clogged again much sooner than it used to. My guess is that there is build up along the edges of the inside of the pipes that the Liquid Plummer is not getting rid of and the result over time has been that it takes a lot less hair and stuff to clog up the space in the middle. As it stands, my drain starts to get clogged up again after about 2 weeks of using the Liquid Plummer even if I use twice the recommended amount.

Could someone recommend a product to me that works a lot better for my situation?
 
You try unscrewing the shower drain? You should be able to use some pliers or channellocks to unscrew it and removie it - then stick in a snake or coat hanger and see what comes out.
 
I had this problem too for a while. Then I realized the drain was clogged with hair. I just pulled it out and it fixed itself.
 
Originally posted by: PottedMeat
You try unscrewing the shower drain? You should be able to use some pliers or channellocks to unscrew it and removie it - then stick in a snake or coat hanger and see what comes out.
Click to expand...

Yep most clogs are usaully close to the drain opening.

I bet there is a lot of hair and other "good" stuff near the drain once you open it up.

Also let ti dry out and pour in baking soda. Then wash soem down with 1/2 cup of hot water. The add vinegar. Put a plunger or soemthing on top to force the pressure down the drain.
Do this after you clean it out.
 
at walmart or the hardware store they sell a plastic snake thing. looks like a long narrow plastic strip with nicks cut in the sides all the way down so there are little hook barbs. stick it down the drain and it is flexible so it goes in easy..and it grabs a surprising amount of hair. good to have. and cheap as well. work better than drano in my experience.
 
Ours did the same thing for a while and one day I bought a bottle of LP and did half the bottle, let it soak in for 30 minutes, run the water (uber hot) and plunge the shit out of it. Plunging it brought up some black shit that smelled like a dead hooker in the spring time but if you keep plunging, it will fix it up. Do the LP twice if needed.

I asked the plumber one time about using a drain snake (giggity) but in a lot of older plumbing setups, it wont work.
 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
at walmart or the hardware store they sell a plastic snake thing. looks like a long narrow plastic strip with nicks cut in the sides all the way down so there are little hook barbs. stick it down the drain and it is flexible so it goes in easy..and it grabs a surprising amount of hair. good to have. and cheap as well. work better than drano in my experience.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
Originally posted by: PottedMeat
You try unscrewing the shower drain? You should be able to use some pliers or channellocks to unscrew it and removie it - then stick in a snake or coat hanger and see what comes out.
Click to expand...

This. I have to take mine off about once every 3 to 6 months to clean out the hair. You'll need pliers, needlenose or channel locks. Any of the above would work. Screw off the knob to expose the bolt, unscrew the bolt to remove the plug from the drain. Look inside to see if its clogged up with anything. Put a dab of grease on the bolt threads, reassemble.

EDIT

I should actually clean mine out again come to think of it. If the OP is an unhandy man I suppose I could post pics of the process.
 
Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Originally posted by: PottedMeat
You try unscrewing the shower drain? You should be able to use some pliers or channellocks to unscrew it and removie it - then stick in a snake or coat hanger and see what comes out.
Click to expand...

Yep most clogs are usaully close to the drain opening.

I bet there is a lot of hair and other "good" stuff near the drain once you open it up.

Also let ti dry out and pour in baking soda. Then wash soem down with 1/2 cup of hot water. The add vinegar. Put a plunger or soemthing on top to force the pressure down the drain.
Do this after you clean it out.
Click to expand...

Yeah. OP: Have you gotten your hands dirty yet? Your best bet is to unscrew the drain top and try to get out all the gunk that's right at the top. If you haven't done this yet then you'll find a ton of stuff and it will really help.

Also, how often are you using liquid plumber? That's not something that you should be using more than once every 6 months, once every three months at the maximum probably. Some variations can be bad for the pipes.

Rip that cap off and grab the hairy, slimy, smelly gunk and peel it out of there man.
 
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
at walmart or the hardware store they sell a plastic snake thing. looks like a long narrow plastic strip with nicks cut in the sides all the way down so there are little hook barbs. stick it down the drain and it is flexible so it goes in easy..and it grabs a surprising amount of hair. good to have. and cheap as well. work better than drano in my experience.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Yes, these work amazingly well for hair clogs.

Pouring chemicals down the drain is almost always a bad idea; file it under "absolute last resort".
 
plunger works sometimes for me too. just run some water, plunge it good, often it'll loosen up whatever is clogged.

we bought one of those drain traps to keep hair and such from going down the drain...has worked fairly well. a lot easier to clean that out after a shower than it is ripping the drain out or having to use LP more than necessary.
 
I got some stuff from Walmart called "Greased Lightning." I believe it was sulfuric acid. Works pretty well.
 
For all those that collect hairballs, you can get a strainer/filter that will just sit over the drain to catch the hair.

After the water has drained out or before you start, remove the strainer and clean in the waster basket.

If you pardon the pun, an filter of prevention is worth a liter of cure.😛
 
you may be using the wrong version of Liquid Plummer. I use the Foaming Pipe Snake version - it some in what looks like a single bottle but it's really two divided chambers. When you pour the stuff out the two chemicals combine and foam up. This stuff works GREAT on my shower drains.
 
Originally posted by: silverpig
I had this problem too for a while. Then I realized the drain was clogged with hair. I just pulled it out and it fixed itself.
Click to expand...

bingo... coat hanger with small hook at the end.... get ready to throw up a little and go at it.
 
Originally posted by: Specop 007
Originally posted by: PottedMeat
You try unscrewing the shower drain? You should be able to use some pliers or channellocks to unscrew it and removie it - then stick in a snake or coat hanger and see what comes out.
Click to expand...

This. I have to take mine off about once every 3 to 6 months to clean out the hair. You'll need pliers, needlenose or channel locks. Any of the above would work. Screw off the knob to expose the bolt, unscrew the bolt to remove the plug from the drain. Look inside to see if its clogged up with anything. Put a dab of grease on the bolt threads, reassemble.

EDIT

I should actually clean mine out again come to think of it. If the OP is an unhandy man I suppose I could post pics of the process.
Click to expand...

No PICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
Originally posted by: silverpig
I had this problem too for a while. Then I realized the drain was clogged with hair. I just pulled it out and it fixed itself.
Click to expand...

THIS

Before I cut off all my hair, every month I'd take enough hair out of the shower drain to completely fur a yorkshire terrier...😀

Hair is the most common cause of shower clogs and is an easy fix...
 
theres an unclogger gel at walmart that is so strong the bottle is packaged inside a bag, and they advise to keep it inside the bag at all times. stated that it will breakdown ANY organic compound.
 
Originally posted by: silverpig
I had this problem too for a while. Then I realized the drain was clogged with hair. I just pulled it out and it fixed itself.
Click to expand...

same here, I had to untangle a bunch of hair that was stuck under the drain. That was the day I accepted my baldingness.
 
Just open up the drain and use pliers... takes no skill whatsoever, and only about 5-10m.
 
Just jam something down there to fish stuff out. I had this problem after a year at my apartment. My roommate removed the hairstopper because she was too lazy to pick the hair out each time after showering. I pulled the nastiest pile of hair out and holy our shower flowed like no other after that. I finished off with a ton of Drano and wowzas!
 
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