Any tips for blocked shower drain?

[ChristmasBlu123]

I've tried drain unblocker solutions from shop and then vinegar and baking soda, but nothing's working. When I have a shower it's taking over an hour to drain.

Has anyone any other tips?

Something like this to unclog it. Then some of the gel drain cleaners to clean the pipe walls. You may need several treatments for that.

Old fashioned plunger.

drainweezle is the only thing to get the clog of hair out

Is there not a shower trap you can remove to clean it out? Can you post a picture of your drain.

Otherwise you can use something similar to what a pp had posted

Tech Traders High Pressure Drain Toilet Plunger with 2 Interchangeable Heads,Plumbers Plunger is Easy to Maintain, Suitable for Toilet BathTub Shower etc https://amzn.eu/d/cBjjSly this sort of thing is pretty good. I also replaced the hair catcher, the one that came with the shower wasn’t catching anything and causing it to block all the time

LEKEYE Drain Hair Catcher,... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QMVWCQG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share one of the best things I ever bought

Plunger or if you think it’s purely hair squeeze some cheap hair remover cream down the plug hole and it should dissolve enough to clear.

You just need one of those long bendy wires with a small brush at the end (get it from your local DIY shop). Stick the brush end down as far as it will go, wiggle it around, pull it up and be grossed out.

Don’t people use plungers anymore?

internal drain snake from Amazon for a few quid - the satisfaction of seeing a big plug of hair come out is rather special

Tomario Stainless Steel Kitchen Sink Strainer Plug, Standard Strainer Drain Protector Hair/Food Catcher for Bathroom, Kitchen, Shower (External Diameter 7cm, Inner Diameter 3.3cm, Pack of 2) https://amzn.eu/d/gC5bw63

we have something like this which catches all hair, we empty it most days

If it’s hair clogging it then one of those snake things works but be prepared to be horrified by the horror movie looking foul smelling slimy hair ball that will come up. It will make you heave!

Is it at enough of an angle to drain properly? My bathroom sink has level pipes for a fair distance as it's been placed against an internal wall and the fitter didn't have a clear understanding of the role gravity plays in draining water.

We had a sink that was draining slower and slower over time, as well as a mysterious odour, and in the end I had to remove several lengths of pipe in order to manually clean them out. The sludge that had built up over the years was more hideous than can possibly be imagined.

I'm sure the same problem will happen again, but for now the drains work fine. And no smell.

Moral of the story - 45 degree angled pipes are your friend.

Definitely get something to stick down and hoik up the gross stuff.
You might be able to fashion something of you have any wire so you don't have to buy a gadget.
If it's hair you need to drag it out.

I have one of those snakes but am unable to locate the outlet with it

Can you take a picture of your shower drain?

It will be full of hair and conditioner which goes all gunky
You need to pull all that out - can you take apart the trap? Or get a hair remover thingy
I do mine every two weeks or so and the stuff that comes out is so gross!!

Pick up sone caustic soda from b & q. Add sone to a bucket of cold water, let it react, then pour down the drain. Keep skin covered/glives/mask etc.

You need to take the trap apart if it has one. Take off the cover....this is the bit that sits on top. Or over the whole thing. Then there should be some plastic to twist a tiny bit and then pull up. That bit stops the smells coming back from the drain.....so the stench at this point might be foul. Now you can start to clear the gunk and yuck. Be creative with your choice of tools.

Yup. This. I clean the shower trap every week and retch every time. I cope really well with bodily fluids - cleared up vomit at work last week with no reaction at all - but the shower drain is repulsive.

I fashion a very unscientific tool for actually getting the drain unblocked straight into the pipe.

Like a pp said the builder of my shower was clearly deficient in some way as the pipe is both horizontal AND does a 90 degree turn at the end which is also level.

I have a drain snake but don't have much luck removing stuff with it although it does seem to do a small amount of good!

I cut a long narrow triangle from a plastic bottle, feed the narrow end into down into the pipe entrance and tip the drain cleaner slowly down that after I've attacked it with the drain snake.

I have long hair and shed like a Shetland in spring so I've also made a hair catcher that gets put under the plug hole thing when I wash my hair. also unscientific as it's a cut up lingerie wash bag 😂

Diagram because this is Mumsnet

This is the design of mine. Both parts come out of the shower floor and the the bit with the silver cap can be taken apart with a Phillips screwdriver to get all the hair and crap out

Something like this, with ratchet teeth down the side. Down the drain, back up, drags the hair out. Do it regularly. No nasty chemicals, but you will probably gag!

Don't shave your legs, use veet or something similar. We don't get hair clogs any more... unless the dog gets showered off... then it's Mr Muscle drain unblocker in the orange bottle.