My ridiculously horizontal pipes have finally succumbed to soap scum.

[RaisinsOfMildAnnoyance]

Mr Previous Owner Bodge-Job McGee had a soft spot for horizontal drainage pipes, and I've slowly been sorting them over the years. But now I can't ignore the non-draining bathroom sink and the creature from the slime lagoon that has taken residence in the horizontal length of pipe beyond a 90 degree bend and behind the false skirting boards.

Plumber wants £250. So does my bank balance.

What can I reasonably do myself to dislodge the gunk?! Help.

You could buy trade strength drain cleaner from screwfix or toolstation

If it’s draining at all you need really hot water and fairy liquid.

if it’s not draining stick a hosepipe down it.

I would try plunging it and also try boiling water.

Have you got the plunger thing like a huge syringe?

This. Bodge-Job McGee used to live at our house too.

Try bicarb of soda followed by white vinegar and leave to fizz for at least 5 mins. Then flush with hot water. That managed to unblock my outside kitchen drain

Soda crystals followed by a kettle of hot water.

Any chance you could replace the pipes yourself? Then the problem won't just come back.

Thanks all. I'm going back in today to take apart the pipes and clean them. Water is draining very slowly, worse than before I cleaned trap and pipes closer to the sink, so I assume I've pushed some of the gunk further down the pipes to join up into some super sludge. Wish me luck.

dons hazmat suit

We have a similar pipe that is from the shower and basin in a bathroom, so it gets slow to drain and the art is to act as soon as you notice it. I find that it helps to do something once a month, I try not to use the unblocking chemicals too often and go with the boiling water as much as I can.

Urgh, I feel your pain! We’re dealing with the same issue today. Bathroom sink is on an internal wall with almost horizontal pipes to the outside.

It’s been slowing up, but busy lives meant we kept meaning to deal with it but didn’t. Then yesterday it started backing up, dh had a poke about and disgusting black mouldy slime started coming up. Then it stopped draining completely so we had a sink full of vile, floating, gungy mould. Dh in his wisdom poked about a bit more and somehow managed to break the seal on the bottle trap, so then we had a mouldy flood as well.

I now have a very grumpy dh who has spent today taking the whole thing to pieces, cleaning it all out and fixing the trap. Not worth redoing the whole set up at this point as it’s all about to be knocked down as part of an extension anyway.

Ideally we would stop using liquid soap, but with a family member who has OCD and won’t touch bar soap, we don’t really have that option. We bought foaming dispensers, which means less soap is used per hand-wash and that has helped lengthen the time it takes between getting gunged up, but it’s far from ideal.

Yes, I'm sure it was the combination between horizontal pipes and liquid soap use. I cannot describe the hideousness of what I had to clean today.

Positive side is that it is draining a treat. (better fuckin had)

Negative side is the pipe connections have now started to leak. I bought new seals, for about £2, thinking I'd got a bargain compared to the plumbers quote from yesterday.

Strangely, the connections were still leaking. Giving up the job for the day, I wrapped a towel around the pipes, pushed the ceramic plinth back under the sink, and carried on with the original 20 minute job of cleaning the bathroom. Out of curiosity I tested the sink, and the towel isn't getting wet. All draining nicely and now magically watertight? The only thing I can think of is that the sink doesn't sit fully horizontal without the plinth underneath, so maybe the pipes are joined properly now that it is.

Absolute bodge job that entire setup. Including my towel hidden back there now.

I use enzyme tablets to try to keep on top of mine. They work in the saniflo, too.

@RaisinsOfMildAnnoyance dh ended up snapping some of the pipework, so had to replace half of ours anyway. We now have a lovely white plastic u-bend type waste on display, instead of the original chrome bottle trap, but, it’s working and flowing - for now!

He discovered screw fit pipes had been jammed into push-fit, which explains why it started to leak as soon as the pipes were moved.

@PickAChew Can you are recommend a brand of enzyme tablets to try please? Although I’m wondering if they would fit through a pop-up-plug?

Following with interest. We replaced a bathtub with a shower cubicle and unbeknown to me at the time, the builders used a horizontal drain pipe to channel waste water from the hole in the shower tray to reach the original waste pipe. It's a disgusting sludgy mess and needs cleaning every 2 weeks - soap scum, conditioner, body wash, hair, dirt... all just sitting there until i physically dislodge it 🤮

Oh goddddd trust me when I say every two weeks is better than years of sludge but it shouldn't be this hard surely. 🤯

I use these, @ErroneousEntity - you dissolve them in lukewarm water, first. I tend to buy them on offer and they seem expensive but work out a. Lot cheaper than Mr Muscle

https://delphiseco.com/products/copy-of-drain-cleaner-maintainer-tube-of-10?_pos=1&_sid=cea297759&_ss=r&gclid=CjwKCAjwkNOpBhBEEiwAb3MvvRC26tvnzwYCaH8Fwufsic6CsRyDCiZ9_5MXjcihXGSSu_SF0hT4jRoC5asQAvD_BwE

@PickAChew Thank you I will definitely give them a try.