How to clear shower drain clog?

[frannn]

Our shower has a clog that refuses to give in. We have tried Drano, shop vac, and a drain snake (1/4 in 25 ft). Last time this happened we called the plumber and he had it fixed in about 10 min with a drain snake...and we were 150 poorer. Our snake effort brought up a teeny bit of hair, and the drain doesn't start backing up until about 60 seconds of a light-medium stream of water. I'm thinking maybe we need a new snake- maybe a longer one or one 1/2 in? Our home is 80+ years old, and I'm not sure how thick the bathroom pipes are. DH is the handiest one in the house & that's not saying much, LOL... Just don't have 150 to give to a plumber every time DDs clog up the drain with their Chewbacca hair

 

[stsomewhere]

We live in an old house,too. My husband,s grandfather told us to use hot water.

When our tub blocked, we ran our garden hose from the basement utility sink to the main floor bathroom. We stuck the hose into the drain. We wrapped a towel around it to make sure no water could come back up. My husband held it in place and we ran hot water threw it. It took a few minutes but it pushed the clog through. It needed the hot water and pressure.

The water was very hot and he said that his hands felt like they were burning.

Good luck

 

[kymom99]

My husband is pretty handy and he usually finds something at the hardware store to try before we call for help. One time he bought some kind of thing that pushed the clog on through. Kind of like the poster above suggested-pressure. Try going to Lowe's or somewhere like that and see what they recommend.

 

[Firefly09]

one trick that always worked for me when I had long hair was to use boiling hot water after the Drano. And I don't mean turn on the faucet because it starts out cold right? I boil a pot of water (large pasta pot) and pour that in after letting the drano sit for 20 minutes.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

This is the plunger we use
http://www.lowes.com/pd_153332-319-...L=?Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

first boil a big pot of water and pour down the drain wait 2 minutes then plung


Then to maintain the drain I always boil a pot of water and pour half down the drain. Then dump some baking soda and vinegar down the drain wait a minute or two, then pour the other half of the pot of boiling water. I do this about every 6-8 weeks.

I always do this in the kitchen sink especially after a big holiday meal

 

[starwart]

If you can pull off the drain cover do it. Then put on rubber gloves and pull out those hair and gunk. You can also buy a plastic drain snake. It is about 1-2 feet long and has several "teeths" just like a saw. This will help you pull out all those gunk. No chemicals needed. Works all the time for me.

 

[tvguy]

Go to the hardware store and buy a bottle of Rooto.
It is sooo powerful, it comes in a plastic bag to prevent spills.

I had an impossible clog, it dissolved it on contact. I poured it in the drain, heard a plop, and the clog was gone.

 

[wiigirl]

If you can pull off the drain cover do it. Then put on rubber gloves and pull out those hair and gunk. You can also buy a plastic drain snake. It is about 1-2 feet long and has several "teeths" just like a saw. This will help you pull out all those gunk. No chemicals needed. Works all the time for me.

 

[RMAMom]

Go to the hardware store and buy a bottle of Rooto.
It is sooo powerful, it comes in a plastic bag to prevent spills.

I had an impossible clog, it dissolved it on contact. I poured it in the drain, heard a plop, and the clog was gone.

This.
I am not sure if its the same brand or not but my DH buys it in both lowes and home depot it is sold in the plumbing section. Basically its acid that will eat your clog and not you pipes. Our stores here sell several different brands and my DH buys the one in the white bottle with red lettering and yes they do come in a clear plastic bag.

BTW we also live in an 80 year old house.

 

[chris31997]

Baking Soda, Vinegar, and hot water to wash it down with. But cover the volcano so it goes down the drain.

You can also see about getting a finer screen to go over the drain to catch more of the hair that way the "clog" is easier to see and remove

 

[Sadie22]

If you can pull off the drain cover do it. Then put on rubber gloves and pull out those hair and gunk. You can also buy a plastic drain snake. It is about 1-2 feet long and has several "teeths" just like a saw. This will help you pull out all those gunk. No chemicals needed. Works all the time for me.

This is the maintenance you need to do periodically. Also, it is possible to teach your family members with long hair to collect the hair and dispose of it in a waste can rather than down the drain. Brushing and combing before the shower is a good habit to develop.

 

[kim929]

I unfortunately had to deal with this..yuck. I buy this drain stuff from home depot or Lowe's it's acid based you do have to be careful when pouring it but it works amazing.
I believe this is it.

It's from Lowe's. Pequa heavy drain cleaner. 9.99

 

[tina.tina]

My dad just gave up his plumbing license due to disability but the acid drain cleaner (called hot power at our local store) is what he recommended to me when we were going through this a few years ago.

On a regular basis washing soda works well to keep ours clean.

 

[Fire14]

I have done the "saw snake thing with great luck. and the plunger works pretty darn good too. I bought a drain screen type thing at dollar tree to catch my hair and that's helped a lot.

 

[Sagginit]

Go to the hardware store and buy a bottle of Rooto.
It is sooo powerful, it comes in a plastic bag to prevent spills.

I had an impossible clog, it dissolved it on contact. I poured it in the drain, heard a plop, and the clog was gone.

this stuff is amazing! when i moved into this apt. our shower kept getting backed up. my landlady got this stuff as a cheap fix before a plumber. it did the trick. we used the rest of the bottle a few times over the next few months and we have been good to go since then.

i also have long curly hair and shed a lot. i collect it on the walls and then throw out, i also do a quick comb through before the shower. we have a plastic thing too that goes over the drain cover with super tiny holes. sometimes the water backs up a bit but worth it.

i did see the make drains now that collect the hair inside and have a metal chopper to chop up the hair and then wash away. i can't install this though so i have no idea if they wrok.

 

[LJSquishy]

On such an old home you may need to have someone come out and snake the line or hydrojet. If drain cleaner and a snake isn't helping, you probably have a bigger issue.

We just went through the same thing on our 1905 home. The tub was draining slowly so we used the plastic teeth tool to pull out a clump of hair (I have long hair and shed a ton). It fixed the problem for a day. The following day it was slow again and I noticed the toilet didn't seem to be flushing as well. We called Roto Rooter and they tried snaking the line but it didn't work so they suggested doing a camera inspection to find the problem...our pipes were too gunked up so they did hydrojetting along with inspecting with the camera every few feet. Turns out there was no formal clog or roots in the pipes, just years of gunk in the sewer line. We're all clear now.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Our shower gets really bad clogs. The only thing that works is heavy duty drain cleaner from the hardware store. I've learned to bypass anything at the supermarket and any of the name brands (Drano, Liquid Plummer, etc.). They don't even touch the clogs. The hardware store has the really heavy duty stuff in a different section near the plumbing repair supplies (not in the household cleaner section). The stuff I get comes in a yellow bottle. I dump the whole bottle down the drain, leave it overnight, and then flush with hot water. You need to wear gloves when pouring the stuff. I also keep my face on the other side of the glass shower door and reach around to pour it. You don't want that stuff in your eyes!

 

[gunka]

If its just hair stuck in the drain - try "Zip It". It's a very cheap plastic tool and can pull hair out without having to disassemble anything. It also works on bathroom sinks that have the same problem.

 

[pixiewings71]

This is the plunger we use
http://www.lowes.com/pd_153332-319-...L=?Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

first boil a big pot of water and pour down the drain wait 2 minutes then plung


Then to maintain the drain I always boil a pot of water and pour half down the drain. Then dump some baking soda and vinegar down the drain wait a minute or two, then pour the other half of the pot of boiling water. I do this about every 6-8 weeks.

I always do this in the kitchen sink especially after a big holiday meal

I was going to suggest the water, baking soda and vinegar as well. With an old house you may have some really old pipes so you want to be careful. My Dad's house (the house I grew up in, Dad lives there now) was built in the 1890's, this is what he always used because he was always careful with the pipes.
I have really long hair too, I clean the drain regularly but still get clogs.

 

[jdcthree]

I would try a longer snake. I've had the problem several times and it's always a huge wad of my long hair stuck in the pipe. I've used Draino, other chemicals, baking soda and vinegar, the zip-it tool mentioned, boiling water, and the snake. The snake works the best. I bought a drain cover with much smaller holes and haven't had a problem since.