Yahoo Answers is shutting down on 4 May 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

clogged shower drain?

I asked this question before but the advice did not help me much.

I live in an apartment and my shower drain has been clogged for a long time. The water would slowly fill the tub and now it's at the point where the water will not go back down at all. The drain is very small and I cannot find a pipe that goes down. I used a snake but it just went up to that water catcher (those things that stop your tub from overflowing. I have no idea why they made it like this but it's impossible to find the lower pipe where the water goes. A lot of people told me to use baking soda and vinegar and after a box of baking soda and four liters of vinegar it was a fail. It just foamed like crazy and went up the pipe. I unscrewed the catcher to see if there was hair, and there was nothing. The drain looks like this one.

http://i.ehow.co.uk/images/a04/ir/c1/installing-sh...

Any other ideas? Are there any good products I can try? snakes will not work. If I cannot fix it in the next day I am phoning the company to come and fix it. I just hate that idea though because it will take them several months to come (I picked a really bad renting company).

5 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favourite answer

    You say that your tub is clogged up. If you snake through the drain, the snake hits a "tee" fitting and heads up toward your overflow "water catcher". What you need to do is remove the cover of this overflow and run the snake down into the main drain through this opening (not through the bottom drain). This will carry the snake down into the trap, which is likely where you clog is located.

    See the photo in the link below. Best of luck!

  • 1 decade ago

    The first thing you should try is to unscrew the metal strainer and try to get better access to the drain. Usually hair can get clogged up around the piece in the pipe designed to hold the strainer in place. The second thing you can try is to run you tub long enough so there is roughly a foot of water in it, and then use a plunger to clear the ubstruction. The trick using the plunger is to take a towel and firmly cover the over-flow drain up higher on the tub wall. If you don't do this, the air/water you are forcing with the plunger will just come out threw there. If neither of those work, you are pretty much stuck calling a plumber to have it professionally taken care of.

    Source(s): Have same issue at my house.
  • ?
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    this is the reason bathe drains clog - that's often a hair and cleansing soap curd clog. oftentimes, there's a strainer over the drain. you will possibly need to get rid of that. Then use a dose of Crystal Drano. Crystal Drano heats up while it hits water. Down via the catch, the water would be pretty much to the boiling factor, and the water would be *churning*. between the components in Crystal Drano occurs to be sharp shards of aluminum. Aluminum is in simple terms too soft to wreck steel drains, yet boy, it optimistic does a variety on that hair and those cleansing soap curds. If that doesn't artwork, do no longer repeat. The water is already very alkaline, and so it won't warmth up the 2nd time like it did the 1st. At this factor, you will possibly desire to get a snake from the ironmongery keep. The bacteria on your drains varieties a matrice that covers the graceful partitions of your pipe, and that's how how clogs get a foothold. in case you unload a great variety of *scalding* warm water down each drain on your place, a week, you at the instant are not likely to ever get a clog, when you consider which you will kill all the bacteria off. this is the reason at the back of that previous merchandising slogan, "as quickly as a week, Drano in each drain." Crystal Drano heats the water as much as scalding and kills the bacteria. (while they first presented that slogan, Crystal Drano develop into all that they had. Liquid Drano got here later.) you're able to do an identical ingredient for much less money and much less injury to the ecosystem in case you in basic terms carry a huge pan of scalding warm water from the kitchen selection to each and each drain. or you could in simple terms use Crystal Drano, for the income.

  • 1 decade ago

    Before you start sticking things down your pipes I would go to your local supermarket or hardware store and buy the granules that you use to unclog drains with.

    You might need to use it 2 or even 3 times but this really should work without you having to do much else. I use them once a year on all the drains in my house and the water always flows freely.

    Be aware though that the chemicals are very strong in these products and you might want to put some rubber gloves and protective eye wear on while you are using them. Apart from that they are very simple to use.

  • 1 decade ago

    You might try getting some muriatic acid, but be cautious. Get as much of the water out that you can before pouring it in the drain, understanding you don't need much. Let it sit. You may need to call someone. When its clear, if you aren't already using liquid soap, get some.

Still have questions? Get answers by asking now.