Boiling water and plastic pipes

bristolmike · 26 February 2017 at 1:10PM

Our shower has been a bit slow to drain recently. My partner is very averse to using harsh chemicals so decided to pour a kettle of boiling water down the shower drain. We have plastic pipes and I understand she may have done some damage. How likely is it that this might cause a problem, and if it did, how soon would we be likely to know about it? The shower is a cubicle and there is a removable panel giving access underneath if needed, although if it's done damage to pipes further down the system it is a bit of a worry to think about what fixing it might involve.

London50 · 26 February 2017 at 1:20PM

bristolmike wrote: »

Our shower has been a bit slow to drain recently. My partner is very averse to using harsh chemicals so decided to pour a kettle of boiling water down the shower drain. We have plastic pipes and I understand she may have done some damage. How likely is it that this might cause a problem, and if it did, how soon would we be likely to know about it? The shower is a cubicle and there is a removable panel giving access underneath if needed, although if it's done damage to pipes further down the system it is a bit of a worry to think about what fixing it might involve.

I would not worry, we have used boiling water to help waste pipe problem many times without having any adverse effect either on the pipes or the joints.
Plastic piping these days is manufactured to stand up to rough/boiling treatment {unlike back in the mid 60's where the glues used to join the pipes could {and did} cause problems

RainbowLaura · 26 February 2017 at 1:36PM

Oops sorry wrong thread, entered in error.

andyhop · 26 February 2017 at 2:08PM

Basic UPVC plastic waste pipes are designed for 60 ish degrees. Constant higher temperature than this will cause the plastic to go brittle and warp.

Marley sell high temperature waste pipe for high temps

bristolmike · 26 February 2017 at 3:41PM

Thanks for the replies folks. The drainage hasn't been quite right since we had the shower installed about six months ago tbh, but I thought it was due to the decorative domed cover over the waste, it was always fine as long as we showered with that off. Starting to worry that there's something up with the piping as we now get an inch or so of standing water when we shower, which drains within a minute of the shower being switched off. We do take very long showers and it's still never been anywhere close to overflowing or anything, but it is getting worse :S

SuzieSue · 26 February 2017 at 5:23PM

bristolmike wrote: »

Thanks for the replies folks. The drainage hasn't been quite right since we had the shower installed about six months ago tbh, but I thought it was due to the decorative domed cover over the waste, it was always fine as long as we showered with that off. Starting to worry that there's something up with the piping as we now get an inch or so of standing water when we shower, which drains within a minute of the shower being switched off. We do take very long showers and it's still never been anywhere close to overflowing or anything, but it is getting worse :S

Have you tried using a plunger, (although you need to be careful as someone on here said using a plunger caused a leak but I think that is very unusual)?

I use one of these every few months (I have a large one for the kitchen sink and a smaller one for the shower):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0001P0F4A?!!!!!amz-mkt-opr-uk-21&ascsub!!!!!1ba00-01000-org00-def00-other-nomod-uk000-pcomp-feature-scomp-wm-4

bristolmike · 26 February 2017 at 5:41PM

No we've not SuzieSue, will give it a go and see if we have any luck with that. We do have a hair trap which sits inside the drain though, which gets cleaned every week or so, and I'm not sure what could get past that. I suppose soap scum might be the culprit. Cheers

Mojisola · 26 February 2017 at 5:44PM

bristolmike wrote: »

The drainage hasn't been quite right since we had the shower installed about six months ago tbh, but I thought it was due to the decorative domed cover over the waste, it was always fine as long as we showered with that off.

Did you talk to the plumber who installed the shower?

SuzieSue · 26 February 2017 at 6:09PM

bristolmike wrote: »

No we've not SuzieSue, will give it a go and see if we have any luck with that. We do have a hair trap which sits inside the drain though, which gets cleaned every week or so, and I'm not sure what could get past that. I suppose soap scum might be the culprit. Cheers

You'd be surprised. Probably TMI but I get black rubbery bits about the size of a 10p piece coming up and they certainly didn't go down there because I use one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tala-Stainless-Steel-Strainer-Silver/dp/B004KLU6I6

bristolmike · 26 February 2017 at 6:10PM

We didn't contact him no, because initially we assumed it was the design of the drain (the domed cap) which was remedied by removing it when showering. But now it's a problem even when the cap is off. It's been worse within the last week or two. Would it be too late to call him back now? It was fitted mid October.

bristolmike · 26 February 2017 at 6:18PM

Yes that looks as effective as ours SuzieSue, so we will def try your advice. Would 5-6 months be enough to cause a blockage like that? Also we started using bar soap instead of gels following the new shower (no particular reason) and the cubicle gets a lot more scummed up than previously. Could this make a difference?

Boiling water and plastic pipes

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