Very slow flowing shower drain

FreshlyCutFlowers

Hello, as always thank to anyone who help people like without any experience, its really appreciated.

I took a shower and the drain had become very slow to drain. This happened once before and I then poured down some mr muscle which helped until now.
I then flushed the toilet after showering and noticed that the shower which still had a few cm of water in it, bubbled! The flush pushed water up the pipe into the shower (but luckily no human waste came up from what I could tell..!)

I waited until all the water went down the drain and then I put on my washing machine which also pushed (quite a bit) of water up the shower drain, it took ~5+ minutes for it to all drain down after the machine stopped.

I assume that my shower, toilet, washing machine and bathroom sink all join together to one sewer pipe and that there is a clog further down which causes water to pile up into my shower? If yes, is it correct that mr muscle etc wont help?

Should I get a plunger? I've read that plunging 'wrong' may cause damage to pipes or make the clog worse.

Any help appreciated.

Postik

Sounds like a blockage further along. I think sometimes the problem with chemicals is that they can heat up and damage pipework.  I'm also guessing whatever you put down is mostly sitting in the U-bends and perhaps not reaching the blockage until you flush more water down which will then dilute it.

I think plumbers use a long snake to go down the pipe and clear it out.  I think mechanical removal of the blockage is probably more effective and safer than chemicals but I could be wrong.

Ganga

Can you  or some one you know not lift the manhole /inspection lid off the drain outside and see if it is blocked.

CliveOfIndia

I have to agree with the previous 2 posters.  Over the years I've had a few blocked drains in various houses, and unless it's something simple like hair in the plughole, then lifting the manhole cover and seeing what's what is the best first port of call.  If you do see that it's blocked, very often half an hour spent with a garden hose - prodding, poking, flushing through, etc. - is all that's required.  Additionally, if you have any rodding points around the property, give them a good flush through as well.

Often this will do the trick.  If not, then you may need to either invest in a set of drain rods, or else call someone in.  But try the free DIY approach first !

This won't help, of course, if the blockage is somewhere between the "bathroom outlets" and the main sewer, but that tends to be unusual.  It's more common for there to be a blockage in the main sewer(s) somewhere, and this can often be shifted without too much difficulty.

Slinky

Whatever you do, don't use one of these. I had the brush end come off and get stuck in the pipe. We had to re-route pipework in order to not have to break tiles and get the blocked pipework out.  https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-pipe-drain-cleaning-coil-1-32m/65766?tc

badger09

Slinky said:

Whatever you do, don't use one of these. I had the brush end come off and get stuck in the pipe. We had to re-route pipework in order to not have to break tiles and get the blocked pipework out.  https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-pipe-drain-cleaning-coil-1-32m/

Screwfix must be monitoring this thread as that link gives a 404 Page not found error. 

People Power😂

Slinky

badger09 said:

Slinky said:

Whatever you do, don't use one of these. I had the brush end come off and get stuck in the pipe. We had to re-route pipework in order to not have to break tiles and get the blocked pipework out.  https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-pipe-drain-cleaning-coil-1-32m/

Screwfix must be monitoring this thread as that link gives a 404 Page not found error. 

People Power😂

Whoops, think that was me chopping the link https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-pipe-drain-cleaning-coil-1-32m/65766?tc

Brie

I think it's a combination of all the things that we drain away without thinking that cause blockages further down the line.  so whatever is in the toilet plus the hair from bathing plus the clogging from fabric softener etc in the washing machine and then of course all the grease and food that goes down the kitchen sink.  We may try to be good about it but it's impossible to screen out everything all the time.  

Normally we get a slow drain in the kitchen and put the chemicals down that but about once every other year the shower struggles and so that gets a dose instead. 

FreshlyCutFlowers

Ganga said:

Can you  or some one you know not lift the manhole /inspection lid off the drain outside and see if it is blocked.

CliveOfIndia said:

 then lifting the manhole cover and seeing what's what is the best first port of call.  If you do see that it's blocked, very often half an hour spent with a garden hose - prodding, poking, flushing through, etc. - is all that's required.  Additionally, if you have any rodding points around the property, give them a good flush through as well.

Thanks - I didn't realize this was a thing. I have a small rectangle metal cover outside near my bathroom, I assume this is the 'inspection lid'. It's a bit too late today but I will attempt to open it up tomorrow to take a look.

What can I expect to see? How will I know if its blocked?
I can try to use the garden hose for sure, not confident I can prod it with anything.. So is the idea to send whatever is blocking (if anything) further down? I don't want to extract it out?

jonnydeppiwish!

Slinky said:

badger09 said:

Slinky said:

Whatever you do, don't use one of these. I had the brush end come off and get stuck in the pipe. We had to re-route pipework in order to not have to break tiles and get the blocked pipework out.  https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-pipe-drain-cleaning-coil-1-32m/

Screwfix must be monitoring this thread as that link gives a 404 Page not found error. 

People Power😂

Whoops, think that was me chopping the link https://www.screwfix.com/p/rothenberger-pipe-drain-cleaning-coil-1-32m/65766?tc

These are normally really good. Did you turn them the wrong way?

Apodemus

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

Ganga said:

Can you  or some one you know not lift the manhole /inspection lid off the drain outside and see if it is blocked.

CliveOfIndia said:

 then lifting the manhole cover and seeing what's what is the best first port of call.  If you do see that it's blocked, very often half an hour spent with a garden hose - prodding, poking, flushing through, etc. - is all that's required.  Additionally, if you have any rodding points around the property, give them a good flush through as well.

Thanks - I didn't realize this was a thing. I have a small rectangle metal cover outside near my bathroom, I assume this is the 'inspection lid'. It's a bit too late today but I will attempt to open it up tomorrow to take a look.

What can I expect to see? How will I know if its blocked?
I can try to use the garden hose for sure, not confident I can prod it with anything.. So is the idea to send whatever is blocking (if anything) further down? I don't want to extract it out?

With the cover off, first question is are you seeing water filling up to the top of the chamber.  If so the blockage is further downstream.  You can then try poking a hose down to see if you can get it to bend down into the pipe and push the blockage, but that won't be easy, since you are working blind.

If you just see down to the bottom of the chamber, get someone to turn a tap on in the bathroom and see if you can see water flowing.  One of three things will happen - if there is no blockage, the water will continue to flow past the bottom of the chamber.  If the blockage is downstream of the chamber, then the water will start to fill back up towards you as you watch.  If the blockage is upstream of the chamber, you won't see anything, but the person at the tap will see the shower start to fill up with water.

If you are able to see the bottom of the inspection chamber, but it starts to fill with water when the tap is on, then try to push a hose down the end of the pipe where the flow was going before it backed up.

Depending where you live, it can often be worth getting the water company out to check the sewer.  In my experience the guy arrives with a van with all the necessary kit and will often clear your end of the blockage even though his responsibility is only to attend to the public sewer. Worst case scenario, he just says "not our problem", so nothing to lose in trying and he might at least diagnose the problem even if he doesn't clear it.