As a homeowner, you must have realised that drains keep clogging up if you do not take good care of them. Shower drains, in specific, can easily get clogged if there is a lack of proper care. By proper care, we mean not letting unwanted waste enter the drains.
The most common culprits of clogged drains are hair, soap suds and other bath products, dirt and grit. With simple care, however, you can steer clear of these plumbing issues. What’s the necessary routine care for shower drains, and how can you unclog them?
This blog post is divided into three sections—causes, remedies, and preventions. Read till the end and learn how to take proper care of your shower drain. If not, they can get turn into bigger problems which need the assistance of a plumber in Caroline Springs.
Let’s begin with the causes of shower drain clogs.
What Causes Clogs in Shower Drains?
Knowing the cause of a problem is essential to find the solution. A shower drain can get clogged due to the buildup of several types of waste.
- Tangled long hair
- Soap scum
- Grease and sediment buildup
- Dusting rugs and other items
- Showering when you’re covered in sand (e.g., after a beach getaway)
Over time, these things naturally accumulate, coagulate, and cling to the walls of the pipes, eventually causing a blockage that affects the flow of water.
How to Clear a Clogged Shower Drain?
Unless the clog is deeper and more stubborn, you can clear it yourself with the following simple methods. Thus, don’t rush to call your plumber before trying these out!
1. Use a Bowl of Boiling Water
Some clogs can be easily removed with some boiling water. If the block is mild, meaning the water is draining but dead slowly, you can pour a pot of boiling water down the drain. These mild clogs usually form because of soap scum and other gunk. Thus, boiling water should dissolve them immediately.
If it doesn’t work on the first try, repeat it another couple more times.
Caution: Use a funnel to avoid backsplashes and burns.
2. A Drain Snake
A plumber’s snake, also commonly referred to as a drain snake, is a flexible, retractable drilling instrument you may purchase at any hardware store. This is, in fact, a must-have item in your home for such plumbing emergencies.
You will shoot a metal wire down your drain using the snake’s hand crank to either break up or remove the obstruction. There are also disposable plastic snakes that don’t require any cranking. The jagged teeth of the snake dislodge the obstruction and pull out the waste.
This is one of the organic methods to clear a shower drain clog. Also, remember to clean your drain snake after every use.
3. Make a Homemade Drain Cleaner
We have many chemical drain cleaners from different brands. However, as the name implies, they are full of harmful chemicals. That is why we recommend trying all organic methods before resorting to chemicals.
One organic method of clearing a clog is using a natural cleaner. It is homemade and, thus, doesn’t harm the environment or the pipes. You can create it by combining one cup of baking soda with one cup of vinegar (distilled white vinegar works best).
First, pour some hot water down the drain to loosen the obstruction. Then add the baking soda-vinegar solution and wait 15 minutes. After, use some more hot water to rinse the clog down.
4. Try the Plunger
This may not be as efficient as the others, but still worth a try if the clog isn’t deep. First, apply petroleum jelly on the plunger seal to create a strong seal. Make sure to run a sufficient amount of water to completely immerse the plunger for optimum suction.
It should work fine for any minor clogs.
5. Use Chemical Cleaners
As said before, chemical cleaners are harmful to pipes, but not when used in moderation. Hence, when the clog is deep and none of the other methods works, try a good chemical cleaner. Moreover, some cleaners nowadays are made with gentler formulas, so you might as well pay attention to what product you are buying.
Caution: Be mindful of the frequency of the usage of chemical cleaners. If it’s too often, they can damage your pipes, especially if they are old.
How to Prevent Clogs in Shower Drains?
Do you know what’s better than finding remedies? Prevention. If you can take necessary precautions even before a clog occurs, you wouldn’t have to worry at all.
Here are three ways you can prevent a shower drain clog.
- Add a drain cover: Almost usually, hair snags are the reason for clogged shower drains. A simple rubber or plastic drain cover is an affordable solution to collect any stray hair after every shower.
- No Dusting: It may be tempting to shake a rug into the shower and wash it away, but bigger particles of dirt and debris can gather and worsen blockages later on.
- Regular Cleaning: Include drain cleaning in your cleaning regimen. Keep a bottle of baking soda or distilled white vinegar in the bathroom and after every few showers, pour a small amount of one or both down the drain. Then blast some hot water down it.
Final Say
Not every block needs a plumber. You can clear some of them yourself. When you notice a block or slow draining, try the listed methods to try to unclog the drain. If none of these work, the problem might be something else and bigger, which requires your 24/7 Emergency Plumbing Services.
Thus, it’s a great help to keep a plumber’s contact to reach out during emergencies. NLK Plumbing is an efficient provider of both residential and commercial plumbers.
We hope you found everything you need to know about clogged shower drains. Bookmark this post for future reference.
