How to unclog a shower drain?

We just have to clear those clogs.

Aaron Barnett of BangingToolbox suggests: We’ve all been there before, a nasty pool of shower water unwilling to go down the drain causing a mess, and shortening your shower time.

Worst of all, puddles can leave a damp feeling and an unpleasant smell that can attract pests, mold, and bacteria.

Clogged drains can make our time in the bathroom a bit of a toe-drowning nightmare you could say.

Thankfully, clogged shower drains can easily be taken care of with a few simple DIY remedies by only using simple tools without the need to call a plumber most times if you follow my guide.

So if you still don’t know how to unclog a shower drain with standing water, keep reading down. But first, make sure that you turn the shower tap off!

Reasons why the shower drain becomes clogged

1. Residues/ buildup from shower products

Shower products such as soaps and shampoo can have grease or fat in them which combines with minerals in the water to form solid clumps.

These clumps mixed with hair can block out the holes of your shower catchment filter under the drain.

Too much build-up can rust your shower drain even if the base is stainless steelon the surface.

2. Falling hair

People can lose around 50-100 strands of hair every day so there is no surprise that hair can clog your shower drain.

Hair is also greasy which means that the strands can form clumps when mixed with water.

3. Lint

Bits and pieces of your clothes can rub off on your skin and can accumulate on your shower drain whenever you take a bath.

Washing your clothes in the shower also contributes to lint buildup.

4. Dirt accumulation

The stuff you wash off from your body while showering can simply overwhelm your shower drain given enough time.

Inspecting your shower drain

You can check whether or not your drain is clogged in many ways by simply looking inside with a touch or doing a simple flood test.

Just pour a large amount of water onto the shower floor and see how long the water takes to drain, the water should drain faster than a puddle can form.

Signs and symptoms that your shower drain is clogged

A clogged shower drain will have a significant buildup of gunk blocking the pipe. With a flood test, you would find that the water is not draining as well or not at all.

Some shower drains, especially point drains, include a removable cap and/or filter that collects residues and gunk for easy fast unclogging of the shower drain at this point.

What are the methods of removing clogs from shower drain?

1. First fix a block by hand

The simplest and easiest to remove accessible buildup is by removing the blockage without any tools.

First remove the shower drain cap to find the filter, which should be located directly underneath before the S bend. If there is no filter the blockage should be found floating in the s bend.

The simplest and easiest way to remove a blockage without any tools is to remove the drain cap and find the blockage on the filter and simply use your hands to remove the build-up of hair.

Remove the filter and give the filter a wash with the hose outside.

Once the filter is clean, you can reinstate the mechanism inside the shower drain, and re-install the stainless steel or plastic cap.

If the blockage is found to be deeper than the s bend or filter, proceed with the following steps.

2. Use boiling water

Merely pouring hot water can remove soap scum and other soft materials that clog the drainage.

If a drain is blocked by hair hot water may not dissolve the hair, but can dissolve the grime holding hair together in a bundle causing the blockage in a shower drain.

Pouring flowing hot water for a period on the spot is required to lose the grip.

3. Mix vinegar and baking soda

You can take your removal methods up a notch by using a non-toxic but effective mixture of household ingredients to help clear out blockages

4. attach a plunger

A plunger is not only helpful for unclogging toilets but drains as well.

This tool mostly works by forcing the blockage down and out the S bend in a drain by pure sucktion force and air pressure.

5. Make a hook from an old coat hanger

A simple hook made out of any metal wire (like a coat hanger) can also do the trick. 

6. Plumber’s snake

This one can be bought from hardware stores or rented.

A plumbers snake is a flexible tool that goes down the drain to either pull out or break down a drain blockage.

7. Chemicals

If all else fails, a strong chemical cleaner can be a sure-fire way of clearing even the most difficult of blockages.

Just be careful when handling chemicals to clean blocked drains and wear protective gloves.

First, remove the cap on the drain and remove what’s visible.

The first way to unclog hair from the shower drain is to remove the block by hand.

Before going into the methods below, use your hand first as your hand should solve most clogging problems 99% of the time.

As I said before, a lot of drains have a removable cap and/or a filter.

These are designed to collect gunk and hair buildup so you can easily remove the buildup by hand.

Poring chemicals or hot water down first could result in pushing the block past this layer of protection.

Pouring boiling water

When to use this method?

Use this method if you can’t see any visible blockages on the drain or if you can’t clear the blockage by hand.

This will soften the blockage and hopefully break everything down.

Usually, this does not solve clogged drains on their own but can make the succeeding methods easier.

What do you need?

• A pot of boiling water
• Kitchen gloves

How to use boiling water to unclog the shower drain?

Boil water in a pot and pour the H2O down into the drain. Be careful not to burn yourself from the hot steam and water splashes.

Hold the pot firmly so you don’t accidentally drop or spill the container.

Repeat this process two or three more times.

Using vinegar and baking soda

One of the ways to unclog a shower drain is using vinegar and baking soda.

Both vinegar and baking soda are two easily available household items that you should always have in your home.

Combined, these two make a great general-purpose cleaning solution and a great way to unclog a shower drain without using any tools.

This is effective for clearing out drain clogs without resorting to other chemicals because both vineger and baking soda are non-toxic and won’t damage plastic drain pipes.

How to remove clogs from the shower drain with vinegar and baking soda?

Get one cup each of vinegar and baking soda. Pour the baking soda first into the drain followed by the vinegar.

The solution inside the drain will then start to bubble. Let the solution sit for a couple of hours and then do a flood test to see if the problem goes away.

This is an effective way to unclog the shower drain with natural kitchen ingredients.

Using a plunger

A toilet plunger creates fast explosive pressure that can help break down blockages, or at the very least, pull the gunk closer so that the block gets within reach for removal.

The effectiveness of a plunger depends on what kind of buildup is clogging the drain.

For example, if the blockage is mostly made out of hair, the plunger will struggle to create enough pressure.

You also don’t want to make the blockade worse by compressing or pushing the block down more making grime deeper and harder to remove later.

How to unclog a shower drain with the plunger?

1. Place the plunger over the drain opening, making sure that the base is covered entirely.
2. Pour water into the shower basin to submerge the plunger and create a first class seal.
3. Vigorously and consistently plunge for a few minutes.
4. Do a flood test to see if this has solved the problem and cleared the block.

Tip:

If you need a tighter seal, you can smear a layer of petroleum jelly or Vaseline at the bottom of the plunger’s rim.

Remove clogs with a plumber’s snake

A plumber snake or drain snake is a flexible and retractable tool. And has a metal wire which can easily reach deep into a drain pipe no matter the shape or bends found to be hidden down deeper.

When using a snake to unclog a shower drain, a hand crank is turned which extends and retracts the metal wire depending on the direction. This metal wire then either breaks up the blockage or pulls it out.

The best way to unclog a shower drain is by using a plumbers snake, if all else fails, this method has a high success rate but is mostly not needed.

How to use a plumber’s snake to remove clogs from the shower drain?

1. Remove the shower drain plug or cover.
2. Insert the plumber’s snake into the drain and push the hose down until you reach the clog.
3. Turn the hand crank to extend the snake. This will tangle the wire with the blockage and help the snake hook onto the grime to pull the unwanted material out.
4. Turn the hand crank in the reverse direction to retract the metal wire.
5. Pull the plumber’s snake out of the drain. The blockage will most likely be pulled out easily.

Tip:

• You may have to push a little harder to get the plumber’s snake through bends, especially tight ones.
• Once you reach the clog, try to push on the resistance a little bit to either get a better grip or to break down and loosen the blockage.

An electrical plumbing snake.

Can a coat hanger or hook remove blockages from the shower drain?

If you don’t have any of the tools available like a plumber’s snake, a metal hook can do the trick.

You can fashion an improvised one quickly with a metal wire hanger from your closet and a pair of needle-nose pliers.

All you have to do is straighten out the hanger but keep the hook on top.

At the opposite end of the hook, bend the wire to create a handle. You would then use this to fish out and clear the blockages in your shower drain.

Using chemicals to unclog shower drain

If all else fails, dedicated liquid chemicals drain cleaners can be used. This method should only be used as a last resort because of the chemicals’ strong, toxic, and corrosive nature.

Chemical drain cleaners typically use a strong base or acid which can be hazardous so you need to take precautions and wear protective gear like gloves. 

If you don’t know what to pour down the shower drain to unclog the pipe, here are the chemicals to use:

• Oxidizing cleaners. This is similar to vinegar and baking soda which creates a foaming action that breaks down organic matter that’s blocking the drain. This is more potent than vinegar and baking soda but will still be slow at acting.
• Acidic cleaners.  If the blockage is mostly organic matter like hair, acidic cleaners are used for quickly declogging shower drains. These cleaners usually use sulfuric or muriatic acid to break down the blockage.
• Caustic cleaners. Made out of lye or potash – which are alkalines, caustic cleaners are used if the blockage is mostly made out of grease instead of organic matter.

How to use chemicals to unclog a shower drain?

Remove the shower drain plug or cover and pour the chemical down the drain.

The amount should be specified on the bottle.

Wait for 30 minutes then flush with hot water. Test to see if the blockage has cleared.

How to unclog a shower drain with bleach?

Bleach can also be used instead of chemical cleaners. Depending on the type, bleach can either be oxidizing, acidic, or caustic.

Common chlorine bleach, however, is caustic. To use bleach as a drain cleaner, pour bleach carefully into a cup then pour a bit down the drain. Wait for 15 minutes then flush the pipes with hot water.

Dos and don’ts when unclogging shower drain?

Dos

• Do try removing hair buildup and soap residues from the shower cap or filter first. This will save you a lot of time and effort.
• Make frequent use of the hot water method even if this does not completely unclog the drain the first few times. Hot water will help soften the blockage, making any removal easier.
• Do this earlier rather than later so that the blockage doesn’t become worse and harder to fix.

Don’ts

• Don’t forget to check the S-bend or trap directly below the shower drain. Most blockages accumulate there and simply clearing that out by removing it (if possible) unclogs the drain via unscrewing the S bend if you have access.
• Don’t use chemical cleaners often. Aside from health hazards, they are highly corrosive and can damage the plumbing in your home.
• Don’t use chemical cleaners if your home uses a septic system as this may kill the bacteria that break down sewage.

How to avoid future clogs and blockages in the shower drain?

Shave your head.

We know that shaving your head isn’t the preferred way to prevent future clogs, but shaving your head can help a lot to avoid showers from blocking.

As we’ve said earlier, every person sheds 50-100 strands of hair per day making for the most common culprit causing clogged shower drains.

If you are willing to, shaving your head will greatly prolong the time before you would need to unclog the drain again.

Use a filter system on the drain.

Some of the new drains usually come with some sort of filter system, but consider getting one if your drain doesn’t.

The filter is designed to collect hair and other culprits found to clog drains so that you can easily clean a pipe without the need for any of the other methods above.

When to call for plumbing services?

If all the methods we’ve shared above don’t work or if your drains clog a bit too frequently, plumbers might need to take a look.

This usually happens when the drainage system in your home has major issues and blockages that cannot be simply solved by the usual methods.

Other signs that you might have to call in a plumber are:

• Minor or major flooding
• Foul odors from the shower drain
• Gurgling sounds coming from the drainage system
• The surfacing of black sludge

Have you also got a stuck faucet handle? Click here.

Sometimes you can just DIY.