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Have you noticed the water at the base of your shower isn’t draining properly? This is likely a sign that there is a blockage. Below we’ll discuss how plumbers clear a blocked shower drain.
How a plumber clears a blocked shower drain depends on where the blockage is located in the drain and also takes into consideration whether the building is on stumps or is on a concrete slab.
Firstly, the blocked shower may only be in the grate or trap (or S bend as clients can call it) area. In this case, a plunger may be all that is required to remove the blockage. The plunger may also be helpful on a blockage in the shower drain. When using a plunger, there is no guarantee on how well it has cleared the drain, except to simply turn on the shower and see how the water gets away. It is a good idea to have several buckets of water prepared to quickly pour down the drain to give the shower a stress test. This is good to do particularly if the shower is on a slab, and is difficult to access.
A tip for plunging a shower; use a cup plunger or fold the flange into the plunger and ensure the plunger keeps a tight seal against the floor of the shower when plunging.
If there is access under the building, then the trap may be able to be removed and cleaned out. It’s also possible that there may be inspection openings in the drain to allow small drain cleaning cables to be run through the drain. These cables can either be hand operated or be driven by a machine and work to clear the drain from any blockages. Small drain cleaning cable machines are good for clearing waste pipes between basins, sinks, baths, showers etc. and the sewerage drain.
Water jet machines with a normal or a whip hose are a great option to clear blocked showers. They have the ability with their forward and rear jet to pull the hose through the drain and thus allow the plumber to extract any hair or build up out of the drain. This type of machine (and the aforementioned small cable machine) are best used by a licensed plumbing professional such as the plumbers from O’Shea Plumbing who can help you clear your blocked drains in Melbourne.
Ridgid micro cameras are also good, depending on the job to inspect the drain to see where the blockage is and to check how successful the unblocking process has been.
If you would like to learn more about how plumbers unblock drains, read our blog about it HERE.
If you’re experiencing a blocked shower drain or another plumbing issue, contact the professionals at O’Shea Plumbing on (03) 9888 2887. We’ll come running!