Shower Drain Clogged

[rudyvanallen]

Hi all,
I am a newbie here.Does anybody have any experience unclogging drains.My shower drain is clogged. I am not a huge fan of chemicals. I have a two year old kid and I don’t like to leave anything harmful lying around. I went online to search for any diy methods to unclog drains. I found an article from brothers plumbing that mentions 6 easy ways to unclog a drain and I think that the steps are pretty easy to follow.Some of them include poring boiling water into the clogged drain and some include using a mixture of baking soda and vinegar.Are these methods effective has anybody ever tried them?
Thanks

[JimK-NY]

If you have a two year old, you really need to think about how to store detergents, medicines and all sorts of potentially hazardous stuff. I would put drain cleaner in that category. Look at every item even those with child proof containers.

Personally I don't see any good substitute for drain cleaner. After a while every drain seems to develop a build up of oils, hair and other particles. Drain cleaner will take care of the build up. Other methods typically just work for the short term. BTW, drain cleaner is not especially hard on the environment. It is basically just lye and is readily neutralized.

[Bob_Vaughn]

My wife washes her hair every night so over time hair clogged our shower drain, I popped the little cap off and low and behold hair had clogged it....I cleaned out the hair and wammo it started to drain like new, so your culprit may just be a hair ball.

[Gene_Ginny]

gbopp wrote:
..If it's a lot of hair causing the clog, you may need to use a ZIP IT or something similar. ....

That ZIP IT looks handy. I used a piece of stiff wire with a hook bent into the end.

[NanciL]

Can't you get at it ?
On mine I can just take a little door off and take the trap apart

Jack L

[NYCgrrl]

gbopp wrote:
I use baking soda and vinegar. Pour the soda down the drain, push it if necessary, and follow with vinegar. Repeat if needed and rinse.

Works nicely at home as well. All my piping is metal (by local code no plastic piping allowed) so I too prefer not to use anything that can be too corrosive. I do the treatment once a month just to be on the safe side and also use strainer baskets in all my sinks and bathtubs. Hate when the plumber comes in, does 20 minutes of preventable work, and I have to plunk down $200.00

[lanerd]

With the zip-it, you have to be very careful if your shower drain is equipped with a duck-bill one way valve instead of a p-trap. The zip-it can damage the duck-bill and then tank odors will come out of the drain. not good!

Ron

[fla-gypsy]

Toddupton wrote:
X2 on making sure the gray tank is not full before doing anything else.

X3

[Toddupton]

X2 on making sure the gray tank is not full before doing anything else.

[Murphsmom]

We use the ZipIt in our S&B, and the amount of hair mixed with soap scum that comes out is amazing. It works far better than drain cleaner or even the little yellow plunger...we tried both of those.

[TenOC]

Are you sure you holding tank is empty? The shower in my TT is the low point on the drain system. I use a small helper for my kitchen drain. I think I got it a walmark

[gbopp]

I use baking soda and vinegar. Pour the soda down the drain, push it if necessary, and follow with vinegar. Repeat if needed and rinse.

If it's a lot of hair causing the clog, you may need to use a ZIP IT or something similar. You can get one at any hardware store, Lowe's, Homedepot, etc..

[Jebby14]

your link is gone but as long as you are gentle I cant see why a normal drain eel wouldn't work?