You would notice the warning signs—water pooling around your feet, the sink taking it a little longer to drain, and strange and unpleasant odors—these things tell you that you will be facing a clogged-drain problem sooner or later. And then it happened, and you need to deal with it quickly or else suffer more serious issues, such as a burst pipe, not to mention a useless bath. Now, remember that liquid plumbers will not be of any help when you want a quick solution to a clog, so what should you do? Here are ways to unclog a shower drain without chemicals:
Cleaning the Pipe
Unlike other types of plumbing work, de-clogging a shower drain is just easy to do—you can just clean the pipe! Underneath the U-shaped pipe, which is located beneath the sink, place an empty bucket to collect the spilling water. Use a wrench to loosen the slip nuts at both ends of the pipe and remove it. Then, turn the pipe upside down in order to empty its contents into the bucket, where you may also need to insert your finger into it to find some debris. Free it up of some gunk with an old toothbrush, rinse it, put it all back together, and you are done!
Using a Bent Wire Hanger
Though it sounds very simple, it is surprisingly effective! Get a wire coat hanger, straighten it out and then bend one end over in order to create a small hook. Push it past the cover of the drain and start fishing some debris, particularly hair and other nasty stuff out of the hole. Take note that you should be pulling these things out and not pushing them down farther. After you removed as much debris as you can, run the drain with hot water to clear things up.
Using a Wet and Dry Vacuum
Do you have a wet and dry shop vacuum? Good! You may not know it, but it is a very handy tool in unclogging drains. Set it to vacuum liquids and cover its vents up to avoid making a mess. Also, you need to improvise the tightest seal to use over the drain, an old plunger head perhaps? All things set, turn the vacuum on its highest setting to ensure it is powerful enough to suck up the clog.
Using the Drain Snake
Though it is a fairly low-tech piece of equipment, the drain snake can work wonders in removing clogs from shower drains.
Pouring Some Boiling Water
Nothing gets easier than this. Just boil up as much water as your kettle can hold and pour it slowly down the shower drain 2, 3 or more times, allowing the hot water to work its magic for a several seconds after each pour. Most of the time, this is the quickest and easiest way to unclog a shower drain.
There you have it! You can now unclog a shower drain without the use of those chemicals.
