A blocked shower rarely happens overnight. It drains a little slower each week until one morning you are standing in a tray full of soapy water, the water creeps over the lip onto the bathroom floor, or it simply stops going down at all. Sometimes it starts with a smell or a gurgle from the plughole instead.
I have been clearing blocked wastes and drains in Ipswich for more than forty years, and the shower is the fixture I am called to more than any other in the bathroom. The good news is that most shower blockages sit within a hand’s reach of the plughole and can be cleared without any special tools. The thing most guides miss is that UK shower wastes are not all the same, and the way you clean a low-profile tray trap is different from a wet room gully or a bath with a shower over it. This guide covers all of them, plus the signs that the blockage is in the drain and not the shower at all.
Shower Not Draining? Do These 4 Things First
Turn the shower off and stop the water spreading
Turn the shower off, even if you are halfway through. Water that sits in the tray above the waste can find its way past the tray seals and through the ceiling below. If water has gone over the lip, mop it up straight away and put a towel along the edge.
Check whether anything else is slow
Run the basin, then the bath, and flush the toilet while someone watches the shower tray. If only the shower is slow, the blockage is in the shower trap or its waste pipe and you can usually clear it yourself. If the shower water rises when the toilet flushes, or other plugholes are slow too, the problem is further down.
Look at the manhole if more than one thing is slow
Lift the nearest manhole or inspection chamber cover outside. If it is full of water or waste, the main drain is blocked, and no amount of work on the shower will fix it. Stop using all water in the house and see whether a blocked drain is an emergency.
Do not pour anything down it yet
Hold off on chemical unblockers and kettles of boiling water. If the first simple steps below do not work, anything caustic sitting in the tray makes the next step messier and more dangerous, for you and for anyone who comes to clear it.
Is It the Shower or the Drain? The Two Minute Test
Every shower empties through a trap, a short length of waste pipe, and then into the soil stack or a gully, which joins the main drain that the toilet, basin, bath and kitchen use too. Where the blockage is decides who can fix it and how urgent it is. Find the row that matches what you are seeing.
| WHAT YOU SEE | WHERE IT IS BLOCKED | WHAT TO DO |
|---|---|---|
| Only the shower is slow. Basin, bath and toilet are all fine | The shower trap or the first metre of waste pipe | Almost always hair and soap. Lift the cover and clean the trap. Most are cleared in fifteen minutes. |
| Shower and the bath or basin next to it are both slow | The shared waste pipe where they join, before it reaches the drain | Clean both traps first. If both stay slow, the joint further along needs rodding with a drain snake. |
| Shower water rises when the toilet is flushed | The drain or soil pipe that the shower and toilet share | Stop using water upstairs and down. Lift the manhole cover outside. If it is full, the main drain is blocked. |
| Shower tray fills when the washing machine or dishwasher empties | The main drain, or a shared waste pipe on a ground floor | Pause the appliance. Check the manhole and the gully outside. This will get worse, not better. |
| Every plughole in the house is slow and the toilet gurgles | The main drain, the soil stack or the vent on the roof | Not a shower problem. Treat it as a blocked drain and look at the manhole. |
| Shower in a basement, garage or wet room with a pump | The shower waste pump, or its non-return valve or filter | Check the pump has power and listen for it running. If it hums but nothing moves, switch it off and call. |
Know Your Shower Waste Before You Start
Most of the frustration with a blocked shower comes from not knowing how the waste comes apart. Look at the plughole and match it to one of these.
Shower tray with a round domed or flat cover
The most common type in UK homes. The chrome or white cover either lifts straight off, pulls off with a firm grip, or is held by a single central screw. Underneath is a plastic trap body, and on most modern trays there is a removable insert, often a cup or a short tube with a handle or two lugs, that lifts or twists out so the trap can be cleaned from above. Hair wraps round this insert and round the central post, and that is where nine out of ten shower blockages are.
Low-profile and slimline trays
Trays that sit almost flush with the floor have very shallow traps with a small, tight bend, because there is little room under the tray. They block faster than older, deeper trays and their water seal can dry out more easily. Many have a cleaning insert that twists out a quarter turn. Do not force anything in these: the trap is often glued into the tray and cannot be reached from underneath without lifting the tray.
Wet rooms and linear drains
A wet room has a square gully or a long channel drain in the floor. Lift the grate and there is usually a hair basket or a removable trap insert below it. Clean the basket and the insert, and always put the insert back exactly as it was. Without it the gully has no water seal, so drain smells come straight into the room, and with it fitted wrongly the floor can flood.
A shower over the bath
Here the shower drains through the bath waste, which is usually a click-clack plug, a pop-up plug worked by a lever, or a plain plug and chain. Hair collects on the underside of the plug and on the cross bar below it. Most click-clack plugs unscrew anticlockwise once they are in the open position. A bath also has an overflow, which you must block when you plunge it.
Showers with a waste pump
Showers in basements, garages, loft rooms and some wet rooms sit below the level of the nearest drain, so a small pump pushes the water away. If the tray suddenly will not empty, check the pump has power at its switch or plug. Many pumps have a filter or hair trap that needs cleaning. If the pump runs on but the water does not move, or it hums without starting, switch it off at the isolator so it does not burn out, and call a plumber.
How to Unblock a Shower Drain: 7 Methods in the Right Order
Work through these in order and stop as soon as the water runs freely. Wear rubber gloves: what comes out of a shower trap is not pleasant. Test with a bucket of warm water poured into the tray, not with the shower, so you can stop straight away if it backs up.
Lift the cover and pull out the hair
Remove the cover or grate. If it is screwed down, use the right screwdriver and keep the screw safe, as they love to drop down the waste. Pull out the hair and soap you can see with a gloved hand or an old toothbrush. This alone clears most showers.
Take out and clean the trap insert
If your waste has a removable insert, cup or dip tube, lift or twist it out and clean it in a bucket, not the basin, or you will block that next. Scrub the inside of the trap body with an old bottle brush, check the O ring on the insert is in place and undamaged, and refit it firmly.
Use a plastic drain hair grabber
A long, thin plastic strip with barbs along both edges costs a couple of pounds from any DIY shop. Push it down past the trap, twist, and pull it out slowly. It reaches the clump of hair that sits just round the bend where your fingers cannot.
Plunge it properly
Use a small cup plunger, not a toilet plunger. Leave enough water in the tray to cover the cup, and if the shower is over a bath, hold a wet cloth firmly over the overflow so the pressure goes down the pipe and not out of the overflow. Give ten to fifteen firm, straight up and down pushes, then pull away sharply. Repeat two or three times.
Hot water and washing up liquid
Squeeze a good amount of washing up liquid into the waste and follow it with a bucket of hot tap water. This softens soap scum and body oils so they move. Use hot, not boiling. Boiling water can craze acrylic and stone resin trays, soften the plastic trap and loosen glued and push-fit joints.
Use a hand drain snake
A small hand auger with a cable of three to five metres will reach past the trap into the waste pipe. Feed it in slowly, turning the handle clockwise, until you feel the resistance of the blockage, then keep turning and push gently through it. Pull it back out slowly with a bucket ready. Do not force it round a tight bend in a low-profile trap.
Try an enzyme cleaner, not a caustic one
If the drain now runs but slowly, an enzyme or bacterial drain treatment left overnight will help break down what is left of the soap and hair coating the pipe. It works slowly and is safe on plastic pipes and trays. If you have tried everything above and the shower is still blocked, the problem is further along the pipe, and it is time to call a plumber.
Why I Would Avoid Chemical Drain Cleaner
Shop bought drain unblockers are usually strong caustic soda or sulphuric acid. They can work on a thin film of soap, but on a solid mat of hair they often just sit in the tray, and then you have a blocked shower full of corrosive liquid. They can dull or etch acrylic, stone resin and enamel finishes, attack rubber seals and the O rings in the trap, and splash into eyes when you plunge afterwards. If you have used one and the shower is still blocked, do not plunge it and do not use a snake. Tell whoever comes to clear it exactly what you used, as some products react dangerously with each other.
What Is Your Shower Telling You? Blocked Shower Symptom Finder
When somebody rings me about a shower that will not drain, the first thing I ask is what else is happening. Find the row that matches. The last two columns show whether it is usually something you can sort yourself, and how quickly it needs dealing with.
| WHAT IS HAPPENING | LIKELY CAUSE | WHO FIXES IT | URGENCY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water pools round your feet and takes a few minutes to go | A mat of hair and soap scum caught in the trap or on the cover. The most common shower blockage by a long way. | Often a DIY fix | Within days |
| Water does not go down at all | The trap is packed solid, or something has dropped into it: a bottle cap, a razor guard, a child's toy. | Often a DIY fix | Within days |
| Slow even after the trap is spotless | A blockage further along the waste pipe, a pipe with too little fall, or a vent problem. | Usually a plumber | Within days |
| Gurgling from the shower when it drains or when another fixture is used | Air being pulled through the trap by a part-blocked pipe, or a missing or blocked vent. | Needs checking | Within days |
| Bad smell from the plughole | Rotting hair and soap in the trap, or a trap that has dried out because the shower is rarely used. | Often a DIY fix | Fix when you can |
| Dirty or brown water coming up into the tray | The drain the shower empties into is blocked. Other fixtures are pushing water back up the shower waste. | Usually a plumber | Act today |
| Water rising when the toilet flushes | A blockage in the soil pipe or main drain below the point where the shower and toilet join. | Usually a plumber | Act today |
| Stain or drip on the ceiling below the shower | Water standing in the tray above the seals, a leaking waste joint, or failed silicone round the tray. | Usually a plumber | Act today |
| Wet room floor flooding beyond the shower area | The gully trap is clogged, or its removable insert has been left out or fitted wrongly. | Often a DIY fix | Act today |
| Pumped shower: water sitting in the tray and the pump running on | A blocked pump filter, a stuck non-return valve, or a failed waste pump. | Usually a plumber | Within days |
Water Coming Up the Shower When You Flush the Toilet
This is the one that catches people out. The shower is often the lowest plughole on a floor, so when the drain below is blocked, water from the toilet, basin or washing machine takes the easiest way out, which is back up through the shower waste. You might see clean water rising first, then grey, then brown, and hear gurgling from the plughole.
The shower is not the problem, and clearing its trap will not help. Stop flushing and stop running water anywhere in the house, then lift the manhole cover. If the chamber is full, the blockage is downstream of it, in your drain or the shared sewer. If the chamber is empty, the blockage is between the house and the chamber, often in the soil stack or the underground pipe. Either way it needs rods or a drain machine. The outside drain overflowing guide explains who is responsible for which part of the drain, and why a toilet gurgles covers the early warning signs.
Can a Blocked Shower Drain Cause a Leak?
Yes, and it is one of the most common causes of a water stain on a kitchen or living room ceiling. A tray is designed to have water running across it and away, not standing in it. When the waste is slow, water sits against the silicone round the tray and the joint between the waste and the tray for minutes at a time. Any small gap that would never have mattered now lets water through, into the floor and onto the ceiling below.
A blockage also puts the waste joints under the tray under strain, because the water backs up in the pipe. If you have cleared a blocked shower and notice a brown ring or a damp patch on the ceiling under the bathroom, stop using the shower and get it checked. A leak under a tray is hidden, and it can rot joists and floorboards long before it shows. My guide to water leaking through the ceiling covers what to do if it is already dripping.
Why Does My Shower Drain Smell?
A shower trap holds a small amount of water to stop drain smells coming into the room. If the trap is coated in rotting hair and soap, the trap itself smells, and you will usually notice the shower draining a little slowly too. Cleaning the trap cures it. If the shower is rarely used, the water seal can evaporate, especially in a shallow low-profile trap, and let the drain smell straight in. Run the shower for a minute every week or two. If the smell comes back within hours of running water, or you can smell it elsewhere too, see what a sewage smell in the house means.
Is a Blocked Shower an Emergency?
Call a plumber straight away, day or night, if:
- ●Dirty water or sewage is coming up into the shower tray, bath or wet room floor.
- ●The shower fills when a toilet is flushed or the washing machine empties.
- ●The manhole outside is full, or more than one fixture in the house is blocked.
- ●Water is coming through the ceiling below the shower, or near lights or electrics.
- ●A shower waste pump has stopped and the tray is full, or the pump is running and will not stop.
- ●It is the only shower or toilet in the house and someone vulnerable needs it.
A shower that drains slowly but does drain, with everything else in the house working, is not an emergency. Clean the trap, and if that does not cure it, book it in within a few days before it blocks completely or starts leaking. If you are not sure, ring me and describe it. I will tell you honestly whether it can wait. You can also read what affects the cost of an emergency plumber.
What Not to Do
- ✕Do not pour boiling water into an acrylic or resin tray. It can craze the surface, soften the plastic trap and loosen joints. Hot from the tap is enough.
- ✕Do not mix drain chemicals. Two different products, or bleach and an unblocker, can react violently and give off dangerous fumes.
- ✕Do not plunge after using chemicals. It sends caustic liquid back up at your face.
- ✕Do not keep showering into a slow drain. Standing water finds every weak spot in the tray seals.
- ✕Do not force a snake or a wire through a tight trap. It can crack the trap or push through a joint, and many shower traps cannot be replaced without lifting the tray.
- ✕Do not leave the trap insert out. The drain smell will come straight into the bathroom, and some wastes leak or flood without it.
- ✕Do not wash the hair you pull out down another plughole. Bag it and bin it, or you will be unblocking the basin next.
Rented Homes and Who Pays
If you rent, your landlord is usually responsible for the drains, the waste pipes and the shower itself. Day to day care, like clearing your own hair from the plughole and the trap, is normally the tenant’s job, and if a blockage is plainly caused by something being put down the drain, the landlord may ask you to pay for clearing it. A blocked drain outside, a slow waste that keeps coming back after the trap is clean, or a leak through a ceiling is the landlord’s to fix. Report it promptly and in writing.
If you own the house, home insurance does not normally pay for clearing a blockage, but many policies cover the water damage it causes, such as a stained ceiling below. Some home emergency policies cover drain blockages. Photograph any damage before you clear up.
How to Stop Your Shower Blocking Again
- ●Fit a hair catcher. A simple silicone or stainless steel catcher over the plughole stops most hair before it reaches the trap. Empty it after every shower.
- ●Clean the trap every month or two. Lift the cover and the insert and rinse them. It takes five minutes and stops a blockage ever forming.
- ●Brush long hair before you shower. Loose hair that comes out on the brush does not end up in the trap.
- ●Run hot water after each shower. A minute of hot water with the head pointed at the waste helps flush soap and oils through.
- ●Go easy on oils and thick products. Bath oils, coconut oil and heavy conditioners coat the pipe and catch hair.
- ●Never rinse paint, grout, plaster or sand down the shower. They set in the trap like concrete.
- ●Run rarely used showers weekly. It keeps the water seal full and the smell out.
Blocked Shower in Ipswich? Call Philip
If your shower will not drain and the steps above have not shifted it, or dirty water is coming up the plughole, call me. I carry hand and power drain snakes, plungers and drain rods on the van, so I can clear the shower waste and, if it turns out to be the main drain, the drain outside on the same visit. You will get a clear, fair price agreed before I start, and if a trap, waste or seal needs replacing, a free, no-obligation quote.
I cover Ipswich, Felixstowe, Woodbridge, Kesgrave, Martlesham and the surrounding towns, and I answer the phone myself, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on 07977 857224. For shower, bath and basin wastes, see our blocked sink and waste pipe service. If the problem is the main drain, see drain unblocking. If there is a stain on the ceiling below the shower, our leak detection service will find where the water is getting out. Or see everything else on the emergency plumbing services page.
