Shower drain is clogged - Drano?

[ronhix]

The shower drain is clogged in my Dynasty.  Is Drano safe to use? 

 

[Clay L]

I have used it in my motorhomes for years with no problem, however I  dump and flush the grey water tank pretty quickly.

However often the clog can be removed manually if you can get the little grill off and use something to remove hair clogs which is what causes mine most of the time.
The grill in my present motorhome has a screw in the middle that removes the grill. As I recall the last one had to be pried off.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Any drain cleaner that is safe for septic tanks is OK to use. We've used them occasionally to clean out the inevitable hair clog.

You will hear people say that drain cleaners are bad for the seals in the tank drain valve, but that is merely conjecture.  I know of no reported case where drain valve failure was attributed to drain cleaners (or how you would prove that if it was). In fact, the drain valves are pretty hardy and failures are relatively rare anyway.

 

[dsolberg]

Your shower plumbing is PVC or plastic which most residential applications are going to these days, therefore your typical drain cleaner will work and have no damaging effects.  The big difference is the holding tank and the Velvac knife valve at the disposal point.  This is where there are rubber seals, however it would take a very long time for the small amount of drain cleaner diluted in the water to erode the seals.  If you flush the tank after using the cleaner, you won't have a problem.

 

[John From Detroit]

The one cleaner I'd avoid is the "Power stick" type, these are high pressure aresols, you put the can against the drain and give a gentle push and it wooshes  out gas under pressure to push the clog down into wider pipe (in theory)

Problem is... It can push connections apart just as easily.

Of course a plunger can do that too,  But the good old fashion plunger is my weapon of choice in most cases.

I even have a special plunger that I use on the main sewer line for my house (or rather used to, don't need it now)  This one is a 4" plunger with an 8 or 9 foot handle

 

[Marc L]

At home, I use baking soda and vinegar to unclog my drains.  I use her tweezer to pull most of the hair out of the drain (she really likes that, but it's her hair), then I drop about 1/4 cup of baking soda and 1/2 cup of vinegar.  I let it sit there for about 15 minutes then pour a kettle of boiling water.

 

[chickadee]

My neighbor (plumber) says to use clorox. Pour 2 cups at night, let stand all night. Should be done once a week.

Hate a slow drain 

Good Luck

 

[Shayne]

Just had that problem at home and took the VAnity Drain apart and cleaned the hair out  YUK  Works great now.  Didn't use any thing but hot water after that.  Took the drain apart the 2nd time to check.  Perfectly clean now      NO problem.

 

[Jeff]

If you have the flexible shower hose:

When our shower drain plugs up I find that I can almost always clear it by removing the shower head from the flexible hose and using the stream of water it  produces with the head off to blast out the hair. A minute or so and it is clear.

 

[ArdraF]

Ron,

Buy yourself some 10-12 inch tweezers.  I bought mine at Quartzsite at one of the el cheapo vendors.  Just pull the hair out.  Yucky but it works.  If you do it on a regular basis, it won't clog badly again.  I've never gotten it so bad we had to use anything to break it up.  Do the same thing with your vanity sink drain.

ArdraF
The long-hair girl

 

[ronhix]

Thanks for all the suggestions, some really good ideas.

 

[scottydl]

pour a kettle of boiling water.

This is all I've ever done, with ANY clogged household drain.  Boil a big pot of water, pour in a little bit of ammonia, and pour it (more like dump it, but CAREFULLY so boiling water doesn't splash on you) straight down the drain with the grate removed.  That should clear up just about anything without the use of messy/expensive chemical products.