Slow draining shower waste

[Crunchynut]

Just as a slight aside in case it helps others.
 

With the original problem of hair/soap blocking the trap exit, I have found the best approach is to remove the dip tube (as you eventually did) and then rather than start pulling strands of hair etc out, instead get some long nose pliers, grip the first strands and start to twizzle the pliers and so wrap the hair etc round them. This way you grow an increasingly strong grip on the offending mass, which could be a good few inches long, which is steadily pulled out. The alternative method of just pulling out what you can reach can result in having no strands left to pull on, but the mass is still there.

[Pocster]

I had a tenant with really long hair constantly blocking the shower waste . She would complain ; say the shower was crap etc . 
I told her to shave her head .

[Nickfromwales]

6 minutes ago, pocster said:

I had a tenant with really long hair constantly blocking the shower waste . She would complain ; say the shower was crap etc . 
I told her to shave her head .

I went to one student let with 3 girls with hair down their backs ( no @pocster, just no ).

I swear the offending hair 'ball' I pulled out was actually a dead otter. The girls only complained when they showered and the water got to the shower door and flowed over the top and then into the kitchen downstairs. I asked if they thought they should have stopped using it sooner and they just looked at me as if I was from a different planet! The kitchen ceiling had been soaked so many times it was actually drooping and breaking. This was a brand new refurbished HMO and they ruined it.

Moral of the storey, choose your shower trap well, and your tenants even better  

[Pocster]

3 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

I went to one student let with 3 girls with hair down their backs ( no @pocster, just no ).

I swear the offending hair 'ball' I pulled out was actually a dead otter. The girls only complained when they showered and the water got to the shower door and flowed over the top and then into the kitchen downstairs. I asked if they thought they should have stopped using it sooner and they just looked at me as if I was from a different planet! The kitchen ceiling had been soaked so many times it was actually drooping and breaking. This was a brand new refurbished HMO and they ruined it.

Moral of the storey, choose your shower trap well, and your tenants even better  

Also , don’t shave pubic hair in shower - right folks 👍

[Nickfromwales]

ffs 🤦‍♂️

[TonyT]

4 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

I went to one student let with 3 girls with hair down their backs ( no @pocster, just no ).

I swear the offending hair 'ball' I pulled out was actually a dead otter. The girls only complained when they showered and the water got to the shower door and flowed over the top and then into the kitchen downstairs. I asked if they thought they should have stopped using it sooner and they just looked at me as if I was from a different planet! The kitchen ceiling had been soaked so many times it was actually drooping and breaking. This was a brand new refurbished HMO and they ruined it.

Moral of the storey, choose your shower trap well, and your tenants even better  

4 way upstand to help contain the dam😁

not that would have helped if they aren’t bright enough to realise the initial problem

[Nickfromwales]

1 minute ago, TonyT said:

4 way upstand to help contain the dam😁

not that would have helped if they aren’t bright enough to realise the initial problem

It had upstands, as I never fit anything less with students (aka dimwits) in the mix. The water was up over the frame of the cubicle and overflowing onto the bathroom floor all the time they were using it, so nearly 3" of water in the tray, and they carried on getting in/out, one after the other, stepping into the soup the last user had left behind 🤢🤮

[Pocster]

21 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

ffs 🤦‍♂️

Oi ! Why change that word to ‘folks’ ?

ffs !

 

from twitter 

 

We lost Rik Mayall, The People's Poet, OTD in 2014. The Young Ones was a quantum leap in comedy back in 1982, and my inner 11 year old loved every second of it. Rik was an incredibly talented comedian and actor, we were lucky to have him. Right Kids?

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by pocster

[Pocster]

13 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

less with students (aka young adults) in the mix.

 

[Nickfromwales]

Stop chopsing, and PLEASE go and put some clothes on.

[SteamyTea]

6 hours ago, pocster said:

We’ve all been there …

While making the classic donkey sound.

[SteamyTea]

3 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

I pulled out was actually a dead otter

Not a beaver then.

 

 

[Adsibob]

Trying to bring the discussion back on topic, I checked the way I had reinserted the drain, and it’s possible I hadn’t replaced Everything exactly at it was; but at most we are talking about 1mm of difference. I pushed the drain piece down by that 1mm and have now been running the shower hose directly into the drain for 5 minutes, to see if I can recreate the leak. Nothing. Very odd.

 

 So either that 1mm difference in the position of the second item (the little 9cm tube) made a difference, or the leak is coming from elsewhere. I guess to see if it’s coming from elsewhere, I need to hose the edges of the shower area, and not just run the shower directly into the drain. But I’m too scared!

[Russdl]

47 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

I need to hose the edges of the shower area, and not just run the shower directly into the drain. But I’m too scared!

You need to do it.
 

There’s almost certainly an issue somewhere and you need to find out where in time for the snagging. 

[Adsibob]

Okay, so I did it, only for three minutes, but flow rate is pretty high, so easily 45L or so. No leak. Maybe it was that 1mm difference that caused some water to travel like this:

 

The leak was pretty tiny, we are talking no more than 30 to 50ml of water after a 8 minute shower. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Adsibob

[Nickfromwales]

If so, then you defo need to get the builders to correct this!! You should be able to disassemble everything 'user' and have no bloody leaks WHATSOEVER.

[Adsibob]

17 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

If so, then you defo need to get the builders to correct this!! You should be able to disassemble everything 'user' and have no bloody leaks WHATSOEVER.

So is it a case of asking the builder to put some sealant somewhere to prevent that 1mm of movement making any difference? If so, the million dollar question is where?

[Nickfromwales]

Just now, Adsibob said:

If so, the million dollar question is where?

I'm afraid not.

 

The £2m dollar question is HOW?

[dpmiller]

I'd put money on the top weld of the housing having a crack in it

[Nickfromwales]

9 hours ago, dpmiller said:

I'd put money on the top weld of the housing having a crack in it

Would be a good guess, seeing as it took so little to provoke this into leaking.  

[Adsibob]

21 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Would be a good guess, seeing as it took so little to provoke this into leaking.  

The leak is back. Will speak to builder about this tomorrow. Worst case scenario, will the wet room need to be broken up and re-tiled, or can it all be redone via cutting into the utility room ceiling?

[Big Jimbo]

If it is the water trap then it should be fixable from below. (Hole in the ceiling)

[Pocster]

I wonder if it’s one of these cheap traps . When I installed my shower tray no matter how hard I tried the supplied trap leaked . Ordered a new ‘better’ one and could tell instantly as I installed it what a better fit it was . Not leaked since . All traps are certainly not born equal .

Edited May 30, 2023 by pocster

[Adsibob]

10 hours ago, pocster said:

I wonder if it’s one of these cheap traps . When I installed my shower tray no matter how hard I tried the supplied trap leaked . Ordered a new ‘better’ one and could tell instantly as I installed it what a better fit it was . Not leaked since . All traps are certainly not born equal .

Any recommendations as to what to look for - what makes a trap apparently “better”, as opposed to actually better which would only be determinable after years of leak proof service.

Edited May 30, 2023 by Adsibob