A Common Shower Problem…

Season changes mean more shedding for women (and men) with long hair of almost any type. While it might feel relieving to free all those excess tangles after letting your conditioner set in, your pipes are certainly not thanking you. If you’re beginning to feel a rising water level after letting your shower run for a few minutes, or, if it’s bad enough that you’re getting no drainage at all, it’s time to start thinking about removing some excess fur.

A Bit about What’s Underneath

Though it’s fairly well-known, we’ll reiterate here to help everyone best understand the issue. Drains are composed, in part, by “traps” just below the trim plate in your tub or shower, either in the shape of a ‘P’ or an ‘S’ most typically, depending on the location and configuration of your bath. This shape allows for a pocket of freestanding water to seal the pipe in one area, ensuring no hazardous (or otherwise bad smelling) gases from the sewage system can escape back toward you – in other words, “trapping” those sewage gases safely away.

Why the Flooding?

Whichever way your trap is shaped, those sharp turns make it difficult for more solid waste to get through, which, in turn, makes it difficult for liquid to get past the solids. A clogged toilet occurs when solids are so large and dense that they cannot run through the pipe. Such issues can usually be dislodged with a plunger. Hair is more resistant to such a solution, as it is not one compact mass, but rather an accumulation of light fibers. Also, a bath drain does not have the bowl shape a toilet inherently creates which best provides the suction a plunger must employ. Yet still, not unlike a toilet clog, the hair has created a solid (albeit lightweight) seal in the trap and isn’t letting water pass through.

Call the Plumber

If you’ve tried to take matters into your own hands by purchasing a snake from your local hardware store, and the snake only pulls out a small bit of hair, the problem could be either much deeper into the drain, or some other buildup entirely.

Your plumber will have a long auger, and many other useful tools, at their immediate disposal. Calling them will be faster, easier, more efficient, and more reliable than trying to get a serious clog out on your own. In some cases, it might even be more cost-effective. Contact us at The Plumbing Guy if we can help you with a bad clog, in and around the Peoria area!

For all the plumbing advice you need on a regular basis, we’d love for you to visit our website.  Be sure to check out the blog, as we update regularly. It’s our pleasure to help you to learn more about your plumbing and hopefully save you some plumbing troubles in the future!