Shower Not Draining — What to Do Right Now
A slow shower drain is almost always hair, soap and skin residue in the trap. Quick to clear if you catch it early — get us in before the water starts standing above the tray.
Make it safe — before anything else
Skip the caustic 'plughole unblocker'
Sodium hydroxide damages shower-tray seals, chrome and skin — and it sits waiting in a blocked trap for whoever unblocks it. Bad idea in a shower.
Wear gloves for hair removal
Hair-and-soap-scum plugs are unpleasant but harmless. Nitrile gloves and a plastic snake — job done in five minutes if it's a shallow blockage.
Never bail into another sink
You're just moving the same water to the same drain system. Bucket, out to a garden drain if you must move it.
Check the ceiling below
Slow drains sometimes mean an overflowing tray between uses. Look at the ceiling below the shower for staining before it becomes a ceiling leak.
What Kevin (our AI) will check first
Message Kevin and he'll ask exactly these questions before we send an engineer, so we bring the right parts on the first van.
- Wet room with a linear drain, or a shower tray with a chrome grille?
- Any smell coming up from the drain — hair-and-soap, or foul/sewage?
- How old is the shower — original build, or a recent replacement?
- Basin and bath in the same room draining normally, or all slow together?
- Any evidence of ceiling staining in the room below?
Common causes of a shower not draining
Hair and soap scum in the trap
Number-one cause. Builds a dense plug in the shallow shower trap. Clears with a hook, tweezers or a plastic drain snake.
Limescale in the trap and waste
Hard-water areas — including much of Greater Manchester — scale up shallow traps within 3 – 5 years. Descaler or a fresh trap fixes it.
Blocked waste run under the tray
The 40mm waste run to the soil stack can silt up. Rodding from the trap end, or from the wall inspection if fitted.
Blocked or collapsed shared drain
If basin, bath and toilet are all slow too, the shared branch is the issue, not the shower waste.
Poor original fall / trap install
New wet rooms with insufficient fall to the trap cause chronic slow drainage. Sometimes needs the tray re-set — a specialist job.
Honest cost band — why we won't quote blind
Typical
£85 – £180 for a hair-and-scum trap clear
Complex
Waste-run rodding or trap replacement £180 – £360. Re-setting a wet-room tray for fall £480 – £1,200+.
A hair plug and a poorly installed wet-room tray are very different jobs. £50 diagnostic gets you a written fixed price for the real cause.
Fixed £50 diagnostic
Flat fee. No hourly meter running.
Fair quote or refund
Transparent pricing — refunded if we don't fix it.
Vetted UK engineers
DBS-checked, insured, real reviews.
AI-triaged in seconds
KJ chats first so the right engineer arrives.
Related emergencies
See all in the emergency plumbing hub — or the leaks & water damage hub.
Areas we cover for shower not draining
Same-day across Greater Manchester and Rochdale.
Shower not draining — FAQs
Dealing with a shower not draining? Chat with Kevin now
Real triage in seconds. £50 diagnostic visit — refunded if we don't fix it.
Related hubs: emergency plumbing, leaks & water damage, all services.
Chat with Kevin about Shower not draining