Plumbing help needed asap

[Gemma Paine]

Hi. New to this forum so bear with me.
My shower is backing up every time I use it. The only way to get rid of the water is to use a plunger a couple of times and then the water flushes out with no problem. The shower runs into the stack pipe which we have checked and the pipes are clear of blockages. The sink gurgles when you use the plunger so we thought it maybe this pipe but the shower pipe runs directly into the stack so this should not be an issue??. Once the plunger has been used and some of the water drains away it just backs up again. We have now changed the shower trap thinking it could be that but to no avail. I now have run out of ideas completely. Does anyone know what is going on??? Thank you in advance

 

[townfanjon]

Sorry Gemma , you have a blockage somewhere, when you are plunging you are just probably moving the blockage but not clearing it

 

[gmartine]

Probably a hair blockage...you could try a chemical drain cleaner like "One Shot", careful with it.

 

[sammathias]

Your sink drains ok?

 

[Gemma Paine]

I've tried all the drain blockers under the sun but none have solved the problem. When alot of water is drained down the bathroom sink it bubbles up into the shower.

 

[Gemma Paine]

We have pushed a hose pipe down tge shower drain pipe into the stack and it is clear too.

 

[townfanjon]

A few more .......Does your toilet flush ok ? Does the pipe leaving the shower trap “fall” towards the soil pipe ? Do you have an internal soil pipe ?

 

[rpm]

Is the shower on the ground floor or upstairs. House or flat?

 

[sammathias]

Has it always happened?? And have you tried proper drain unblocker like one shot...which is only really sold to plumbers thesedays.

 

[rpm]

Please be very careful and keep arms and face away from the waste when using chemical cleaners mixing different chemicals without flushing through with enough water can cause two different chemicals to react badly. Fully open all windows as well.

 

[Gemma Paine]

My bathroom is upstairs in my house. It has only really started happening over the last few months and it has just got a whole lot worse. The 'fall' of the pipe is very slight. The stack is internal and the vent is in the loft. However there seems to be 2 stacks (please see picture). The toilet seems to flush absolutely fine.

 

[SimonG]

The one with the flexi is probably an extractor fan.

 

[steadyon]

The one with the grey plastic top - the top is an air admittance valve (looks like a Polypipe one). If this has stuck, it will create a partial vacuum when water goes down the soil pipe. With a shallow fall this may be enough to stop the flow.

Next time it happens, don't plunge it, but tap / take off the air admittance valve. If it then drains normally replace the AAV.

 

[richard978]

just keep plunging while the shower is running, you may be able to suck up the offending stinking hair ball up. If you have a house full of women like me then you get used to removing large volumes of rotting hair from shower traps. For some reason women like to brush their hair in the shower......

 

[Stigster]

The one with the grey plastic top - the top is an air admittance valve (looks like a Polypipe one). If this has stuck, it will create a partial vacuum when water goes down the soil pipe. With a shallow fall this may be enough to stop the flow.

Next time it happens, don't plunge it, but tap / take off the air admittance valve. If it then drains normally replace the AAV.

I wonder how they got on? Hopefully they'll come back. I reckon you have the answer with it being a jammed AAV.

 

[Gemma Paine]

Hi. We have removed the aav but the issue is still happening. We now think it may be a build up of scale in the pipe so are going to try and jet the pipe and see if this helps. Thank you to everyone who has responded though x