Filling shower tray All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[tom.wolstenholme]

I've just had a Quadrant steam/shower cabin fitted. When used the shower tray fills with water very quickly and then takes 6 minutes to drain away! The shower tray has it's own little trap and the plumber also fitted a u bend underneath the floor so the fall to soil pipe is steady but not steep. The manufacturer says the tray should not fill with water at all. What can be the cause of the water taking so long to drain away?

Since posting we have the two sinks also slow to drain and also siphoning before joining the same soil pipe which has had the vent removed!

[plumbbob]

Firstly, the tray should not be fitted with two traps, but either way, something is obstructing the flow of water and the pipework needs to be dismantled to ascertain what. The manufacturer is right, the tray should not fill with water.

My guess, and it is only a guess, he has reused the existing waste pipes without examining them for past build ups of gunk

[tom.wolstenholme]

He did remove a foil water pipe vent. Could this be creating a vacuum and then causing the shower and sink waste issues as they both feed into the soil pipe?

[plumbbob]

On the face of it, No. Poor flow is caused by, pipe bore too small, blocked or partially blocked pipe, incorrect fall or excessive length of pipe run.

Fitting two waste traps can cause an airlock and reduce flow.