DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

first of all i'd better describe the layout of my bathroom, the waste pipe starts at the shower, into the sink and then into the downpipe. The problem im having is the shower takes an eternity to drain away and when the sink is emptied the water backs directly back into the shower (the distance between the shower and sink is some 15 feet of pipe whereas the distance between the sink and the downpipe is only 2)
Ive had a garden hose down the pipe to see if its blocked and i can get it all the way into the downpipe itself.
Sometimes plunging helps for a short while, even if it still takes a long time to drain, just not as long as before.
This all started literally overnight. Cant figure it out, anyone got any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Check the fall on the waste pipe, does it fall away from the shower towards the outside wall ?
Does the pipe sag ? this can be caused by not having enough clips on the pipe,

if all the above seem ok, then there's a blockage. Hair and soap etc can block the pipe, the hose pipe may go straight through the blockage.

thanks for the reply, i checked the pipework running from the shower to near the sink and found it to indeed go down towards the outer wall but the drop reduces until nearly horizontal as it approaches the sink. I cant drop it anymore due to the fact ive only six inches of height to play with, (without ripping up floorboards) and with a 15 ft length of pipe, thats not much of a drop.
Ill have a go tomorrow at cleaning again with a caustic soda solution and post my findings.

ok, tried caustic soda to no avail, i really dont think theres a blockage, ive tried nearly everything now, just cant understand why one day it was ok the next it went like this.

ok, today i capped off the pipe that led from the shower to the sink so that the only way water could travel from the sink would be to the soil pipe. Filled up the sink and pulled the plug out, the water drained away VERY slowly which makes me think that maybe the soil pipe is blocked, trouble is its internal and also cast iron, the pipe runs through the roof so is it known for anything like birds to trap these up?

Sound like your soil pipes is blocked.

Same happened to me, not so long ago. The shower backed up. My soil pipe is also cast iron and internal. Hope its not the same for you but it turned out my drains had collapsed under the house and drive, so had to dig up and repair. Not a very nice job.

What you need are some drain rods, and a ladder. Climb up to the vent (roof) and rod down over - to clear any blockages, do not rod up from the main drain as you will just push the blockage further up.

The worst thing for blocking drains especially toilets are those fresheners that hang on the toilet rim, have you lost one lately ?

Alternatively get a drain clearing company out, like dynorod or someone.

Hope this helps

Sorted!! pipe was blocked at the junction on the soil pipe. Bought one of those bendy 15ft rods with a spring on the end and put that down, when I hit what I thought was the back of the soil pipe I kept going at it for a while until "thump", something gave way and i travelled all the way down. Whatever it was was pretty big and quite heavy but at least its shifted now thank god!

Thanks for your help and advice! :)