How to clear a slow or blocked shower drain

A shower that leaves you standing in water is almost always blocked by hair bound together with soap and shampoo residue. The good news is that most shower wastes are designed to be cleaned from the top, and the blockage is usually within reach.

What is under the grid

The waste is the outlet in the shower tray or floor, with a grid or cover on top. Underneath it is a trap, which holds a little water to stop drain smells coming back into the room. Shower traps come in a few common designs:

• Removable dip tube or hair catcher. Under the grid is a plastic tube or basket that lifts out. Many standard shower tray traps work this way. This is the easiest to clean.
• Fast flow wastes with a removable cover. Common on modern low-profile trays. The cover lifts or unscrews to reveal a cup or insert.
• Wet room and linear drains. A long channel or square gully in a tiled floor. These usually have a removable grate and a trap insert, and they collect hair along the channel too.
• Older trapped wastes with no top access. The trap is fixed under the tray. It can only be cleaned from below, or by working through the grid with a drain tool.

If you are not sure which you have, look for the maker's name on the grid and search for its instructions.

Clean the waste from the top

1. Run the shower off and let the water drain as far as it will. Put on rubber gloves.
2. Lift off or unscrew the grid. Some clip in and lift with a flat screwdriver at the edge; some have a centre screw. Do not force a chrome cover, as the plating chips.
3. Pull out the hair. A plastic hair-catching strip or a gloved finger does most of the work.
4. Lift out the dip tube, basket or insert if there is one. Clean it in a bucket, not the basin, so you do not move the problem to another drain.
5. Look into the trap body and wipe out the slimy residue round the sides.
6. Refit everything in the right order and fully seated. If the dip tube or insert is left out, the trap will not hold water and you may get drain smells.
7. Run the shower and check it drains freely.

Doing this every few weeks in a busy bathroom stops the build-up getting to the point where the tray floods.

Plunging a shower waste

If the waste is clear but the water still drains slowly, the blockage is just beyond the trap.

1. Leave enough water in the tray to cover the plunger cup.
2. Seat a cup plunger over the waste and pump firmly a dozen or so times, keeping the seal.
3. Lift off and see whether it drops.

Some shower wastes have an overflow, especially combined bath and shower wastes. Hold a damp cloth over the overflow while you plunge, as with a sink. Our guide to unblocking a sink or basin has more on plunging technique.

A flexible drain coil can reach a little further, but be gentle. Push it through the trap only if the waste design allows it, and stop if it catches. Forcing it can damage a plastic trap or push the blockage into a part of the pipe you cannot reach.

Is it the waste or the pipe?

• Only the shower is slow, and it drains better after cleaning the trap: it was the waste. Carry on cleaning it regularly.
• The shower drains slowly even with the trap clean and plunged: the blockage is further along the waste pipe, often at a bend under the floor.
• The shower gurgles when the toilet flushes, or dirty water comes up the shower waste: the shared waste pipe or the soil stack is blocked. See our guide to a blocked toilet, and call a plumber or drainage company.
• Water appears on a ceiling below, or the floor is wet around the tray when the shower is used: that is a leak, not just a blockage. Stop using the shower and get it looked at.

Chemicals and shower wastes

If you use a drain unblocker, read the label, wear gloves and eye protection, and follow it exactly. Never mix two products or follow one with another, and do not use bleach alongside one. Do not plunge or open the trap after putting a chemical in, because it can splash back at you. A hair blockage that you can reach is usually quicker to pull out than to dissolve.

When to stop and call someone

Call a plumber if:

• the blockage is past the trap and you cannot reach it;
• the waste or tray is cracked, loose or rocking (our shower trays and wastes guide explains how trays and wastes are put together);
• the trap body is fixed under the tray with no top access, and the tray is tiled in;
• the shower is in a wet room or on a tanked (waterproofed) floor. Taking up a waste in a tanked floor can break the waterproofing, and a leak there can damage the floor and ceiling below;
• there are signs of a leak, such as stains on the ceiling below, loose tiles or soft flooring.

Replacing a shower trap usually means getting under the tray or lifting it, which can mean breaking a silicone seal and possibly tiles. Match the replacement to the waste hole size in the tray and the waste pipe, and ask a plumber if you are unsure.

If the shower drains well but the flow from the head is weak, that is a supply problem rather than a drain problem. See low water pressure and our comparison of electric and mixer showers. For bath taps and shower mixer taps on the bath, see mixer and bath taps.

Shower traps and drain tools at Wickes

We haven't tested this. Figures are as the maker states them (checked 13 November 2026).

How often should I clean my shower drain?

It depends on how many people use the shower and how much hair goes down it. Lifting the grid and pulling out hair every few weeks stops most blockages from building up.

Why does my shower drain smell after I cleaned it?

The trap may not be holding water. Check the dip tube or insert is back in place and fully seated, then run the shower for a minute to refill the trap. If it still smells, ask a plumber to check the trap and waste.

Can I use a sink plunger on a shower?

Yes, a cup plunger works on most shower wastes if it can seal round the outlet. Seal any overflow first. Keep a separate plunger for the toilet.